Dalejbrass

Thought I would share this with all of you, as I learned it from my cousin last year and have found it to be a fast and affective way to " quickly" field score whitetails. My cousin runs a commercial hunting ranch in northern Oklahoma and has killed over a hundred whitetails with his bow. He also graduated from OSU with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology.
Look at the best side of the animals antlers. Guestimate the G-2 & G-3 tine lengths and add them together. Mulitply that number by 2 and put a 1 in front of it. Example: if your bucks left G-2 is approx. 10" and the G-3 is 8" (10+8=18). Multiply 18 by 2 (18x2=36). Finally put a one in front of it. You would have a buck that Gross scored somewhere close to 136" . With a little practice, you will find that this method will allow you field score whitetails within 5-10" . Things to consider; if the animal is spindally and has short brow tines, you can assume that you will need to subtract 5-10" . If the buck has good mass, width and long brow tines, you can probably add 10" to your previous gross score. I usually spend a couple of months before hunting season watching hunting videos that post the bucks Gross Scores after the kill. This makes for awesome practice. I just bought Monster Bucks 11 and successfully scored every buck that was killed within 5-8" in a matter of seconds. I have also found that this helps with buck fever (at least for me) because your mind has something else to focus on. I killed a 150" , 9-pointer last year (my biggest ever!!) and I did not get buck fever until I watched him drop. I saw him from about eighty yards out, applied this formula, knew he was a shooter and never looked at his antlers again, until he was on the ground. Let me know what you think!

Rack-attack

Your method would score an 8 point the same as a 14 point ????

Dalejbrass

No.....you would take into consideration that a 14-pointer will obviously score higher due to the additional points. You would know that if this method gives you a gross score of 136" and the deer has 14 points, you' ve got you a BIG buck. Like I said, give it a try on some of your videos and see how close you can really get.

silentassassin

If you were only dealing with 8 pts that would be a decent method however for general purposes [X(][X(][X(][X(]

hunter9022

i think its a great idea. It gives you and easyway to see if youve got a shooter or not. Im not a trophy hunter or anything, but im still going to try this. Anything to put me at an advantage.thanks dalejbrass

wolfen68

I like it and I' ll try it. I' m going to get MB 11 and try it out. For me it would be useful whether it were an 8 pointer or better. If it would go 140 or better and has more than 8 points, it is a definite shooter. It could possibly nail down in moments if a buck is a shooter or not.

silentassassin

I guess I just keep things a little simpler. I can normally tell within about .0000000001 of a second from the time I get a good look wether or not a deer is a shooter.

WV Hunter

Using your example, 10" g2, 8" g3, .....and let' s say 3" g1 and 20" beams and 14" circumference(which is being fair, not huge--not spindly)....you come up with 110" .
Add a 15" spread and you have a barely legal p&y buck(if he doesn' t have ded' s). In the method you described, he was 136" gross based on your quick scoring method. So 11" over(gross). I did my buck from last year....g2 7" , g3 5 " ...so 124" ....in realitly he scored 115" with 4" brows. So 9" under.

I' ve never heard of that method. It' s an interesting method, and at least will give you a rough quick idea for sure. I think if you use that method, and subtract 10" , it would be a more realistic method for estimating 8pt' s. Of course if you live in areas that tend to have enormous mass, or great spreads...it may be more on target.

Dalejbrass

Silentassassin: I totally agree in most hunting situations. I know too within milliseconds if I' m going to take a buck on my hunting property. My point is - if you are lucky enough to hunt an area that is known for big bucks, or your hunting a commercial ranch that has fines or minimums for shooting smaller bucks, then this is a pretty good method. I should not have posted that it is " proven" because it is not! I have proven to myself that it works for me. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to hunt my cousins ranch each year. He has 5500 acres that has been aggressively managed for the last 8 years. He currently has a 1.10 to 1.0 buck-to-doe ratio. In this situation, you better know a little something about field judging, because if you don' t, you' ll end up shooting the first thing you see. Last year, during a four-day hunt, I successfully called in approx. 8-10 bucks per day, while on stand. The smallest being approx. 118" and the largest being 176" . (I know because my cousin killed him from the same stand 3 days after I left). I called that buck in with a grunt tube and doe bleat and he caught me with my rattling horns in my hand. All I could do was watch him stare at me and walk away. It was a sickening feeling. Although, I did ultimately kill a 150" 9-pointer on the last day. We also use this method while performing evening, spot-light counts (it is legal here in Oklahoma) once a BIG buck is spotted. If nothing else, it is a lot of fun and a great way to start a little gambling games, while watching hunting videos with your buddies on the weekends.

Dalejbrass

WV Hunter - I think your probably right to deduct 10" or so when trying to field judge an 8 pointer, unless of course he has incredible mass and browses.