judging a bulls age based on points?

[Trad Bow 1979]

So I know that the ivory teeth is one way to estimate an elks age, but what about the antlers? How old is the typical 3x3 or even 6x6? Can you even estimate age from the number of points? A hunting guide here in NM told me that some bulls never even become a 6x6 if their genes are not good. Is there much truth behind that?

 

[mntnguide]

Yes there is truth to that. Antlers are mainly based on genes.. Some bulls could live a whole life and never be 350+ based on genetics. impossible to accurately age a bull via the horns. . You can guess and be somewhat close, but only surefire way is through the teeth. . some bulls might take 3 years of growing antlers to become a 6x6, others ive seen become 6x's and even 7x's on there first full set of horns after being a spike. They are still young raghorns and you can tell by the spindly horns with little mass, but based on genetics in the area they are gonna be good bulls eventually.