Aging Whitetails

I have never aged a deer by looking at its teeth- never had an interest to. My buck on the upper pic seems to exhibit mature whitetail characteristics, with declining rack quality. Bigger bodied deer with roman nose... I will plan to compare jaws on both and post some pics for people that have a better dental background than me- but before that any wagers on age- or is roman nose fact or fiction?. When my son helped me load him on the ATV- I said, I think this is an older whitetail... he said "that's what I would say if I shot a small buck"

Lots of wear, after last tooth eruptions, depends on your soil, crops, etc
High silica content equals faster wear.

BEST way is send in a tooth.
That said, I look for Roman nose, sagging belly, etc

Have seen some really worn teeth, but don't know what I'm looking at, lol

Looks like a yearling buck to me based on those I've seen hunting the midwest for over 12 years. Matter of fact both of those bucks in your pics appear to be 18 month olds. Must look at lower jaw bone to be sure.

Pull one lower jaw and post a clear pic.

One younger one older to my eye. Sure could be wrong.

Osky

My guess is 1 1/2 deer and 2 1/2 deer. The smaller buck has a very short face. Normally a an old deer on the decline has a lot of mass particularly at the bases and just gets short on his legnth.

Forget the nose thing, lol.

Here’s what I put out to people that hunt the same property I do:
You’ll know a mature deer when you see it and it has nothing to do with antler size.
If it has NO neck…if it’s front end is larger than it’s back end (think Bulldog)…a sway in the back…sagging belly…walks in like it owns the woods/field/etc…other deer notice it’s presence…walks almost like a bulldog, mature deer have a certain gait in their walk.

If the deer is proportionate throughout its body, it’s not mature. We try and give each Buck 3.5-4.5 years before taking one. To me “cull” is a word for just wanting to shoot something. Here’s where folks will get upset…if you have an 8pt at 3.5 or 4.5, that deer needs shot. He will be nothing but an 8pt at 7.5 too. Yeah he’ll grow some tine length and add mass and even some stickers, but still a main framed 8pt. Nothing wrong with that until that 5.5+ 8pt that you let go starts running off your 130-140” 2.5-3.5 year old 10pts. I realize not everyone is into antlers, but we like seeing what nature can produce…we just help out a little by keeping them around.

The deer in the pics posted look young. They don’t have declining antlers, they were growing. I know weight is different in different parts of the country and even different in different parts of my State, but a 225#+ deer is mature down here and that comes with age.

Learning to age jaw bones is actually fairly easy, I would suggest pulling them and taking a look.

I agree with others, these are both young deer.

Send a tooth in to Matsons and you'll know for sure. matsonslab.com

Both look young to me. Smallest looks youngest. 1.5 year olds.