Methods on aging bucks: Roman nose?

[MihajloSimsic]

As we all know there really isn't a fool proof way to age bucks without "getting it aged" through it's lower jaw. I however only recently noticed a phenomena known as the "roman nose". Essentially a hump on the buck's snout vs the concave snout you see on does and young bucks. I always thought it as nothing short of face genetics that has nothing to do with age until I heard about it.

I always considered weight as the most accurate way to measure buck age off appearance.
I always considered bucks mature bucks to be 210+lbs, 3rd year bucks to be 180-200lbs, and 2nd year bucks being around 140-170lbs. However this can only really be used for bucks that are in a very specific geographical area. Here are a few examples and I'd like your observations and your guesses on these bucks
InShot_20201224_062836845~2.jpg
The one on the top left is the best example I have of an exaggerated roman nose. The top right has a broad snout but not a full roman nose.
Is there a set age that bucks get this roman nose? Could this be a more reliable way to age deer? What methods do you use to age deer? Also post pictures of deer that you've had aged!

[MihajloSimsic]

Here's a better angle on the top right buck.
Attachment 41270

[werner.reiche]

Not sure I'd trust that too much. I don't think I've seen too many big bucks with the "roman nose".
Aging them is more at looking at a bunch of things - each guy has his own criteria - you could add nose structure to yours:
- body size
- potbellied / sway backed
- thickness through shoulders
- antler main beam diameter - don't get swayed by lots of long slender structure
- whiteness on face
- if you know how to read teeth - that works up to about 5 years

[cricket]

Not sure I'd trust that too much. I don't think I've seen too many big bucks with the "roman nose".
Aging them is more at looking at a bunch of things - each guy has his own criteria - you could add nose structure to yours:
- body size
- potbellied / sway backed
- thickness through shoulders
- antler main beam diameter - don't get swayed by lots of long slender structure
- whiteness on face
- if you know how to read teeth - that works up to about 5 years

I agree. Get it aged with the teeth otherwise its just a guess. Like weight, lots of deer are claimed to be a certain weight but few were actually weighed with a scale.

[dilly]

I agree. Get it aged with the teeth otherwise its just a guess. Like weight, lots of deer are claimed to be a certain weight but few were actually weighed with a scale.

I strongly agree with the above. I have heard all kinds of claims of 300lb deer from guys. Many “huge” deer I have seen in person actually weigh around 175bs field dressed. We once got a physically large deer in a shotgun hunt in Huron County. We took it to the CoOp to have it weighed and it was 245lbs field dressed on a certified scale. Biggest deer I have ever seen. It didn’t seem that old either.

I’ve heard of the Roman nose and the body looking like a rectangle as quick field methods for determining age on deer. Teeth tell the tale, but that’s probably postmortem...

[ysyg]

Back in the 80’s. The MNR had check stations during the deer hunt. They would take a tooth and weigh your deer. Our camp would take guesses/wagers at the age and field dressed weight. The first few times most were guessing older and heavier. The old boys talked about the raised snout being 4+ years. Never confirmed. I learned in wmu47 ...... if it was 3.5 years and over 200 field dressed, you had a nice deer.

[MikePal]

It's like the stories of the 300 yd kill shot on a running deer that we haven't had since they invented Range Finders HaHa..

Same with hanging weights...lots of 200+lb deer until a guy bought a livestock hanging scale to camp. We used to wager the weight and it took a while for the 'guestimates' of the older guys to drop from 180lb to 120lbs HaHa...

[SongDog]

Belly sag, Roman nose, graying face, heavy mass antlers are all signs of 5+ year old buck when trying to determine age on the hoof.


I believe tooth wear to be best factor for aging..... BUT they say farm country deer have more tooth wear from eating high sugar foods like corn and all the grit they pick up from it and beans etc...

Have had 2 different taxidermist say this is a 6-7yr old deer and a 10+ year old at least. Who knows

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[MihajloSimsic]

It's like the stories of the 300 yd kill shot on a running deer that we haven't had since they invented Range Finders HaHa..

Same with hanging weights...lots of 200+lb deer until a guy bought a livestock hanging scale to camp. We used to wager the weight and it took a while for the 'guestimates' of the older guys to drop from 180lb to 120lbs HaHa...

LOL yeah I find way too many people guesstimate a deer's weight, whenever someone says it "Had to be 300lbs" it usually means it was closer to 230lbs. Bucks are amazingly decieving when it comes to weight. I once was absolutely sure a typical 10-point was 240lbs live weight, when we weighed him he was 190lbs! It takes years of practice and those antlers will always inflate your guess. At least in my case we weigh all our deer live weight on a game scale.

[werner.reiche]

It's like the stories of the 300 yd kill shot on a running deer that we haven't had since they invented Range Finders HaHa..

Same with hanging weights...lots of 200+lb deer until a guy bought a livestock hanging scale to camp. We used to wager the weight and it took a while for the 'guestimates' of the older guys to drop from 180lb to 120lbs HaHa...

There's a joke along the line of "What's the difference between a 240 lb buck and a 300lb buck?"
..
..
..
A scale.

Seriously though. The article was in D&DH about 10 years ago about the heaviest whitetail field dressed weight recorded. The 5th heaviest was 295 lbs. So if you've got a 300 pounder on a verified scale, that would put you in 5th place for all-time, all of North America (actually the world I guess).