Scoring?

Check into Safaris Club scoring. They have a system and a record book for all species you mention. Antler scoring is simply measuring per instructions and tabulating the mount results. Boone & and Crocket system deducts differences in point length between corresponding tines, hence, gross vs net. Buckmasters does not use inside spread in the official score, hence Official vs composite score. I’ve been both a Safari Club and Buckmasters scorer for years. It’s all fun until you get one in like this!

 

It’s basically every inch of antlers measured out in 1/8s . So you have the length of both main beams , then the length of each point coming off main beam and then you have the circumference of each main beam measured in only 4 places on both sides. All that gets totaled up to become a total number from inches to point. Some books count the inside spread of main beams and some don’t .

 

See if you can get your hands on a copy of

"How to Measure and Score Big-Game Tropies: The Official Scoring Method Used by Boone and Crockett Club, Pope and Young Club"

It covers all the species you are looking at.

 

Kieth is right.
I purchased this book and I am never more than 3 inches off from the official score. I would not attempt to score customers antlers without it. You owe it to them to be as accurate as possible.

 

I've been to the funeral of a few of my customers and been surprised to see fish or antlers incorporated into the spray on their coffin. Maybe I'll tell my kids to place my measuring cable, calipers, and folding tape on top of mine...I sure won't care!!!

 

Simply go online to the "Boone&Crocket scoring sheet". Make a copy of BOTH sides. It can't get any simpler as each individual measurement has an alphanumeric identifier and explanation.

 

https://www.boone-crockett.org/online-scoring-calculator

 

Ditto

 

I'm not a Boone & Crockett Fan. Their scoring system is like taking a photo of Sophia Loren home to your wife, and showing her all the things she needs to change to be like Sophia Loren...let's see how that affects one's love life! Every set of antlers is different. Buckmaster's motto is "If they grow it, we score it" There are no deductions. We are not interested in comparing every rack to a perfect rack. The Official Score does not include an inside spread, because "air" is not part of mass. The Composite score does include inside spread.

 

SCI.

 

I never liked the deduction part of B&C. It made no sense. You are literally un-scoring your set of antlers with deductions. I also never liked the spread measurements that counted onto the score. Buckmasters meathod is good way to do it, but not really significant compared to Pope and Young and B&C.

 

I always wondered why their aren't additions, rather than deductions, if attempting to make one measurement equal to a corresponding measurement!

 

I like B&C. As far as I'm concerned it's the ONLY scoring system that matters AND paints the most accurate picture because it requires the most information. You can look at the score sheet if you want before deductions/total inches. And to not include the spread (like Buckmasters? or Sierra?) to me makes little sense if any. Again, B&C paints the most accurate picture without photos. And I instantly know what those numbers mean before and after deductions. And it's easy to set your bar whether it be 150, 160, 170 and know roughly where you stand statistically when you pull that trigger. And communicating with others. Now, when somebody quotes numbers one has to ask if it's B&C scoring because the others have muddied up a perfectly fine system of scoring. PS Joey, you should incorporate your business cards permanently into your mounts for advertising at funerals - ha!

 

Net's are for fishing, not for scoring's.

 

I'm sorry guys but I'm a lifetime SCI and Buckmaster member. Of all three systems, Buckhalter is the hokiest. You can preach their mantra all you want but their score is seldom higher than B&C anyway. Ask any hunter you see which book they'd be more impressed to see their name. I've seen guys tell others their BTR score only to be asked what it REALLY scores. B&C has been there since TR and it's based on a perfectly symmetrical deer. If your deer isn't perfect, then it may qualify as "non-typical". As far as their snide remark on "air measurement", the second thing a hunter is likely to be asked is. "What's the spread"? Many BTR bucks won't make B&C but every B&C buck will likely make BTR.