Thread: Age of animal query ....

After some help from the forum ageing this red stag, curious to know and have really no idea to even be in the ballpark


He made the mistake of smashing up farmers freshly planted native trees so had to go, fat as and will be good chewing hopefully

Cheers for any help

looks like he's a-head of his years

4

I'll have a guess and say 3years but am interested in knowing. He only looks like a young animal to me.
. Also to the experts a head that only has one bey/bez antler like this will it ever grow one on the other side?? @hebe put up your stag on here see if any one can age your head

Originally Posted by bigbear

I'll have a guess and say 3years but am interested in knowing. He only looks like a young animal to me.
. Also to the experts a head that only has one bey/bez antler like this will it ever grow one on the other side?? @hebe put up your stag on here see if any one can age your head

I am tending to Hunter AT's assessment at 2.5 yrs although he could be 3.5 as when the first teeth are shed and replaced is not 100% consistent with all deer - much the same as human children. It is much easier to assess an animal from a full body photo not just the head where the body proportions can't be gauged.
As far as the missing Bey question, missing Beys is a genetic fault in some feral herds like the Rakaia. Some animals will grow little nubs where the Beys should be and others are clean with no Bey at all. When an animal has one proper fully formed Bey like the OP's stag In my opinion that stag could grow both Beys or no beys in future heads as antlers normally grow as matched pairs. It is not a common fault for any herds to produce stags with only one Bey, therefore I dont expect the stag would have been consistent with that in the future

Nice dark timber, @moa_junter might have a guess at age

I would think 4 max. Teeth are still in good nick so not much chewing wear and tear.

I would of said 3.5 but as you say based on that link it looks like that back 3rd of molar is just starting to come through which puts it at 30 months.

Yeah he's 3 years old with those teeth
Cheers

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Thanks everyone, would have loved to have seen him grow into a big old boy, 11 points in three years is pretty amazing.... but as the farmer says he’s farming cattle not deer.
Cheers

@2Quack some spikers can have 12 points for there first head if they have genetics just want have heavy timber or lenght

Nothing unusual about a 2 or 3 year old having 10 or 12 points. Hence why so many young stags get shot

No more than 2,5 years.

According to the teeth he would be less than 2 years (only 5 molars on each side, 3 of them being milk teeth). But obviously he's not a spiker so he must be 2,5 years old.

@Stocky what is your knowledge like on antlers? if a head is missing a bez/bey tine on one side making it uneven will it ever grow one?
Also if a two-three year old is missing its bez i was on the understanding it will never have them and some herds its common and in there genetics.

Originally Posted by bigbear

@Stocky what is your knowledge like on antlers? if a head is missing a bez/bey tine on one side making it uneven will it ever grow one?
Also if a two-three year old is missing its bez i was on the understanding it will never have them and some herds its common and in there genetics.

My knowledge on antlers is only what I've been able to learn because I find it interesting but I'd only be repeating info heard from others.

I can spot the general age of an animal all right having grew up on an angus stud and there tends to be a similar way animals carry themselves etc with maturity. That's usually why Im more of a fan of leaving animals for maturity and letting them battle it out themselves rather than culling unless it's obvious like no tops as a middle aged animals, clear deformation, etc.

So based on that as far as I know that for the most part if it does not have Bezs it rarely will grow them and its rare to grow one if its missing even if it has one on the other side. I think in some rare cases guys have said a lack of feed can hide them but not typically.

I usually differ to @Moa Hunter for these queries. I usually wouldn't call a stag a cull for lacking Bezs but down here culling on Bezs wouldn't leave a lot of animals and there's plenty of stags going 12 plus without them. I'm a big believer that while trophys with lots of points etc are nice, that mass shape and frame that typically come with age are usually more appealing. There's some awesome 10s that have been taken that Id be happier with than a shorter 12 or 14. @JoshC shot a ripper 10 that I really liked the frame and clean even lines.

So to answer that more concisely very rarely do they grow a missing Bez as far as I know