have you ever seen ivories this small?

[DougW]

An old WY bull, 2012, from the cedar breaks country. He had splayed/elongated toes and dewclaws 2.5" long. Also the 2 middle front incisors were barely showing.

Anybody want to take a stab at his age?

 

[DougW]

for some reason the pic didn't load the first time....

 

[Ropinfool]

Old!

 

[mntman]

He was born the same year Zeke was...

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


Let me guess, you drive a 1 ton with oak trees for smoke stacks, 12" lift kit and 40" tires to pull a single place lawn mower trailer? See Zeke for prime example....

 

[chewyman55]

Man, there's not much left there. How's the coloration on them? Dark rings?

 

[BIGJOHNT]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-07-12 AT 10:13AM (MST)[p]Need a better picture. Is the root gone or the top worn down ?
"He was born the same year Zeke was..." Ah Elk dont live that long !!

 

[DougW]

The tops of the ivories are on the lower end in this pic. In other words, they're upside down.. I'd have to core them to see the rings, right??

The incisors are at the Laramie lab getting aged but they tell me I won't find out 'til next year. ?

I'll see if I can get a better pit 2nite.

 

[DougW]

oops maybe I'm upside down.

What I'm trying to say is the lower portion of the teeth in the pics is the part outside the gum line.

 

[jarheadhunter]

>The tops of the ivories are
>on the lower end in
>this pic. In other words,
>they're upside down.. I'd have
>to core them to see
>the rings, right??
>
>The incisors are at the Laramie
>lab getting aged but they
>tell me I won't find
>out 'til next year. ?
>
>
>I'll see if I can get
>a better pit 2nite.



No the rings would be dark rings on the top of the tooth. Like the one in the middle.

 

[DougW]

thx jarhead, I believe there is little coloration on the tops, but will check tonight and take a closer pic

I'm estimating that these ivories are half the size of the smallest ivories you have in your pic

 

[O_S_O_K]

I'm guessing pretty old!


"The problem with quotes on Internet Forums is that it is often difficult to verify their authenticity." - Abraham Lincoln

 

[sjhgraysage]

my brother in laws bull killed last year had a set very similar.
We guessed him to be on the down hill side of life. his front teeth were worn down almost to the gum line. I rough scored his antlers at between 335 and 340.

my guess is your bull will turn out to be over 9 years old, maybe quite abit over.

 

[7thgenmt]

12-14

 

[Triple_BB]

Yep, got these about 15 years from a bull that came out of the Thorofare...

 

[PleaseDear]

For hell sakes---

Zeke and I were side by side in delivery room cribs!

No way that bull is that young---

Robb

 

[DougW]

ok better pic this morning after passing the taking-pics-101 course last night

 

[DougW]

OK triple_BB yours are the only ones I've seen similar to these. See the new pic below. How old was your Thorofare beast?

 

[llamapacker]

I took a bull with similar ivories years ago, and he was aged by the Game dept at 19 years old. His molars were paper thin and his front incisors below the gum line. Always felt I did him a big favor, as getting through another winter was highly doubtful. I've kept these teeth as one of my prized possessions.
I did take a cow once aged at 21 years old, and she had grey hair mixed in her coat.
Damn few elk get this old, but occasionally one of them ends up in front of a hunter.
Bill

 

[TineMaster]

All the time
~Master the Tines~

 

[Magicman]

Hold them like this and put your camera on "Macro". I would love to see the worn ends.

 

[Zeke]

>He was born the same year
>Zeke was...
>
>Mntman
>
>"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


While I don't quite fall into the catagory of "ancient", quite yet, I am getting up there.

With ivories like that your elk ceratinly falls into the ancient range. I love the ivories on a nice old bull. The round, white, hollow spike teeth are not very cool though.

Zeke

 

[Zeke]

>For hell sakes---
>
>Zeke and I were side by
>side in delivery room cribs!
>
>
>No way that bull is that
>young---
>
>Robb

Robb,
When you said "young", did you really mean "old". LOL
I know some days I feel older than other days. Oh well, what do ya do?

Zeke

 

[JRABQ]

Doug, I shot a bull in unit 2 last year, and his ivories looked exactly the same as yours, worn to gumline, almost nothing there, there are no "ends" to photograph. I seem to recall they only aged him at 6 or 7, so while a mature bull he was not ancient. I was told that the dust is extremely abrasive in that area, and is so fine it coats everything the animals eat, thus there teeth get worn down faster than usual.

 

[elkun]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-09-12 AT 07:15PM (MST)[p]yes many times, old and sworn out, fine dust story sounds like b.s.

 

[gznokes]

Magicman that is a cool pic of those Ivories. They look like more like eyes than any others I've seen.

 

[gznokes]

Dougw, let us know how that old gummer eats! Sounds like a tough old bull.

 

[DougW]

ok does this help-

 

[JRABQ]

Maybe the "dust" theory is BS (told to me by Biologist up there), but there must be something other than age that can seriously affect the rate that teeth get worn down.

The inner set of teeth are from a WY bull in cedar breaks area. He was not particularly old (7.5 years). Outer set from a larger bodied NM bull (don't know age), more typical of what you find.

 

[DougW]

Thx JRABQ- very good pics.

I think my bull's going to come back at at least 9; yours from the same area are the best indicator as there is something to this geography theory.

Magicman-did you see the last 2 pics on this thread?

 

[Zeke]

>Doug, I shot a bull in
>unit 2 last year, and
>his ivories looked exactly the
>same as yours, worn to
>gumline, almost nothing there, there
>are no "ends" to photograph.
> I seem to recall
>they only aged him at
>6 or 7, so while
>a mature bull he was
>not ancient. I was
>told that the dust is
>extremely abrasive in that area,
>and is so fine it
>coats everything the animals eat,
>thus there teeth get worn
>down faster than usual.

There is some merit to this "dust" statement.
I know that during drought conditions, where the desert sheep need to eat plants close to the ground, their teeth get worn down very quickly. Tooth wear is a real issue and the animals will starve if it becomes prolonged or severe.

Zeke