Scoring Deer?

[Rick3499]

Hello Everyone,

I'm not very familiar with scoring deer, do you have any helpful resources for this? I would love to see examples through pictures of deer scoring around 140" if possible... I am thinking of taking a hunt where this is the minimum but i'd really like to see what this looks like before I go any further with my research. Thanks so much, I look forward to learning from all of you more experienced deer hunters.

[badtoys]

i have it but i will have to send by email so i need your email

[SHKYBoonie]

First off, welcome to the forum!

Rick, I will post a pic of a deer scoring in the 140's, but it takes alot of practice to score a deer on the hoof. It took me years to learn this. I always seemed to be way off base to the plus side. That's when I started to learn that racks always seemed bigger when on a deer's head. The best way for you to get a good idea is to go to the Pope & Young web site and down load their score sheet, then follow the directions on the sheet in scoring some of your own deer. Another really good tool is www.buckscore.com, this will take any picture you have of a buck and walk you through the scoring process. You have to use pics of bucks that you know the score of for a while to get a feel for the program. After you start scoring them pretty close then you can start using it to score other bucks that you have made a guess about before hand. All I can say is that a 140" buck is usually alot bigger than most hunters think.

This is a pic of a 147" 8 point and the bottom pics is a buck that went just a little over 150". Don't judge the size compared to my size (I am a big guy at 6'4" and 275 lbs.) but instead the size in relations to things on the deers head. Such as his ears and eyes. The length of a mature bucks ears are around 7 to 8 inches. From tip to tip of alert ears is usually somewhere around 15" and the circumference of a deers eye is usually around 4". Use these measurements to convert tine length, width, and mass.

Hope this helps.

[vipermann7]

It is very difficult, to say the least, to field judge a rack. There is no substitution for years of being in the field and seeing a variety of different sized deer. Every rack is so unique, and everything comes into play: mass, tine length, width, number of tines, it all adds up really fast. I shot a buck that is 19 inches wide, 10 pointer, nice long tines, just a huge looking buck. He scored 127. My brother shot a deer a couple years ago that was inside the ears, also a 10 point, and fairly short tines. We guessed 115 tops. He measured 137 because his mass was so heavy, and carried through the whole rack so well. Its amazing how different each deer is.

The best way I have learned has been to just be out there, and I've been fortunate enough to see big and small deer in the field. Ive gotten trail camera pictures of deer, and then seen the same deer on a hunt, that is a big help. the third part of that equation is if you shoot the deer to confirm your estimates. You can get some practice watching shows and reading magazine articles, basically expose yourself to as many different sightings of bucks as possible. Try to guess their score based on hall mark features you can pick out, like are they inside or outside their ears. In proportion to their width, how talll do they seem to be? How many points? Do the points look thin like spindles, or do they look average? Do they look heavy? All those things come together to give you a rough guess. But it takes practice, any way you can get it, but nothing beats hitting the field.

I guess I don't really have anything that directly addresses what you're looking for. But that's my point of view from experience, anyway. Good luck on your hunt!
There are threads on this forum where guys have posted their pictures of deer they have shot. Many of the guys have also posted what the deer measured. So cruise around on this site, and find the threads where guys have posted their trail camera pictures, and their harvests. There is a ton of them on here, and you can get some good ideas.

[Rick3499]

SHKYBoonie and Vipermann,

Thank you very much for your in depth responses, these helped me very much. It's great to know that it's not something I can expect to pick up a book and learn all about but rather be in the field and continue to watch deer and try and learn. I estimates of the deer's ear length and eye circumference will be very helpful when I practice, and I will make sure to check out the website you've reccommended. And vipermann, thank you for alerting me of the pictures that people have published with their scores, that will help a lot to compare my estimates. Thanks again for all of your input.

[SwampLife]

[img][img]http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4465/2008495copy.jpg[/img][/img]



gross 150" net like 143" or something, i forget exactly.

its important to make sure you dont have buck fever or tunnel vision if your are trying to score a deer you are thinking of shooting...ground shrinkage can get the best of us.

[Marc Anthony]

Welcome aboard Rick!

Field judging can be really tricky, especially when you don't have enough time just to stare at the buck without blowing your hunt. One easy method is this: Go directly to the G-4! Forget about all of the other tines when time is an issue. If the buck has 2 G-4's and if they're at least 4", chances are you've got yourself a solid 140" buck or greater. This is a great, proven method that really helps in the field, when time is a factor. Of course, if time permits, verify your findings by looking at the rest of the rack but again, if you can see the G-4, it won't be very difficult to get a scoop on the rest of the rack. Without the G-4, you'll have to add everything else up and that can be very difficult under that kind of pressure.

The picture beow is a good example of a decent size G-4 where the rack scored 155" before deductions.

[SwampLife]

^^Man i wish the 10 point i shot this year would have followed that rule. he has good g4's but don't think he will make 110"...

thats a brute of a deer btw...

[Marc Anthony]

It's not a fool proof method but it really helps when your under the gun...no pun intended!

[SHKYBoonie]

You are very correct Marc Anthony, the G4's are usually a good indication that the buck will score well. On the other hand, it usually needs another characteristic feature as well to push it into the 140" rang, such as; heavy mass, long G1's, exceptional spread or long main beams. If it has one of the before mentioned and good length on the G4's it will usually score well into the 140's. My 10 point this year had great G4's, good mass, decent spread at 17 3/4" and really good mains at almost 26" each. What he did lack was G1's although he did have about 2" on each side, if he would have had more he would have scored enough into 150" to keep him there with deductions. But again, you are correct that the G4's are a good way to make a quick judgment when it comes down to it unless another feature is more prominent such as the case with some of the 140"+ 8 points I have seen and harvested.
 
All in all, it takes alot of field time and study of pics to get a good feel on field scoring a buck. Lord knows, I have had my share of good ole ground shrinkage. Where I finally made a break through is realizing, through my own misjudgment, to subtract about 15" from what my estimation was at the time. Another words, if I thought a buck would score 140" at first, I would bank on a solid 125" buck. I'm sure I have underestimated some bucks but at this point in my hunting life I would rather do that than it to be the other side of the coin.
 
I have also been studying for a long time to be more proficient in field judging the age of a buck. Some older bucks may not carry the best set of antlers in the woods. A 4 1/2+ yr. old buck is a trophy in itself regardless of his antler score. You get one up on a buck of that age and you have just scored on one of the wisest animals in the world, in my book.
 
GREAT buck by the way Marc!