Field evaluation for boone and crockett score whitetail deer. Current ed score charts can be downloaded in pdf format from the clubs web site. The art of field judging whitetails at a glance is a great method to practice because it is often acceptable enough within most hunting situations, to place a buck into only 3 categories. Sep 22, 2015 if your head is getting fat from all your whitetail smarts, i invite you to register and play a field scoring game here. Although scoring mule deer is similar to scoring whitetail deer, there are different key areas to look for when judging trophy quality.
You wont see many heads like that, but practically all heads worth field judging will fall between 22 and 28 inches of. When we attempt to interpret how deer use chemical signals to communicate, we are guessing. Inches are inches, and his tines didnt seem to have enough of them. A hunters guide to aging and judging live whitetailed deer in the southeast mississippi state university extension service forest and wildlife research center. Field dressing your deer r egardless of whether you are hunting with a bow or firearm, your patience and effort have finally paid off. Its free to play, definitely a good time and a great way to stay sharp on your field judging abilities. Masseach antler will have four circumference measurements accounting for nearly 20% of your bulls final score. Whether youre hunting in an antler restricted area or looking to improve herd quality on your land, its important to know how to quickly age whitetailed bucks and does. Sometimes when looking at a deer from a distance it is hard to tell their rack size and age, but with these. Those who hunt simply to fill the freezer, this is not really an issue. Shooters bible guide to whitetail strategies is the ultimate guide to hunting whitetail deer, from tracking strategies that include recovering wounded deer, and cooking with venison, to scoring and fieldjudging bucks, this book is the guide that every whitetail strategist must own.
Common scents forestdwelling animals rely less on sight and sound and more on scent. Before you pull the trigger or release an arrow, do you know how to field judge a whitetail deers antlers. Whitetail hunting basics and more 7 introduction whitetail deer hunting is the most popular big game hunting sport in america. While some whitetails are clearly shooters, as a hunter, you might often find yourself encountering a buck that is on the border of shoot or dont shoot. To this day i wonder if a certain buck that i watched feeding at hay pile in a canadian woods was a shooter or not. Tagged cola blanca, coues, coues deer, coues scoring, field judging, field judging coues, scoring, scoring deer, venado, western hunter magazine arizona coues whitetail 150. P2206 a hunters guide to aging and judging live whitetailed deer in the southeast. Astudy of whitetail deer biologists with experience aging deer in the field using physical characteristics found this was not a reliable method table 1. Every hunter needs to learn to estimate whitetail antler scores in the field, even if he, like me, cares nothing about record books. Jun 01, 2015 how to field dress elk the gutless method hunting field care of meat duration. Exactly which one set of antlers becomes the best depends on habitat, weather, amount and quality of supplemental feeding, also any injury andor sickness to which the buck is subjected.
In essence, you have to ignore the overall body size and look for specific characteristics. Field judging whitetail antler guide whitetail habitat. In the field, simply look for a spread that stretches well outside the ears. Official scoring system for bowhunting north american big. How to age whitetail bucks in the field guide outdoors. Aging bucks on the hoof qdma quality deer management. Boone and crockett clubs complete guide to hunting. Typical whitetail h1 h2 h3 h4 h1 h2 h3 h4 field judging whitetail and coues whitetail deer scoring criteria breakdown. I mentally count these points, estimate their length to the nearest inch, add them all up and multiply by two. Today however, hunters across the whitetails range are estimating the age read more.
But you cant do that if you dont know how to accurately field judge a whitetailed buck on the fly. The feat of field scoring a whitetail deer on the hoof can be a tad tricky, especially if your hunting a state or region you are unfamiliar with. Apr 01, 2000 although scoring mule deer is similar to scoring whitetail deer, there are different key areas to look for when judging trophy quality. Understand whitetail deer behavior during the rut duration. It is a long process that begins with proper shot placement. Jan 25, 2012 harvesting whitetailed bucks based on age is becoming an increasingly common management strategy. Rapid growth of deer populations, the overharvest of bucks, and the underharvest of does have created overpopulated deer herds with highly unbalanced sex ratios across the southeast. It was the first time i hunted deer north of the border, and while the group with which. Inside spread, length, and mass are what make a buck score well. Whitetailed deer to score typical whitetail antlers, measurements include the inside spread between the main beams, the length of the main beams, the distance between the tips of the main beams and the widest. Learn how to quickly age whitetail bucks and does in the field.
Some hunters enjoy chasing mature bucks and passing on younger ones. I have always been interested in field judging whitetails but this year i had to turn it up a notch. Being able to do all of the butchering, field dressing, skinning, and quartering of your own deer is pretty. An easy guide to field scoring whitetails wired to hunt. How to field dress elk the gutless method hunting field care of meat duration. To aid fieldjudging efforts, we have created a field judging calculator for both whitetail and coues bucks. Fieldjudging deer antlers john wootters is a nationally known, semiretired outdoors writer who lives in west kerr county.
Field dressing a whitetail deer doesnt have to be too intimidating. Inevitably, mistakes will happen when aging whitetails based on physical characteristics. Nov 21, 2017 scoring a deer how to field score a whitetail buck. P2206 a hunters guide to aging and judging live white. Tiptotip distance between the ears in a relaxed or semialert position is about to 14 inches for yearling and 2. The full body development is normally complete about age 5 in whitetail.
