In the Outdoors: Scoring whitetail bucks

Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young, Duke explains

By Oak Duke

     Soon, by mid-September, those brown-antlered summertime bucks in velvet will all be carrying hard white antlers.

     It probably comes as little surprise that we have developed a rigid scoring system for antlers.

     And even experienced hunters may not know how to score their racks.

     Actually, it is possible for an eight-point buck to score higher than a 10-point buck.

     Logic tells us that ten is greater than eight…so what gives?

     Don’t we just count points?

     Nope.

     Antlers are scored by using four basic measurements; first the inside maximum spread, second is the overall length of each of the two main beams, third is the circumference(s) of the main beams, and last is the tine length.

     The four measurements are added together for a final tally.

     Two of the main national scoring systems, The Boone and Crockett, and the other the Pope and Young, derived from firearm and archery hunters respectively, measure to the nearest 1/8 of an inch and follow the same guidelines.

     The first measurement, called “the overall spread” is taken from the widest distance between the two main beams, so that’s one of the four.

     The second measurement is taken from the burr, or the pedicle at the base of the antler, all the way out to the tip of the beam, and usually there are two measurements here to add to the spread total.

     Then, each beam has four circumference measurements, the first between the antler burr and the first tine, called the brow tine. The second measurement is between the brow tine (some have called these inside tines (eye-guards.) A third and a fourth circumference measurement is taken between the next two up tines on each beam of an eight pointer.

     What if it’s a six pointer? Still there are four measurements…no matter what. So a six-pointer is measured around the beam, like an eight=pointer, but then since its lacking a tine, the third measurement is doubled. So six-pointers get four measurements, just like eight- and ten-pointers…and so on.

     No matter how many points, there are still four measurements of circumference on each side.

     Then each of the “up tines” are measured for length, using a base line at the point of the antler beam.

     Added together, the four basic measurements of spread, beam length, circumference, and tine length are tallied for the final overall score of the buck’s antlers.

     That’s called the gross score, and most often used. Like as an example…”I saw an eight-point buck standing in a field and it looked like it would make 120 points!”

     Gross score is the overall total, contrasted with a net score, which subtracts differences in tine length, and circumferences between each side.

     So though no two bucks grow exactly the same set of antlers; depending upon its individual DNA, habitat/food resources, mineral uptake, and life experiences such as injuries, net antler scores are often used, though the deductions for differences in the two side measurements drop the score lower.

     So that 120-class buck on the hoof might only score 100 inches, once deductions are made for asymmetry.

     Scoring bucks gets a bit more complicated and interesting when the categories of typical bucks and non-typical bucks are brought up.

     What’s a non-typical buck?

     Some bucks antlers carry weird points, such as kickers, stickers, drop-tines (antlers growing down, not up) and even bulbous masses. How are they scored?

     Basically, those measurements are added in, and if they in fact increase the bucks score as a non-typical, then it will be scored with that designation.      

     A flash of a deer’s body through the trees or brush… a hint of antlers on its head, and then – gone.

     All we have is A tantalizing and exciting memory.

     If that’s all we have to go by, how do we score that buck?

     We don’t have antlers in our hands and a tape measure to go by.

     Even some experienced hunters might not know how to look and judge what they see flashing through the woods.

     First of all, the number of points on a set of antlers does not indicate the animal’s age.  

     In fact, a small percentage of yearling (one and a-half-year-old bucks born a year ago May or June) are eight-pointers!

     And there are older bucks that carry diminutive sets of antlers with only a few points.

     Many, if not most of the bucks we see are yearlings, no matter how many points they have.

     Bucks are categorized as spikes (one point on each side), some are fork-horns (four-pointers), some “six’s”, “eight’s”, “ten’s”, “12’s” and so on.

     The classes of bucks go by 10-inch increments, like 110-inch class, 120 class, 130 class and so on.

     The quick way to count points:

     If you see a buck from the side, first count how many “up-tines” it has. Generally, most bucks have brow tines, which are the first set of points between the ears at the base of the antlers.

     Brow tines are often difficult to see, especially from the side. We assume they are there because most bucks have them.

     And we know that there are two front points, or the end of the main beams.

     Then… if there is another up-tine, between the front, main beam point and the brow tine, we call that buck a “six-pointer.”

     And most bucks are quite symmetrical, the same on each side. So when we count three up-tines, on a side, on a buck at 200 yards, we call it an “eight-pointer.”

     This system seems simple.

     But many experienced hunters and wildlife watchers may not look for up-tines and try to count points!

     And that’s almost impossible because the two sides of the rack, blend together at just about any distance.

     A second way bucks are quickly field measured is if they are seen “front on” and their “spread” is taken in.      Normally, our northern whitetail deer have an ear spread, tip-to-tip of about 17 inches. (Southern whitetails in some areas are traditionally smaller with tip-to-tip spreads of 15 inches or so.) However, many southern states have stocked northern deer to get larger animals.

     But things are changing.

     Overall, our bucks are getting larger and older.

     Twenty years ago, and especially earlier, around 80 percent of our bucks were yearlings (according to DEC harvest records), 15 percent of the deer population was made up of two and a half year olds.

     That left all bucks three years old and up to only make up the remaining 5 percent.

     But nowadays in New York, in this second decade of the 21^st century, since hunters began practicing for the most part Voluntary Antler Restrictions, the percentage of older bucks in the overall population has increased dramatically. As of last few years…the 2020’s according to DEC stats, 38% of the buck take was comprised of yearling bucks, 38% was 2.5 year old bucks, leaving the remaining 24% to have been bucks over 3.5 years old!

     Quite a change indeed from just a couple decades ago.

     If a buck has “an antler spread” as wide as its ears, we know that it is probably not a yearling, but at least two-and a half years old. However, here in NYS, three percent of yearling bucks have a spread as wide as their ears and measure over 100 Boone and Crockett scoring points!

     A way to access antler size.

     Few bucks in our area of the Southern Tier of NY were harvested as four-year-olds, that is, as over three-and-a-half years of age during the 20^th Century. Now it is becoming much more common, due to VAR (Voluntary Antler Restrictions.)

     Those older bucks, often termed “mature” are the ones with the big bull necks, heavy antler beams, sagging bellies and still rarely seen, or much less tagged.  

     Yearlings have three cusps:

     A simple way for a hunter to distinguish a yearling buck, no matter how big or small its rack from a two-year old buck is by checking its teeth. Two-year-old-and-up bucks are judged in the field by tooth wear.

     But yearlings have three cusps, or parts to their third jaw tooth (discount those little front teeth termed as nippers.) There is a big gap back to the “jaw teeth.” Count the third one back on the “lower” jaw. If it’s got three parts to it, then it’s a yearling. If it has only two parts to it, that buck is a two-year old or older.