Aging deer by wrinkles behind ears?

[3rdShot]

Hunting as a guest on a company / MLD property this weekend...was able to shoot a basket 9 pt they had on the cull hit list. 12 1/8” inside spread with interesting curved brows, unmatched sides, and not much mass, they didn’t think he would get any bigger (obviously not now, he’s getting turned into ground venison and snack sticks as we speak).
I figured 3.5yr old by his looks...I mentioned it to the guy as we were writing out the tag info...he reached over, grabbed one of the buck’s ears, and kind of pulled it up at about the alert angle, then rotated it over towards the antler base, which created 3 wrinkles in the loose skin at the base of the ear there...then he said “Yep, three years old”.
I don’t know if he was pulling my leg or what, he said it matter-of-factly with a straight face...so I didn’t inquire further.

Anyone ever heard of this, or what other unusual aging factors have you heard of?

[S-3 Ranch]

I wonder how accurate it is ?
Here is a old discussion about it

“” I remember reading this article years ago and came across this one yesterday while trying to find it....I got a picture of a buck with a great shot of his ears and was wondering what others thought of this aging technique...

"In December of 1998, the Field and Stream magazine had an article that I found interesting about a method for aging deer in the field. Here is my short version;
The twisting and turning of a deer's ears results in permanent creases in the hair and skin around the base of the ears. Deer 2 1/2 years or younger seldom have ear creases. But by 3 1/2 years the hair has thickened and taken on at least one crease. A two crease deer is a mature animal and is usually between 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 years old. If a deer has three creases at the base of the ears, it is likely about 7 1/2 years old give or take a year. If a deer has 4 ear creases, it is likely more than 8 years old.
Also, as a deer ages, hair thickens in the ear slot. Finally, an older deer's ears tend to be more curled in and tired in appearance while a younger deer's ears will be flatter and more alert in appearance.
Telling the age of a deer with the ears method is most accurate on well conditioned animals."”

[HighwayHunter]

I’ve heard the same from folks. None of them were biologists or experienced ranch managers.


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[3rdShot]

He was part a group of 3 that came to the protein and corn feeder pen...other two were yearling fork horns (one barely had a fork on one side, guy gave me the green light on either that one or the 9pt). The 9 was bigger in the body, but not saggy or old looking, so I ballparked 3, or 4 at the oldest.

[flywise]

Now I have to wait until they are alert, twist their ears and i have to have my spotting scope zoomed in

Maybe its accurate and maybe its not. I bet the only way to decide is have a breeder do some data collection

[panhandlehunter]

Yeah you can count the wrinkles. Just like counting the rings on a tree.

[hunterburch42]

I would think it would be different around the state depending on ear size.


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[Reaper87]

Well if that deer was three I would not have culled him unless there are giant 3 year olds on the property.

[3rdShot]

They have some nice 8 and 10pts there...anything that doesn’t show some width or real good length at 3 goes on the hit list...one sided spikes too...as a guest I’m not arguing about their standards, just happy to break the ice after blanking the last couple of seasons, mostly due to my pickiness.

[PYBUCK]

That's BS.

[trophy8]

That’s incredibly stupid lol. What about fat deer? Got more rolls! Haha

[DTala]

horsepucky!!!

[tex4k]

Well the couple of years I was in the taxidermy business people must have been shooting only three years olds, best I can recall everything had 3 wrinkles!

[Greenheadless]

I have shot deer with more than three wrinkles. They were easy to get as they were all using walkers with tennis ball on the legs.

[Chance Love]

You can also use the finger method...just lift his tail and see how many fingers will fit into his bu......