Bugle Teeth Test

[CrazyElkHunter]

I haven't posted in a while, but decided to jump back in with a little test. I have over 3 dozen sets of ivories (bugle teeth). One of the trays in my archery tackle box is full of them. Several times through the years I have had friends ask me if I could tell which ones were mature and which ones were young. This is just my opinion from 35 years of extracting them and not a scientific review, but there is one distinct way that I see and use. Just curious of what kind of answers I get from rookies to pros. I will post my opinion answer in a few days. Getting the itch real bad to get back to elk camp. Tinkering daily with gear.

Here are a few

[BrentLaBere]

I would put a guess out and say it has to be the same as any animal where they will round out and wear down the older they are.

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

Young bulls: pointed tips onthe tooth. hollow inside, mostly white in color.

3-4 year olds: more rounded, more solid, getting more color.

Aged bulls: buglers are much larger, somewhat flatter surface, usually much more color.

Real old bulls: Large teeth. well worn with possibility of some cavities, good color.

Cows also have ivory or buglers. And the same basic rules apply. Usually cows live much longer and I have seen several that have worn their ivory down to the size of a human eye tooth or even smaller.

Also I might add that all of the above can be impacted by diet, especially color and amount of wear.

[Swede]

If I was going to use just one it would be hollow vs. solid, but I agree with WW.

[Buglemaster]

Just my opinion., but the tiger eye or coloring of the teeth seem to just get better & better the older they get. Young bulls are real plane in coloring but the older bulls teeth are stunning! Most of my collection are pretty plane... Good to see you back Bill.

[bowpackerrob]

Nice collection! Impressive.

[CrazyElkHunter]

Well----WW hit all of them, he really knows his stuff. But Swede! You knew exactly what I was looking for. Younger elk ivories are hollow and mature are solid. When you turn them over, you can see inside the young tooth.

Have you ever seen or shot a bull that had double ivories? This bull had doubles and a weird 6x4 Rack

[elkmtngear]

Have you ever seen or shot a bull that had double ivories? This bull had doubles and a weird 6x4 Rack

I've never seen anything like that....very cool!

[Swede]

I hope I am not hi jacking this thread, but who can tell me when a bull becomes biologically mature? Also are the elk you hunt really mature?

[Jaquomo]

I killed one with two matching ivories on one side, nested together but separate. Single tooth on the other side. Nobody I know had seen anything like it before.

I like to shoot herd bulls with flattened ivories and lots of rings.

Swede, as you know, "mature" is a relative thing. For most OTC CO units, a "mature" herd bull is 4-5 years old, occasional 6-7 year old. Where I'm hunting this year, some die of old age. The two bulls the guys shot last year in the valley we're hunting were aged at 13 and 11 years. They were old soldiers who hung out together year-round, and had no interest in the rut. When the younger one was killed, the older one marched back and forth along the ridge for three days, moaning and bugling, until the other hunter shot him.

They netted 376 and 353, and the 376 peaked several years before with a much bigger rack, according to people who'd watched them for years.

[CrazyElkHunter]

The bull had matching doubles on both sides. Kinda cool, but not as uncommon as I thought. I shared the same question on another forum a few years ago and other hunters said they had taken bulls with doubles. Swede, with the over the counter tags we buy to hunt on public land, I would have to say a good 6x6 bull in our area is around 4 to 5 years old. Far from being a true mature bull in my opinion. I feel, a truly mature bull is at least 7 to 8 years old and older. Even though we are taking nice bulls with respectable racks, doe's not make them fully mature. A lot of the bulls have nice racks even at 3 and 4 years old but do not have the muscle and body mass of a mature bull. The oldest bull I have taken was in a draw unit a few years ago and we figured him to be between 7 and 8. Huge body with 4 foot backstraps on each side. He had wandered into the small National Forest I was hunting looking for cows from a private ranch that gets $10,000.00 for there bulls.

[Swede]

Bill and Lou are correct on the question of what make a mature bull. I consider 6 years old as the point where they reach maturity. Before that they are like teen agers in their development. As it was mentioned our herds generally have an immature animal for the herd bull. There are just not enough bulls surviving the hunting seasons, to ensure mature bulls are doing the most of the breeding.