I'm not sure why those who created the B&C system included a measure of symmetry, but symmetry is thought to be a sign of health:
http://www.nature.com/news/1998/9808...s980806-7.html

http://www.livescience.com/4002-symm...uman-bias.html

So if the point is to measure the actual [I]quality[I] of the animal (as opposed to its appeal to humans), it makes sense to me to include symmetry in the equation.

***Amen Skinnner! I'm to the point that after 60 years of hunting I'm having a lot more fun mentoring kids and helping other people take animals just like I did this year on that five state trip than if I shot them myself!!!

Myold man always told me that hunting was for getting away from all the stresses of life.and i am realizeing just how correct he was.

huh.......?

Your Pop was right on the button with that comment Skinnner. When I go out west every Fall I foget all about the BS political stuff, etc. Cripes, in the last couple major election years I didn't even try to turn on a radio for days to find out who the next President was, LOL! Then when I found out I wished the radio had been broken or that I didn't even have it to find out what was going on in the "real" world because it is so peaceful out there.

This is very true. I've helped a kid get his dream deer this year. And his smiles were enough payment.

Part of the equation is having an animal big enough that it has a certain score even with deductions.

For example whitetail bucks that gross 170" are much much more common than the ones that net 170"

If you left the minimum the same and started using gross score the whole thing would be watered down.

Just adding a gross category might be good but like I said the requirements to get in the gross category would have to be much higher to hold significance.

Animals that just missed typical because of deductions still wouldn't/shouldn't get in.

Not to be accusatory, but this is what people say until they kill a "book" buck.....

***"Maybe some of us take measuring "bone" a little to seriously... Not to be accusatory... I would love to shoot a book buck as much as the next guy, but the rack is really just measuring one element of a mature buck."***

ROFLMAO... They (we ) say a lot more than that... But it's a good place to start

We've had a few 300 pound plus bucks on our property that would have whipped the Hanson buck in a fight. One was only a 6-point, like forked baseball bats. We named him Czonka. The other one is still alive. It's about a 140 inch 8-pointer but he's easily 350 or more pounds and has neck like a steer. We named him The Fridge.