17 1/2 year old doe

[Airoh]

One of our deer was taken to the check station. They guessed the age at between 11 1/2 & 14 1/2 years old. They thought it was the oldest doe they had ever seen. The results are in from Lansing and they are saying the doe was 17 1/2 years old.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Airoh/max0002.jpg

[Liver and Onions]

Damn, doesn't seem possible.

L & O

[Airoh]

Damn, doesn't seem possible.

L & O

That was my thoughts

[William H Bonney]

Anyone have any idea's on how they come up with an age that old? We always hear about the teeth,,, I've seen 6 and 7 yr. old deer with no teeth,, I'm assuming this had none as well. What other ways do they age deer to get such an accurate number??

[Walleyealx]

every deer past age 7 eats crackers at the deer ranch near st. ignace

[Kelly Johnson]

Wow.

[1fife]

how much did it weigh dressed out?

did it look really old?

i cant even imagine 17.5 year old

what county?

[ST8]

where in th world did the doe have its oxygen tank!! wow. now that is a TROPHY!!

[soggybtmboys]

Thats incredible!!!!!! Makes me happy too that old girl produced many many deer towards the herd, and she was put down in a humane way too, not starving to death or getting run over by a car and suffering! Congrats and way to go!

[HunterHawk]

must be that carbon dating i always heard about in my natural resource class... haha that is a dinasour congrats!!!

was it using a cane.... any story to this one?

[srconnell22]

wonder how many bowhunters she's busted since 1990! :rant::rant:

haha...great deer! Congrats!

[rick]

Took a doe to have checked this morning and they aged it at 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 years old. They couldn't say for sure by checking teeth. Didn't submit head though.

[Frantz]

WOW, I never knew they lived to that age.

Funny, not harping on anyone, just actually funny that you are getting the jokes about shooting a deer in a walker.

Would be cool to see some pics with you by her to see a size one her.

[Reel_Screamer86]

Wow, hard to believe.......

[xdetroitx]

I thought 7 years was the life expectency for the average deer.

[WinMag]

17-1/2 year old deer? Amazing. Be sure to let us know what it tastes like.

[Q2XL]

I am sure they didn't use her teeth as she probably did not have much if any left. The other way that they can determine the age is with the eyes according to Leonard Rue in his book "The Deer of North America"

[Airoh]

how much did it weigh dressed out?

did it look really old?

i cant even imagine 17.5 year old

what county?

The deer did look like she had some age to her. But nothing exceptional.
It was taken in Iosco county.

The hunter was surrounded by does. Something had them moving towards him. He picked a big one and shot.
MAybe they were all her daughters.:lol:

The deer was not put on the scales.
He asked me what she weighed because she was bigger than the others. I'm pretty good at guessing their weights.
I thought she would be in the 135 lb. range.

This deer was 3 1/2 when she started slipping past me bow and rifle season.:p

[mwp]

Wow is right!!Never heard of a deer living that old.The end of an era!!!

[DoubleDropTineTrouble]

17 1/2!! That's incredible. Was the meat already pre-made into jerky??

[bowhuntbigbucks]

That is incredible. I have never heard of one living that long. Could you imagine if she had buck twins every year, that would be 34 bucks contributed :)

[Sam22]

That is incredible, she must have had a flawless routine to live that long. I can't get my head around this!

[dtg]

So, I guess a guy would bait that old of a doe with what,.............a Geritol lick???????:lol:

[theredmission]

Eh, that's nothin'....check out what the DNR aged the doe I shot last year:
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u131/keksmattson/max0002.jpg

[Fred Bear]

kmattso1, I think you doctored up the original, I don't know how but they have the same tag #

Airoa, no use scribbling out your addy if you are gunna leave the bar code in tact. (I work at the P.O.) Just for future reference.

I find a 17.5 yr old deer hard to believe. I think it must have been a misprint. Maybe they meant 7.5.

[Grouse Hunter]

Was she lactating? Interesting to know if she was still producing.

[theredmission]

kmattso1, I think you doctored up the original, I don't know how but they have the same tag #


Please tell me you didn't think I was serious. :lol:

[boehr]

There was a doe found in Kalamazoo that was 19 years old that I posted about a few years ago.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13327&highlight=Kalamazoo+Nature+Center

[rvogel44]

I am sure they didn't use her teeth as she probably did not have much if any left. The other way that they can determine the age is with the eyes according to Leonard Rue in his book "The Deer of North America"

Did they find her bi-focals glasses? :lol:

[Blueump]

"Venison from this area is to be cooked thoroughly until it is not pink and no juices flow out"

At that age, there probably are no juices left to flow out!

[walleyechaser]

its hard to imagine the number of times that doe crossed a road during the 17 1/2 years or the number of times she was seen and passed up by hunters or just plain slipped by them unseen.
What are the odds?
At one time she probably would have been considerably heavier but who knows for certain.
Mother Nature never ceases to amaze!

[Kelly Johnson]

Was she lactating? Interesting to know if she was still producing.

Of course not Grouse. Not even a rutting buck wants a girl 17 times his age:lol:

Actually I'm curious as well. Seems I remember hearing they dry up around 13-15 but can't recall the source or why I think that.

[jpa]

THere was a recent article written by Jon Ozaga (Sp?) published in Deer and Deer Hunting which talked about "Dry Does" and also deer life expectency. He cited many situations/studies where deer were aged between 15-20 years of age and most raised fawns right up to the end. Of course some were in captivity, but a lot were also in free range populations. I was pretty amazed at his findings.

