IL Trophy Hunter

I was wondering if your state ages deer at the check stations??, and if so have you found that they have NO clue what they are doing. Here in Illinois (atleast at my counties check station) they are terrible. I have been there several times when monstorous bucks are checked in and consistently they age them at 2 1/2 yrs. In fact this year a guy killed a buck that scored in the high 180' s non-typical and you guessed it 2 1/2. Just wondering if any one else has found this to be the norm in your state. I don' t see how respective DNR' s can get accurate records on deer ages throughout their states with such poor assesment by these check station officials.

121553

Il trophyhunter, there is some thruth to what you say. I have actually had to take the bolt cutters and cut the jaw bone and then had to hook it with the pullers and pull it out and hand it over to the bioligist or the volunteer, you just do what it takes, lot of these folks are still in school or either volunteering, but they share our common goal, if you can help them in an easier way in assisting them, then roll up your sleeves

BuckAlley

Ok, first let me say no I don' t work for NYSDEC. But I did work at a check station once many yrs ago when I was in college, part of my conservation wildlife biology course. Anyways I learned alot, and felt very confident in NY' s ability to age deer. Its not an exact science, and sometimes deer can differ in tooth ware from things they eat. But currently its the only method used to age deer. Now some people also find it hard to believe a nice buck could only be 2 1/2yrs old, but its possible. Milo Hansens world record whitetail was aged at only 3 1/2yrs old! What I would do is have someone else look at your jawbone if feel its not correctly aged, get a second opinion.
I have heard other horror stories at NY check stations that I don' t agree with. Like citing tickets for not properly tagged deer or unfilled portions of a tag. Give those ones willing to volunterr a break on the petty stuff. Advise them, warn them, help them out, but ticket them. Come on!

davidmil

Exactly BuckAlley.... I agree, why be a pain to the guy that tries to do it right? My buddy pulled into a check station 3 years ago. He had 2 deer I had given him in the back of a van. One was boned and in an ice chest. THEY NEVER..... looked at the deer. They wanted to see the kill reports. Then they ask if he was David Miller. " NO" . Then they wanted to see my transfer paper. Then they let him go. Never looked at the deer or the tags in their ears.

Hyawatha

Check stations?

Is this something that is done on federal or state land, leased to hunt?

Never heard of them, but I have NEVER hunted government land.

Game wardens are scarice during hunting season, here in central Texas.

Deer populations are enormous just north of here in Llano County. They extended the season 2 weeks for the last 2 years there and surrounding counties, and were discussing extending it longer to decrease the growing population.

They are thick!!!

Oh ya, back to the subject/topic. Check stations would be a good thing here publicly, if they could somehow manage it. Deer management enforced!

davidmil

HYawatha: Deer check stations are also used by some states for biology studies, tagging and counts. In Maryland you have to take any deer killed to a deer Check-In Station. There they record sex, weight, points etc in a computer data base and issue you a " Possession Tag" . In New York they have " Check stations" that are really " Check you out stations" . They are mobile... usually set up on the side of main roads from deer country and sometimes back roads. They' ll usually have a sign up stating " All hunters with deer must stop XXX feet ahead" . We always tag our deer in NY and do everything we' re suppose to. Since we see very little " Studies" going on we just keep driving the past couple years. Deer in ice chest have to be labeled venison on the outside of the chest etc. It' s a pain. Until this past year you had to mail in a kill report(the other half of the tag) within 5 days. This year they went to a phone in process.

IL_BOW_MAN

Yeppers, the check stations around here don' t know how to age very well either!!

Hyawatha, Illinois requires any deer hunter in the state to check in their deer.

Natty Bumpo

I am also from Maryland. Like David says every deer has to be checked in. Most check in stations are a hunting/fishing store or a gas station. I have checked deer in during bow season and they didnt even come out of the store and look at the deer. They asked me what it was and how much I thought it weighed.

During gun season sometimes there is someone there from the DNR and they have bolt cutters and will age your deer if you want. They have a chart of jawbones to go by.

WV Hunter

In Va and WV we have to use check in stations also.
In WV, the DNR is open the first couple days of rifle, to check in, weigh, and age. The are not very good at ageing either.
The rest of the check in' s are usually little country stores. They don' t ever come and look at your deer, in fact, out of 5 deer I checked in WV this past season, I wrote my own check in tag for 4 of them...LOL, that' s pretty bad. 2 times I didn' t even have the deer with me. They were back at camp hanging on the pole. They could care less. Heck, at least I check mine in....that' s a rare feat itself around there.

NorthJeff

I' ve experienced some inaccuracies in both MI and PA. Talking with John Ozoga, a research biologist here in the UP of Michigan, he told me that it is highly possible to be off 1 year, and that many times you have a choice between the two, and choose the younger one.

I strongly feel that if you know the deer in your area, it is more accurate to judge age on the hoof, than take them to a check station. TX guides accurately age animals on the hoof up to 6.5 and 7.5 years of age, and many areas of trophy hunting the bucks are left to 5.5 years of age, judged on the hoof.

There is so much substantial growth between 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5, that it is very easy to tell the difference if you know your local deer.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan
Protection of yearling bucks + Populations maintained below the carrying capacity of the land + Adequate sex ratios = QDM