Field judging bucks there are some basic body shapes that help identify a bucks age, but you kind of have to read between the body size. A mule deers score is still the sum of measurements of tine or point length, eight circumference measurements, length of main beam and inside spread. Whitetail aging chart uses tooth measurement posted by buck manager march 26, 2012 august 25, 2018 leave a comment on deer aging. Randall typical whitetail deer killed in crawford co. Let us begin a closer look at ohio whitetail deer outfitters in an effort to narrow your search quickly at the beginning of this article. Field judging deer age from the stand military hunting and. Field dressing deer pocket guide penn state extension. If your head is getting fat from all your whitetail smarts, i invite you to register and play a field scoring game here. But for those who are hoping to shoot a buck with antlers that meet or exceed a certain numeric score, more often than not, overestimate the size of the antlers, leading to that common malady known as ground. Field judging deer age from the stand military hunting.
Youll notice in david morriss video that outlines this. Dec 05, 2016 to aid fieldjudging efforts, we have created a field judging calculator for both whitetail and coues bucks. To implement this practice, hunters must have the ability to accurately age bucks on the hoof based on their body characteristics, an ability that most hunters considered impossible a decade ago. If the deer is sideways to me, i count how many points are up. When it comes to field scoring a whitetail, otherwise known as guessing a bucks antler score, you can take some simple steps to make a close guess. Try them outthey work via mobile devices as wellon your next scouting or hunting trip, but remember, dont forget your fractions. This should indicate a spread somewhere in the low to mid40s, and thats really all you need be concerned about. Scoring bucks on the hoof and in the field is important, but not nearly as important as aging deer on the hoof. None of the first 300 whitetail deer that are listed in the boone and crockett record books are 8 point bucks.
Imb outfitters has just opened a brand new division of ohio deer hunting in the golden triangle that is stunning. Field judging bucks midwest whitetail deer hunting videos. A guide to field judging trophy elk learn how before the. American hunter how to field judge a whitetail buck. Aging deer using the wear and replacement method is not difficult, but it does require practice. Sep 14, 2015 to this day i wonder if a certain buck that i watched feeding at hay pile in a canadian woods was a shooter or not. If you are interested in ohio then sit back and enjoy this article on ohio deer hunts. Learn how to age a whitetail deer with keith warren youtube. Boone and crockett club field guide to measuring and. You might have different factors influencing you but the truth is field judging deer is pretty easy and all hunters should have a basic understanding of judging a deers age and antler score. As a hunter who has routinely had to rely on quick harvest decisions in typical hunting situations to shoot some of my largest and oldest bucks throughout the. This has continued to be a fact over the years for many reasons. Pdf click here to download a pdf of the whitetail field judging tips.
Field scoring whitetail deer made easy video deer pros. Rapid growth of deer populations, the overharvest of bucks, and the underharvest of does have created overpopulated deer. When aging a deer, it is helpful to cut the skin along the edge of the jaw to allow better inspection of the teeth. A hunter might mistakenly harvest a young, immature buck unless age and antler. Im not that great on judging does, so i use a little tip my brother told me. Heres a guide to scoring your whitetails rack outdoorhub reporters 11. Pdf click here to download a pdf of the bear field judging tips. Click here to download a pdf of the rocky mountain goat field judging.
The boone and crockett club recognizes two categories of whitetail deer. Coues deer antlers tend to form semicircles, with the antler tips often pointing toward each other. That means, the best rack a deer can grow will usually occur at age 5, 6, 7 or 8. When it comes to field judging bucks based on score you need to remember what measurements provide the most inches on deer. A whitetails sense of smell is many times greater than ours.
Field judging whitetail deer boone and crockett club. Todays advancements in trail cameras have tremendously cut back on the guesswork and these questionable encounters. Texas parks and wildlife biologists have been using this deer aging technique to manage deer on ranches, wildlife management areas and by county since 1965. Heres a guide to scoring your whitetails rack outdoorhub. For hunters and landowners that want to improve the quality of the whitetailed deer found and harvested on their property its important to let bucks reach their full genetic potential. Ensuring that you have tasty venison from the deer is no accident, however. Whitetail aging chart uses tooth measurement hunters interested in producing and growing bigger, more healthy whitetail understand that active deer management is the key to long term success. Therefore, you are looking for the same features as in whitetails, only reduced in expression. Then i know for certain that im going to kill one of the mature deer and my quick on the fly field judging wont fool me.
In the heat of the moment, many deer hunters forget to do this. Georgia s greatest whitetails download ebook pdf, epub. Dec 03, 20 field dressing a whitetail deer doesnt have to be too intimidating. Watch as bill shows us how to field dress a whitetail deer. Oct 11, 2012 scoring bucks on the hoof and in the field is important, but not nearly as important as aging deer on the hoof. It was the first time i hunted deer north of the border, and.
Official scoring system for bowhunting north american big game. P2206 a hunters guide to aging and judging live whitetailed. Boone and crocket scorer, joel helmer has provided some useful insight when it comes to judging bucks on hoof. Before you pull the trigger or release an arrow, do you know how to field judge a whitetail deer s antlers. Scoring a deer how to field score a whitetail buck. Somehow, though, his 12point rack didnt look extraordinarily large compared with his body. As a general rule of thumb there are several basic rules to field judging whitetail deer. Gee 2010 used photographs of 70 wild whitetails of known age. Despite the fact that they are heavily hunted, whitetail deer.
Whitetail biology aging deer in the field bone collector. A mule deer s score is still the sum of measurements of tine or point length, eight circumference measurements, length of main beam and inside spread. Field judging deer is a skill that every hunter should poses and practice to maintain efficiencies. Being able to do all of the butchering, field dressing, skinning, and quartering of. He has written the alltime best selling book on deer hunting, hunting trophy deer. If forced to shoot a loner i always look for that club head horse face. Field judging whitetail and coues whitetail deer scoring.
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