STRAFFORD — The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking deer hunters to collect a tooth from the mouth of any buck that they bag this regular hunting season, which begins on Saturday.
Tooth envelopes are available at all deer reporting stations, on which hunters are asked to write their name and Conservation ID number.
The base of the incisor will be thinly sliced and like the rings of a tree trunk, the layers of cementum — a stiff layer of tissue that covers the root of a tooth — are put under a microscope to determine the age of the felled deer.
“Knowing the age helps us understand the other health measures that we collect, like body weight or antler measurements,” said Nick Fortin, Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s head deer biologist. “Obviously you have to know how old an animal is to know if it should weigh more or less.”
Age data is also helpful in building the department’s population models, which are used to construct hunting regulations.
“We know how many deer are taken by hunters each year, and if we get enough ages, then we can say, ‘Fifty percent of them were 2 years old; 25% were 3 years or older,’ and we can use that to reconstruct the population back through time,” Fortin said. “This all helps us figure out how much we ask hunters to kill each year.”
Fish and Wildlife has had biologists stationed at big game reporting stations for years, but this will be the department’s most concerted biological data collection effort and will require hands-on help from hunters, Fortin said.
To remove the teeth for collection, hunters should take a knife deeply down through the gums on each side of one of the middle incisors. With the back of the knife, or with pliers, gently pry the tooth forward until it comes free. Make sure to include the entire root as well.
Frances Mize is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at fmize@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.