HARRISBURG — Two questions many hunters want to know about a deer they harvest is how old it is and how much does it weigh.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is offering some free tools to guide hunters in determining the answer to these two questions.

To help hunters learn how Game Commission biologists determine the age of a white-tailed deer, the agency has posted a link to a video on its website demonstrating the technique used to identify deer that are 6-months old, 18-months old and 30-months old or older.

To view the video, visit www.pgc.state.pa.us, click on the “White-Tailed Deer” icon in the center of the home page and select “Deer Aging” in the “Deer Hunting” section.

“Looking at the teeth is the best method of aging a white-tailed deer,” said Christopher Rosenberry, Game Commission Deer and Elk Management section supervisor. “Antler points and amount of gray on the muzzle are not reliable methods of aging deer.”

In partnership with the Penn State University Department of Dairy and Animal Science, the Game Commission has posted a deer weight estimating chart in the “White-Tailed Deer” section on the website

By knowing the girth of the deer’s chest, which is measured in inches just behind the front legs, the chart will help hunters estimate a deer’s live weight and field dressed weight, as well as the weight of edible boneless meat.

For example, a deer with a girth of 35 inches at the chest would have an estimated live weight of 126 pounds, an estimated field-dressed weight of 99 pounds and yield about 57 pounds of edible venison.

The agency also sells a deer weight tape, for 94 cents, which includes markings to enable a hunter to estimate these weights in the field.

The tape includes a depiction of where to place the tape around a deer’s chest, as well as how to convert that measurement in inches into estimated live weight, field dressed weight and edible boneless meat.

Visit the Game Commission website to buy the tape.