hlp score my muley (very small deer dont click for big deer)

More than happy to, if you want to email me a pic, I'll post the pic so everyone else can take a look at it. When MJM gets home I'll have him take a peek, he's better at judging than I am. There are various places on the web (like you've obviously found) that can tell you how to score your animals. I got a stocking stuffer last year that's kind of applicable here. Its a journal like thing made by outdoor edge. It has all the species of animal in it and it tells you how to score those animals, and it has a place to keep a record of your animals in it too....

Did you understand how to do the measurements, and how many to take??
Here's a link to the company website that makes the field scoring kit. A lot of the things in it are somewhat trivial, I like the info and the paper the most!

http://www.outdooredge.com/product_detail.php?cat_ID=7&prod_ID=28

email sent muliesmerriams - thanks a lot for the help. As far as understanding the web site I was at, it was ver simple, heres the link;

http://www.boone-crockett.org/bgRecords/ScoringYourTrophy.asp?area=bgRecords

if you go there you'll see, you just type in the measurements it asks for. really easy as it explans everything for you, so all that you have to do is make sure you tape right.. As far as the scores being so different when i scored my deer, i guess there just must be something wrong with the web site maybe? Ill tell you though, every time i scored something on there (just the 3 different times so far) I made sure to be as exact as I could with each measurement.. so i dunno why things were that drastically different when i scored my deer twice. or why my dads deer scored so low? Unles it really is, but I would assume its at least a little bigger than 138 - like i said i would have guessed 150 at least.

Thanks all

HH's pics

Hey thanks again man, and such quick service too - i like that..

Anyways, the first pic is my dads buck that I scored at 138 (seems a little low to me). As for picture relations or whatever itd be called, my backs against that wall and that plaque is pressed against my chest, the pic is so close cause i had to set it on my couch to take a pic of myself, so its pretty up close, sorry about that.

The second pic is my buck that I scored at first 131 and then second at 86 7/8

Thanks for anyones help with what they might really score, generally at least. and thanks again to MM for the great help

List your measurements that you took. It's really difficult to tell from the front on shot you have. He appears to have short G4's and maybe main beams. So, 138" is not impossible, although he looks a tad better.

Here's a photo of a buck that scored right at 140. Looks similar to your dad's buck.

http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/551/178101buck1.jpg" alt="" />

That's a nice buck by any means but alot of the time a higher score comes from having nice long tines that make deep forks. Though width is nice and looks great it really doesn't add that much to the over all score. Still nice bucks in both pictures I would be proud of both of them.

hound_hunter, although I am by no means an expert at visually scoring a rack I thought I'd throw my in two-cents worth in an attempt to sound smart....LOL
I agree with BOHNTR, it's a bit difficult to tell from the pic (Dad's buck) just how deep the front forks are but I would guess that it would score around 140....or pretty close to where you have him scored.
BUT, with that being said, a true trophy is in the eyes of the beholder! I really mean that too. One of my favorites is a 3X3 mulie I got years ago that wouldn't score any higher than 120 but I worked my rear off that season, hiked all over God's creation, and made one heck of a shot on the last day, within the last hour of shootin' light to get him. His rack hangs proudly in the middle of my others and I wouldn't give him up fo the world! Both the bucks you have posted are "trophy worthy" if you consider them such.
Here's a pic (Scanned copy of the pic. Sorry for the lack of quality).

LOL....I'm not an expert on postin' pics either! Dang that pic's big!

Thanks for the insight guys - No I definately agree with the trophy bein in the eyes of the beholder.. I just started bein curious about how to score animals and such, but numbers would never affect whether i do or dont shoot and im near positive my pops feels the same way. So thanks for the insight, i guess I did score his right then, that pic BOHNTR put up I would guess to be a 150-160 class buck as well, guess I got a lot of work to do if its right on 140.

Thanks for lettin me know guys.

Oh yeah, so on the second picture (my deer) that score would be closer to the 86 7/8 that I taped it out to the second time then - I know its pretty hard to see in that pic cause we were half in shade and half in sun, sorry about that.

