Aging using ivorys

Wyo_Roadhunter · Dec 5, 2021

I did a search and found one thread on this but the link that was posted a bunch didn't work anymore. I sent in my bulls teeth to be aged but I'm curious to know if there's a good way to guess off the ivorys. All the bulls I've shot have looked like the Wyo bulls ivorys just the color has been darker the bigger the bull, but I've never seen any short and flat like the Utah bulls. Here's some pictures of my Utah bulls ivorys (dang cavity) vs my Wyo bulls. I know my Wyo bull from this year isn't a mature bull so it's hard to go off of that but the difference in ivorys and skulls size was crazy to me. So question is how old is he haha? I will post the age the f&g says when I find out.

bonepicker · Dec 5, 2021

In my experience, it seems that ivorys wear down over time. They start out rounded like your Wyoming bull. Spike ivorys are actually semi-hollow because they haven’t fully formed yet but they are about the same size as your Wyo bull. From there is is a constant grinding down over the years. Here is a picture of a yearling cow (left) and the oldest cow (the oldest elk for that matter) I have ever shot (right). There wasn’t much left sticking outside the gums on that old girl! Also when we skinned her, she had a healed up .22 bullet lodged between a the skin and a rib. Dang flat brimmers! ?

slamdunk · Dec 7, 2021

4th teeth back are the "wear teeth" on deer and elk for a quick and pretty accurate guess.
The front are the teeth the biologists do a cross section cuts on to determine actual age.

Wyo_Roadhunter · Dec 7, 2021

slamdunk said:
4th teeth back are the "wear teeth" on deer and elk for a quick and pretty accurate guess.
The front are the teeth the biologists do a cross section cuts on to determine actual age.

I sent in the fronts so hopefully they can get the age. I did take a picture of his lower jaw but I guess I ended up deleting it ?

OutdoorWriter · Dec 8, 2021

Wyo_Roadhunter said:
I sent in the fronts so hopefully they can get the age. I did take a picture of his lower jaw but I guess I ended up deleting it ?

It's kinda like aging trees. They'll likely cross-slice one so they can count the rings of cememtum growth.

elkhunterUT · Dec 8, 2021

The ivories do seem to flatten out or wear down as the bull gets older.

The 2 ivories on the left below are from a 5 year old bull, the 2 on the right are from my 13 year old bull I killed last year (both aged using front teeth by the UDWR)