Scoring trophies
06-07-2015, 09:42 AM
#21
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: WI
Posts: 1,089
I do not really care about how much a game animal scores. I very seldom measure mine but I have done it to amuse myself a few times. However, I do find it funny when I see a mount or a picture where someone claims a score that is absolutely unbelievable.
Looking at an elk rack that would score somewhere around 300" if a tape was properly applied and seeing the hunter claim 340" or 360" just tickles me. Same goes for some of the 80" pronghorns and 190" mule deer out there.
Of course the fellows on TV hunting shows can score a running animal within an inch or so at 800 yards and "pass on them" if they are not up to snuff. Amazing talent.
Looking at an elk rack that would score somewhere around 300" if a tape was properly applied and seeing the hunter claim 340" or 360" just tickles me. Same goes for some of the 80" pronghorns and 190" mule deer out there.
Of course the fellows on TV hunting shows can score a running animal within an inch or so at 800 yards and "pass on them" if they are not up to snuff. Amazing talent.
06-08-2015, 09:17 AM
#22
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,780
What I think happens, especially for game like elk is that a lot of people are hunting them with guides and they don't know much about them. They go on a guided hunt and when the guide says "shoot him he will score 330" or something like that, they take the guide's word as gospel even if the elk is little more than a raghorn. Guides get paid to get animals for their clients and they aren't above stretching things a bit on hunters that are kind of ignorant. Same thing happens with speedgoats. Not many people live in real good speedgoat country so not many people are good at judging them. There are a lot of non-residents hunting mulies with guides and the same thing happens there. How many spindly mulies you see with a caption saying he went 180 or 190? You don't here about it as much with whitetails since people are more familiar with them.
And since it won't make the book it never gets officially scored. Plus, no trophy ever gets smaller when the stories start being told. Unless the score is officially recorded it will always increase slightly every time the story gets told.
And since it won't make the book it never gets officially scored. Plus, no trophy ever gets smaller when the stories start being told. Unless the score is officially recorded it will always increase slightly every time the story gets told.
If someone really relies on someone else's measuring it is understandable. I am always polite when someone shows me their one and only elk rack and tells me that the guide measured it for them (always over 300").
The ones that I find particularly humorous are the guys that have put a tape to the rack themselves but either; 1) can not read a tape; 2) can not add; 3) can not follow instructions; or (best of all) 4) like to bamboozle others.
06-08-2015, 10:06 AM
#23
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
It's not really that hard to do a rough score on most ungulates if you just follow the directions and pictures right on the B&C website. I have only been on one guided hunt and that was for mule deer in Wyoming back in 1994. My buddy and I told our guide that we were willing to eat our tags if we didn't see what we wanted. We started out and he would have had us both fill our tags in the first couple hours with dinks that we wouldn't even look at twice if we hadn't know what a good buck was. Finally the third day he saw one he wanted me to shoot that was maybe 130" and I said no way. Then he said he had a tag and he'd shoot it if he had a rifle, so I handed him my 06 and he proceeded to miss it at only about 100 yards. It took off down in a valley and was going up the other side as he asked where my gun was shooting and I simply said right where you point it. He shot again as the buck stopped about 250 yards out and it dropped on the spot. I'm going on my second and last guided hunt this Fall and both I and my buddy know exactly what we will or won't shoot and it will be strictly our call on what we see or don't see.
06-11-2015, 03:33 AM
#24
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Colorado
Posts: 797
I'm sure there's been plenty of bamboozle's from guides and clients. I'm pretty sure there's been a lot of instances where there wasn't ample time to get a good look at the animal before the shot took place. I'm pretty sure most people are over eager to drop the hammer on a animal when they are paying for out of state licenses and outfitter fee's if using one.
But in reality if you can judge a elk in the field by 10" of score you are truly gifted. Just 1" +/- of tine length on all points on a 6x6 bull elk is 10" right there. 1/2" +/- of antler mass is another 5". So your 325 bull just went to either a 310 bull or 340 bull right there. So lets take this to the next step. The elk is at 400 yards rough country and don't have a spotting scope or time to use one. Lets say your guide calls this bull a 350 and it has a 2" +/- tine length and we'll keep the 1/2" mass difference. Your bull either maybe a 335 or a 375 bull in a instance. I've done this for 25 years and thank god I don't get a lot of trophy hunters come through my outfit because of being in a OTC unit. I would not trade all the private land and trophy managed areas for one client that has truly appreciated taking a bull elk the real nuts and bolts hunting situations of "real hunting" not controlled situations.
Score away, judge away but don't be disappointed when you pull the trigger because that is "only your choice" to do so. Thank god I always think the animal is smaller than what it is. I don't have ground shrinkage problem most do. The animal is usually on the bigger side and that tickles me.
I love the outfitter slams here and there. I know there's scam artists and bad hunts, but what about bad clients/bad hunters. Buddy I could write so many books on that it would make you sick. But every year I bank on faith that anyone new that books has and positive attitude and can function in the heat of the moment.
All I hear is I got 18 points for a certain unit and it has to be a 400 class animal. Compilation of all the odds and numbers of massive bulls that get killed each year, you might as well start buying lotto tickets. It's all BS
But in reality if you can judge a elk in the field by 10" of score you are truly gifted. Just 1" +/- of tine length on all points on a 6x6 bull elk is 10" right there. 1/2" +/- of antler mass is another 5". So your 325 bull just went to either a 310 bull or 340 bull right there. So lets take this to the next step. The elk is at 400 yards rough country and don't have a spotting scope or time to use one. Lets say your guide calls this bull a 350 and it has a 2" +/- tine length and we'll keep the 1/2" mass difference. Your bull either maybe a 335 or a 375 bull in a instance. I've done this for 25 years and thank god I don't get a lot of trophy hunters come through my outfit because of being in a OTC unit. I would not trade all the private land and trophy managed areas for one client that has truly appreciated taking a bull elk the real nuts and bolts hunting situations of "real hunting" not controlled situations.
Score away, judge away but don't be disappointed when you pull the trigger because that is "only your choice" to do so. Thank god I always think the animal is smaller than what it is. I don't have ground shrinkage problem most do. The animal is usually on the bigger side and that tickles me.
I love the outfitter slams here and there. I know there's scam artists and bad hunts, but what about bad clients/bad hunters. Buddy I could write so many books on that it would make you sick. But every year I bank on faith that anyone new that books has and positive attitude and can function in the heat of the moment.
All I hear is I got 18 points for a certain unit and it has to be a 400 class animal. Compilation of all the odds and numbers of massive bulls that get killed each year, you might as well start buying lotto tickets. It's all BS
