Aging with Ivories

[timberland]

Is Ivories a reliable way to "guess" an age of elk? This is a cow my brother in law shot. the Ivories were the size of my pinky nail and jagged like a rotten tooth ready to fall out. Any guesses of age? He claims he shot the smartest elk on the mountain, but she tastes like a young'n. good eating

[Swede]

Barry: It looks like you have a calf to me.

That real like colored stuff on the gums appears to be milk.

[timberland]

Same cow. Had a big "horse head"

[Swede]

Usually I go on the ivories color, and if it is young the ivories are hollow in the root area. It looks like a good cow. Do you have an estimate of it's weight? I don't see the horse head appearance in the picture. Maybe you just got a nice fat old cow. Anyway, she eats well.

[timberland]

No guess on the weight, but she was bigger than the 5pt. that's my avatar by about 15-20%. Definitely a mature animal and healthy.

[>>>---WW---->]

timberland: It is almost impossible to tell exactly how old a cow is by her buglers or ivories. Coloration means nothing at all. The color is actually discoloration that is caused by the diet they eat. It is much like discoloration in humans who are heavy smokers or coffee drinkers. Age has very little if anything to do with it.

But here are a few things to look for: A calf will have ivories that barely erupt from the gum line. And if you see them at all, they most likely won't even be as large as the fangs on a house car.

Yearlings will have somewhat of a point on the tip and in the case of spike bulls, they will actually be hollow.

On two - three year olds the point on the crown will start to round out and almost anything that is 5-6 years of age will go from rounded to a flatter surface. So from the first picture you posted, I would have to guess that cow would be 5 years or better because her ivory is starting to flatten out. Again notice that I used the word (guess)!

I have seen aged cows that were estimated by biologist to be over 20. One old cow had ivories that were so worn from age that they were no larger than a mans eye tooth.

According to biologist, elk can be aged by their front teeth and their jaw teeth. But just about anything over the age of 6 is a crap shoot at best. After 6 some of them start to really wear down while others may not. It depends a lot on the abrasion of the food they eat.