At what age is a mule deer mature?

A mule deer buck must also be given the opportunity to mature, which in most cases is 5-8 years of age.

How long do mule deer live naturally?

Mule deer usually live 9 to 11 years in the wild. For decades, western Colorado has been home to some of the country’s largest mule deer herds.

How do you age a mule deer in the field?

The easiest method for quickly judging the spread on any mule deer is the distance from ear-tip to ear-tip which is usually very close to 20 inches. If a bucks antlers are roughly two inches past the outside of his ears on each side, then he has a 24″ spread.

Can you age a deer by its face?

Its head should appear too small for the massive, bulging neck. Face. The narrow, slim, long-nosed look of youth is gone from most old buck’s faces. If the nose looks broad and short, perhaps even “Roman nosed,” chances are it’s an older deer.

How is the age of a mule deer determined?

Sort of like determining the age of your tires by tread wear. In the same study by Hamlin referred to above; the accuracy of molar wear aging was 62.3% for mule deer, 42.9% for whitetails, and 50% for elk in the 3-4 year classes, 16% for elk 5 years old.

Is there a reliable way to age a whitetail deer?

The only reliable way for aging whitetail deer when deer age is required to be accurate and verifiable. All you need to have your deer aged is to send us the two center, front most teeth from your trophy’s lower jaw. We will take care of the rest in our lab in Missoula, MT. Simply fill out our online form below to begin! ONE WEEK SERVICE!

Is there such thing as an aging deer?

Although aging characteristics apply to a large percentage of the population, they are not universal. Also, the accuracy of aging live deer decreases as deer grow into older age classes. However, in most cases, bucks can be identified as immature or mature with moderate certainty.

Why are deer molars getting older every year?

The first was that there had been formal studies done by two different organizations/ researchers to verify the accuracy (or lack thereof) of aging deer by looking at the molars and their wear. The second was that there was a physiological mechanism that occurred in all mammals every year.