Cool way to age deer

[Deer716]

I was just browsing on the Apple App store for deer hunting apps and found one that I thought was pretty cool for my iPhone (also iTouch and iPad) called the Deer Age Tool. It guides you through the process of aging deer from the wear on their teeth and it also has info on how to tell how old they are before you shoot one. I tried this on an old deer jaw I had laying around and it was really cool. I know you can get info on deer aging on the web, but this app does not need an internet connection to work so I can do this at the farm when I hunt. It had a really nice flow chart. I didn't play much with the aging of deer before you shoot section because I plan to read that when I'm hunting. I also picked up an app with deer calls on it which was pretty neat too, but you can't use that in my State when you are hunting.

[early2late]

That sounds really cool. what is the name of the app?

My favorite iPhone hunting app so far is IHuntJournal. You can record your hunts, trophies, and research all in one place very easily. You can even attach pictures from your trail cam or actual harvest. If you phone supports GPS, then your actual position is automatically added.

What is your favorite apps and why?

[smittydawg]

My favorite phone app is none. I go hunting to get away from the hussle and bussle of civilazation. Sorry, I had to say that.

[yokelokie]

A recent article that I read insists that there is only one deer-aging approach that is reasonably accurate: counting growth rings of tooth roots. The article cites a study done where several captive deer were aged by experienced game biologists studying tooth wear. These were deer of known age since they had be born in captivity and records kept. Even the game biologists only averaged about 50% accuracy. When they counted growth rings of incisor teeth, the aging method was greater than 90% accurate. I am currently researching how to do this. I saved the lower jaw of a mature buck from this season. The method involves soaking the incisor in a weak acid solution until it becomes soft, then slicing thin cross sections to be viewed under a microscope. Should be interesting.

Best wishes.

[DocHolladay]

The method that yokelokie mentions is the best way from what I have read. It is the most accurate. The aging of deer by looking at the wear of the teeth isnt that accurate. The wear can vary depending on what they eat and how often they eat it, the soil and various things. A deer that lives in a sandy region tends to have more wear than one that lives in soils that are softer. They eat the soil while eating minerals and browsing. The more soil they eat, the more wear on their teeth. I used to believe in looking at their teeth to age them, but since seeing the article and video of using the growth rings, I quit. I try and age them by their body structure now and not worry about the teeth. You know a mature deer once you see the body, no matter how big the rack is.