Congrats on the doe!

[Airoh]

Please tell me you didn't think I was serious. :lol:

I liked the 11-11 date more than the 77 yr old date.:lol:

I'll ask if she was lactating. I did not look. But She only looked old to me, not ancient. I already knew that most cervids and ungulates produce up into their last year of life. So I did not look.

[Airoh]

kmattso1, I think you doctored up the original, I don't know how but they have the same tag #


I find a 17.5 yr old deer hard to believe. I think it must have been a misprint. Maybe they meant 7.5.

Fred Bear,
It's unlikely the check station would guesstimate a deer at the age they did, and say it was the oldest deer they ever saw checked in. Then Lansing would come back with a 7.5 year deer. A 7.5 year would have a significant differance in tooth wear. Which they would use as an indicater they were dealing with a very old deer.

I don't know what Lansing used to age this deer.

[farmlegend]

I believe they're using the annuli cementum method for aging deer like this one. Pretty accurate.

[fairfax1]

I'm suregoshdarned impressed. I've never heard of such an old doe.

I'm aware of several 'doe contests' locally where there are payouts for either heaviest doe and/or oldest doe. Those guys running these betting pools see a lot of does and the oldest they've reported coming in on the contests were 7.5yrs. Several of them. There was one I'm aware of that was 9.5...tho not entered into one of the contests. (all aged via tooth-wear by DNR staffers)

To exactly determine a 17.5 age....or for that matter, probably anything over 4.5 I'd suspect you have to use some other method than 'tooth wear'. That analysis appears to be most accurate for younger classes of animals; once it's gets into 'middle-age' guessing the age becomes more art than science.

Unless, of course, as FL suggests, the growth ring pattern is determined by slicing into one of the front lower incisors......centum annuli.

There is a firm is Oscoda.....'Bullseye'......where, for $19.95 you can get the incisors of your deer aged by the centum annuli method. (you can google 'em if you're really interested.)

................

But, back to the thrust of this thread............if that 17.5 date is accurate...well, HolyShmoly, that is impressive as all heck!

[November Sunrise]

To exactly determine a 17.5 age....or for that matter, probably anything over 4.5 I'd suspect you have to use some other method than 'tooth wear'. That analysis appears to be most accurate for younger classes of animals; once it's gets into 'middle-age' guessing the age becomes more art than science.

Tooth aging techniques only permit three relatively accurate classifications - fawn, yearling, and adult.

Here's an article that explains how poorly even biologists do with tooth wear aging.

http://mtruncatula.com/Ag/Wildlife/A...615_86615.html (http://mtruncatula.com/Ag/Wildlife/AgeOfDeer/PrintLayout_1_86615_86615.html)

[BallsRdragn]

Someone should go to her bedding area and get the clapper. She wont be using it anymore.

Clapp onnn.....clapp offf........ THE CLAPPER!

[Fred Bear]

Please tell me you didn't think I was serious. :lol:

no, I did'nt think you were serious. But I do wonder how you did it.

[Airoh]

Just got back from Rifle River Rec check station. ( my daughter got her first deer) Dominic told me all TB tested deer get an annuli cementum test for age.
So this deer really may be 17.5 yrs old!

[SgtSlaughter]

Good lord that's an old deer. Seems to me if you were interested in harvesting a doe that old and were a bait hunter you'd put out fig newtons and hard candies. :)

[Ferg]

and I'll bet she was still dropping twins and trips right up to the end - very cool -

ferg....

[deepwoods]

I had shot one years ago that was aged at 10.5. I also took that deer in Iosco Co. I wasn't surprised at the time because I hadn't been selected for an antlerless permit in over 15 years. This was several years back.

[Just_One_More]

This one might be more believable. :lol:
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w152/gobluemich/max0002copy.jpg

[Happy Jack]

Was she lactating? Interesting to know if she was still producing.

Wouldn't do any good with her teets dragging the ground :)

[DTrain]

I believe they're using the annuli cementum method for aging deer like this one. Pretty accurate.

I was just reading about this!

[north_of_mackinaw]

If that doe was really 17.5 years old it makes you wonder how many other deer are actually much older than you thought. If you don't bother to get them checked you never know. Still trying to comprehend a doe that old, I just can't do it.

[Swamp Ghost]

This one might be more believable. :lol:
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w152/gobluemich/max0002copy.jpg


LOL!

It's gotta be a typo............

[Blueracer]

how much did she weigh

[wolverines]

[quote=November Sunrise;1875915]Tooth aging techniques only permit three relatively accurate classifications - fawn, yearling, and adult.



That is true for tooth wear but not all tooth aging. A friend of mine sends in the front two teeth (I think it's the front two) and the teeth are injected with a dye. Then they take very thin slices of the tooth and they can age the deer by the rings, sort of like they do to trees. It is sapposed to be by far the most accurate way to age. The percent of accuracy goes down as the age goes up but I think the percent of accuracy was still in the high eighties at 6 1/2 yrs.

[Airoh]

http://www.deerage.com/aging_deer.htm

Cementum annuli aging yielded a 92.6% accuracy rate for mule deer (with no error over 1 year), 85.1% accuracy rate for whitetails (only 2 in error over 1 year) and 97.3% accuracy rate for elk.