Thanks again to everyone for the help. AGCHAWK / BOHNTR: great bucks, thanks for sharin

hound_hunter:

Measuring critters is passion of mine. I'm an official measurer for P&Y/B&C along with several state organizations. The best advice I can give is continue to measure antlers as often as possible. The more you meausre the better you'll get a field judging animals in the wild.

Here's a photo of a 165" net buck to give you a comparison to the first buck I posted.

http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/551/17811993_AZ_buck.jpg" alt="" />


Another good idea would be to order the P&Y measuring manual and you'll learn how to accurately measure ALL critters. Good luck and welcome to the board.

Alot of people through out gross only score too. When I say I just saw a 170 class buck, I am talking about its gross score. Hound, how about posting the measurement of your bucks and we can see if you missed something.

Ridgetop makes a good point. The numbers I'm throwing out are net scores. As a measurer, I usually only use the offical measurement unless specified. The first buck had a gross score at 148" and the second had a gross score of 171".

I agree, post your measurements......your buck looks larger than the mid 80's, IMO.

alright guys, keep in mind im new at all of this..

I was just wonderin, whats the different between the net score and the gross score?? Are they 2 different measurements or whats up with that?

Animals are scored based on symetry between the left and right side of their respective antlers/horns. So the gross score is actually the total amount of antler grown BEFORE deductions. The net score is the official score after symetry deductions.

Example-If the left main beam is 23" and the right main beam is 19", you will have to deduct the difference for the official net score. Gross would be 42" in main beam measurements while net is going to be 38". Have I confused you yet?

Basically a quick way to field judge an animal for net score is to add all the shortest measurements of each respective side tine lenght and mass)and double it. Then add the inside spread.

I see, thanks a lot man - I saw on the website they do some deductions thing but wasnt sure what that was all about - I had no idea they were scored according to how symetric they are, thanks once again for the info.

I agree, based on the picture you have provided it is difficult to get the full picture but 140 - 145 looks pretty reasonable. I'm a bit of a novice, but from what I've gathered when judging a buck the main beam and g2 (backs) measurments are the ones that translate to a high score. Deep forks is an indication that the g3's and g4's are long assuming the beams and backs are long.

This is the buck I killed last year...he grosses 170 and nets mid 160's.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d159/Dahlmer/IMGP0546.jpg" alt="" />

Notice he has good beams, g3's, and g4's but his g2's peter out. If his g2s evened out with his g3's he would go near 180.

Remember also that brow tines can add significant inches, look at this buck my dad killed several years ago. It is supposed to gross 170's, I have not measured it myself.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d159/Dahlmer/deerhead1.jpg" alt="" />

Big scores are a result of long tines. While width and mass make a good impression, they don't usually add significantly to a deers score (assuming we're talking about similar bucks).

Looking at the two above bucks from the side you would not notice a big difference in them. However the top buck's outside spread is 5 inches wider than the 2nd bucks. It looks impressive, but the inside spreads are only about an inch or two different. The top buck also has much darker antlers and as a result appears to carry more mass...but I would be surprised if the mass measurements are separted by more than an inch.

At the end of the day, I believe that a trophy is in the eye of the beholder and while a score provides and interesting measuring stick it does not define a trophy in my eyes.

those are some awesome deer, thanks for all that advice too - its nice to know that kinda stuff (and thanks to BOHNTR I accualy knew what was goin on with that gross/net stuff you said, thanks man =D> )

After scoring 6 more of my dads deer today (and a few elk and pronghorns) I found out that it really does score 140's rather than mid 150's like i guessed, now that i think about it like you guys have said those G2's really do make a difference, and mostly on his buck its just that none of his points really flare out, just an average framed 4X4 (not that theres anything wrong with that, biggest deer ive taken is under 90" haha - Id die if i ever got a deer as big as the ones my dad pulls out year after year.

Anyways, thanks again to everyone.. Hey heres a guestion ive been wondering all day; why do they call the points G's ? Like you have your main bean and then a G1, G2, G3, and G4 on muleys and with elk - what does G stand for?

thanks again and keep it safe out there everyone

Nice bucks. Good information, Thanks.