MEASURING WHITETAIL ANTLERS
By: Allen “horntagger” Morris
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When it comes to having whitetail deer
antlers scored there have been two
Any whitetail be it a doe or a buck
it a trophy, but many of the once in a
Then some great bucks of all time have
not made it in the Boone and Crockett
Now donut get me wrong both B&C
and P&Y records system have made a place in
Plus they also set rules and records
for all of North America big game. But,
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| The philosophy of Buckmasters Trophy
Record Full Credit Scoring System or
“BTR” is to measure and record whitetail deer antlers without forcing them to conform to a criterion of perfect symmetry. BTR Full Credit Scoring System takes nothing away from the antlers. It simply measures every inch of antler and classifies it accordingly. The Buckmasters Trophy Record system
can be distinguished from other
1. The BTR system does not deduct differences
between lengths of opposing
2. The BTR system does not include the
inside spread measurement in the
3. Since the inside spread between the
main beams is not added into the
4. The BTR scoring system has four classifications
of antlers categorized
5. In the BTR scoring system it has
set a minimum score the same for each of
BTR minimum score of 140 inches is required for all firearms harvested deer. BTR minimum score of 105 inches is required for all bow harvested deer. These minimum scores may sound low until
you realize the inside spread
6. The BTR scoring system provides categories
for all types of firearms:
The bow-and-arrow category includes:
The "Pick-Up" category is for antlers,
which have been found rather than
This way you can compare apples to apples. 7. NO drying time is required before antlers can be measured. 8. The BTR also has a separate category for antlers still in velvet. 9. There is opportunity for entry for
bucks, which have been taken behind
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WHITETAIL MANAGEMENT
Buckmasters Trophy Record Full Credit Scoring System does not penalize a deer's antlers because of their shape or configuration since the whitetail buck had no choice in how they grow.
With every hunting video, hunting book, and hunting show talking about managing whitetail deer herds for quality whitetail bucks. For instance the new and one of the best series of videos talking about managing whitetail deer herds from Drury Outdoors called 100% Wild, Fair Chase Volume 2 of 10.
In one of the volumes it talks about the aging the whitetail buck by the size and structure of the whitetail bucks body and letting the younger bucks walk. Which is a great asset to this video because you also start seeing some irregular formation in antler growth as bucks get older. They sometimes start growing irregular or better known as non typical points. With P&Y and B&C these become deductions a lot of times.
With almost every hunter, landowner,
biologist, game and fish department working on having a higher quality
of whitetail bucks with food plots, minerals, crops just for whitetail,
and hunting practices. It is common sense that a new method of scoring
whitetail deer be applied with the new
quality whitetail management methods.
Each hunter may prefer certain antlers over others, like non typical antlers over typical antlers, but to call one preference right and another preference wrong, especially where a design of Mother Nature is concerned. What some record system may consider a freak of nature like a third antler or even what they call cactus racks may what makes it special to that hunter and that whitetail buck. So how can you have a freak of nature when Mother Nature always has its own plan.
There is no justifiable reason to penalize a whitetail antlers score because of the origin of an antlers point or the direction in which it grows. For this reason, the BTR minimum scores will be the same whether the rack is perfectly symmetrical or largely irregular. The BTR Full Credit Scoring System's mandate is to record what nature produced, without making any assessment of its aesthetic value to the human eye.
For a measuring system to be as fair to deer as it is to wild sheep and goats, it must be prepared to acknowledge every antler configuration possible without penalty. This is the basis of the philosophy behind the BTR Full Credit Scoring System.
MEASURING THE AIR.
Measuring the air is something that
you do with a gauge not a tape measure. To fully understand the Buckmasters
philosophy for not including the inside spread measurement into the rack's
score, imagine a set of whitetail antlers altered to a flexible state,
so that the main beams could be spread
wider or narrower.
In other scoring systems, the changing
of the inside spread measurement would affect the final score, either positively
or negatively. In reality, the actual inches of antler would not be altered
by widening or narrowing the inside spread. All that has really been altered
is a measurement of air,
not antler. For this reason, the BTR
scoring system includes the inside spread measurement only for identification
purposes.
Also to give the respect that whitetail
bucks deserves, why wait. Everyone will agree when the whitetail buck is
walking around in all his glory is a picture every hunter wants to see
and is the time the whitetail is at best. After the bullet or arrow
has found its mark why take anything away from
that and the whitetail antlers.
So the common 60 day drying time that is required for other methods not longer applies because, even years after the harvest that the antlers are have even lost inches. So why not measure the antlers while the whitetail is as close to its prime as possible.
When measuring typical tines, no deduction is made when one typical point does not have a matching point on the opposite antler. An example would be a point rack with five typical points on one side and only four typical points on the other. BTR scoring system does not force this rack to become a hypothetical pointer by deducting the unmatched point. No matter how antlers grow, the BTR scoring system will accept and record them.
By simply recording what Mother Nature produced and classifying it accurately, the BTR scoring system offers whitetail enthusiasts the opportunity to record their trophies with an unbiased, record keeping agency that allows systematic comparison of the amazing, natural artistry of whitetail antlers.
To find BTR Official Scorers in your
state go to www.buckmasters.com
or call:
Aduston Rogers
1 - 334- 215-3337 ext. 247
Trophy Chairman
P.O. Box 244022
Montgomery, AL 36124
These are scorers listed in Buckmasters
for Missouri:
Allen Morris – (573)-243-6561 or (5730-450-2186
Don Roper - (314)756-7694
Ken Masters - (314) 441-9172
Christopher R. Kiel - (314)324-3049
Todd Smith - (660) 627-6826
Ronald Johnson - (573) 222-8584
Ronnie Hunter - (816) 632-5524
Barry L. Denison - (417) 644-7594
Paul Reedy - (417) 667-8249
Vera Russell - (417) 226-4610
Rex Russell - (417)226-4610
William N. Block - (816)277-3111
James Dotson - (873)885-2092
Mark Holman - (417)778-6468
Parker Stapp - (417)637-2027
Richie Bridges - (417)546-2975
Steve Moody - (417)924-3766
James Mayfield - (417)256-1479
Jackie McConnell - (417)742-2395
Marvin Batson - (417)866-2224
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