I guess I agree with everyone. Gross score is what I look at. Heck, I just say thats a big buck and leave it at that.

gross all the way. i want to know how big a deer is, not how symmetrical he is...

that being said, i have never had anything including my trophy animals scored, and have only dinked with a tape myself on a couple, just for fun

brad

I agree with you guys, IF you choose to enter a deer with a "Club" than you obviously should have to abide by that "clubs" rules. However, for conversation purposes I want to know what the FRAME size is on the animal we are talking about. I don't care if he has several inches of side to side. I'm not much for counting sticker points that much either like many do trying to "stretch" the animals score but I don't believe they should be deducts either. Like I said.... let me know what FRAME the animal had and I can quickly and accurately paint a picture in my mind of what the trophy looks like. NET simple gives you NO idea of what kind of animal the deer is.

I disagree with this statement.

I do no believe that stating the gross non-typical score is "stretching" the animals score. I believe it is stating the total amount of antler that the animal grew.

I do agree with the rest of your post though. Number of typical points stated along with the gross typical score is really the best way to determine the animals frame size.

When talking scores I like to hear the total number of points along with the total gross score as well as the number of typical points along with the gross typical score. I really have a good idea of the racks size then. Net doesn't really mean a whole lot to me.

Personally, I long ago threw out "net" scores.

I mean, if you've got a potential world record thats one thing, but gross score is what matters in comparing deer and even that has problems (like using width as a measurement)

Give me a 180" gross whitetail that nets 150" anyday over a clean 150"

0 minus 0 still equals zero............................

Deductions bad, that is like saying scratches on a truck are bad or smell from that favorite old hat is bad. I think they give it charecter. I dont care to much for the hole scoring system, i love to hunt not just for the deer (but the occasional one to walk by me is welcome) for the hole experiance, when are they going to come up with a scale for that.

What do deer get deductions for? I don't know anything about scoring.

QTompkins2005, this may sound crazy but say you shoot a 9 point, instead of getting points for the 9th odd point you get a deduction for it, I guess if ya care bout that kindov stuff ya should have passed it up for a 8 point.

I understand what you guys are saying about the frame, but personally I'd rather just see a picture. Never have I gotten a mental picture of a buck that does the animal justice from hearing the numbers. To build on what IL-Cornfed said if you give numbers its nice to get a breakdown of where they come from, such as a 12 inch G2 with a 2 inch kicker. If you do have to give numbers though it would be nice to hear the total mass and inches of antler to help form that mental picture.