What score really matters?
 

I'm by no means a trophy hunter, but I still love big bucks. On other hunting forums i see debates about which score should be counted. The green score? Or the score after the 90 period? I say give the buck credit for what he grew. Wondering what everyone though about this?

i say the gross is all that matters..

Im not a "trophy" hunter per say,but I want to kill only 8 pt 16 wide or bigger or he walks.Is that a "trophy" hunter ?? I will at the same time kill a Doe for meat,In texas they call me a "trophy" hunter,but its the guys shooting 4 pt and 6 pts that call me that...conservation and management is totally misunderstood by many .Just my .2

Why should any score matter?

If you kill a deer and it scores 1/8 of an inch below a record book minimum, will you be dissapointed? If you say, "no", then no score matters. If you say, "yes", then obviously the net dry score matters.

But the point being, if you are not a trophty hunter, then why would you even score one? It is either big enough for you to shoot or, it isn't.

Now let me pose a question. If all of the record keeping associations deleted the hunter's name and no longer posted names, only score, date and location of kill, how many hunters would still score bucks and have them sent in?

By rough count, I have 20 animals that meet or exceed record book minimums of one association or another. I measured them myself just to see how they compared. Then I realized, I didn't care how they compared. I haven't measured an animal in years. All of mine are "just short of a world record".

:popcorn:

The only "score" that matters in my view is "Did you enjoy the hunt?" This scoring deal , in my view, has gotted way out of hand as far as being a true measure of a hunters skill or success ... and this is coming from a deer hunter with over 45 years experience, with bucks on the wall in the 180 class and a good sized chest freezer filled completely top to bottom with fresh 2011-12 venison. For me, the satisfaction comes in the degree of challenge, and work that went into the kill. I must add that I am fortunate. I hunt where there are plenty of deer. For decades, state game regulations have allowed hunters to take an enourmous amount of deer per season. So I fill most of my "meat" needs with does, and work on bagging a decent buck or two. I get as excited as anyone upon the sight of a big buck, but I am not all about the "horn". In fact I have had only one buck officially scored and that was at the request of the land owner.

I measure the "score" becuz I like to learn everything about the deer I just shot and check the teeth for age..etc etc..same with weight...some people will score a deer ..but not weigh the animal or vice versa.

The score that matters is "did you enjoy the hunt?" Hunting is much more than making a kill and size. That said, Boone & Crockett, Pope & Young and other scoring methods were devised to recognize great animals and somewhat, the hunters that took them. It is only as competitive and obsessive as YOU make it!
To me, if you know the terms and rules of these systems it allows you to "paint a picture" of your harvest to others with a few words or a small score sheet. I think that the "gross score" tells you the most but, the other terms also help to paint the whole picture.
For instance, "he shot an 8 pt. that grossed 140, netted 120 with an 18" spread."
That means " an above average 8 pt. (most areas) that had a wide rack but was not very symetrical. Versus the same 140 gross with a net of 137. Same total, but very symetrically balanced. With a score sheet, you could just about draw the exact rack without ever seeing it!
Basically, "scoring" means as much or as little as You want it to!

we score ours in "pom"(pounds of meat)..how full did the fridge get from the season.

I'm both ways. Green is what the animal really was but this gives an advantage over entries that are several years old....

I like to score my deer and other people's but that is just because I love to see how big they are in terms of a measurable amount. The only time I would ever call in an official scorer would be if I killed a 170"+ buck. I could care less if my name is in a book, I would want to know the official measurements on the deer though.