Judging a 120" whitetail

[Wolf_River_Mike]

Can I get some opinions/suggestions on how to judge a 120" buck on the hoof. I have killed some bucks in the 100" range, but I have gotten on a waiting list for a club with a 120" limit. Doubt my number will come up this year (06/07) but kinda expect I'll get my turn next year (07/08).

 

[RAF]

That's a tough one. It's always been my oberservation that a deer in your sights/scope is always bigger than it is on the ground. All I know is the biggest buck I shot was a 180 and when I saw with my naked eyes and then in my scope I thought I had a new world record on my hands .

 

[Wolf_River_Mike]

RAF, that 180 is a might good deer, especially in these parts. I saw the biggest buck deer I've ever seen Monday morning just at first light. I would guess in the 120 to 130 range. Not spectacular in the scheme of things, but it surely made my day!.

 

[cur_dog]

The new regulations for my county that I hunt in go into effect this coming deer season. We do not have to judge the score but now the bucks must have a spread of 13" or more to be legal. 12 3/4" will get you a ticket. Zero tolerance is what they are saying. I see a lot of people getting tickets this year. My dad and I shot to nice bucks off our place this year, not monsters but nice buck. Mine was a 2 1/2 year old deer, kind of a high rack but 12" spread. That him in the picture in my avatar. My dad was a nice rack and around 11". I shot 1 does also. If that happens this hunting season we would just have one deer in the freezer from that land. :?

I was told to gauge 13" by using the ear tips of the deer when it's alert. I'm I suppose to wait until the deer is alert before I can shoot him? :evil:

Unfortunately, there will be many deer killed by people that just want some deer meat that will not be legal. I will NOT be one of them. Luckily I can shoot does, in some places you can not.

 

[Wolf_River_Mike]

This is a pic of a buck I killed this year. I scored him at 97". He had a 18 3/4" inside spread, but you can see he didn't have any tine length. This deer weighed 137 lbs dressed.

[/img]

 

[RAF]

Wolf_river_. We have some very good deer around here. The current world record was shot an hour or so west of me. The one I shot was a deer of a life time in my book. Have gotten a couple of 150's a some close to that but that's in over 40 years of hunting, 43 to be more precise. Yikes, I'm gettin' old :?

 

[jims]

RAF A 180 deer is a good deer anywhere.

 

[Wolf_River_Mike]

RAF wrote:

The one I shot was a deer of a life time in my book

RAF, hopefully not. Surely that 190 will come by one of these seasons. :wink:

 

[RAF]

Yup, it's always possible but I won't hold my breath. Took 40 years to get this one. Not sure if I have 40 more in me :? .

 

[DeerNut]

Hey Raf,
You can't just tease us, you better post a picture.

 

[DeerNut]

Can I get some opinions/suggestions on how to judge a 120" buck on the hoof

I've been thinking about this for a while and trying to think about what kind of advice I could give you. For me it has just come from experience and shooting deer or seeing other people shoot deer and then finding out after exactly what they score. I have a clear mental image of what a 120, 130, 140, 150 and 160 inch Saskatchewan whitetail looks like on the hoof. Other than actual field experience I would say the next best thing would be to look at mounted heads of known scores. I would personally have no idea what a 120 buck would look like in Tenn. For all I know it might look like 150 Sask buck because of relative body sizes? Look at a lot of mounts of 120 deer and I think you will get a much better idea of what you're looking for. I would try and look at them from as far away as is practically possible too. I would even take special note of relative width and beam measurements to ease judging later in the field. That's my advice, for what its worth.

 

[big6x6]

Hey Mike...
One thing is for sure...You KNOW what a 97 looks like...so build on it from there. What I would do is shoot the next buck you KNOW is bigger than your 97. That's EXACTLY what I'd do. If it's a 115, pay the man and go from there! Study deer in the woods and imagine how they compare to your 97. I'd say it takes experience in the woods more than anything else looking at other bucks. I don't think there is any substitute for that..

 

[Wolf_River_Mike]

Thanks for the advise DeerNut, sound logic. I've never been much of a horn hunter, more interested in filling my freezer every year. This club I talked about, I hunted for 3 years, several years ago, before they started this QDM thing. It will be a good opportunity for me I think. They are going from a 110" to 120" limit this coming season. Last year I believe they had about 45 shooters checked in out of 150 members. It takes 140 to make the Tennesse book. I would like to do that someday.

 

[Hunt 4 Bucks]

We do not have to judge the score but now the bucks must have a spread of 13" or more to be legal. 12 3/4" will get you a ticket

Man Texas is tough, I guess you hope for a mature buck with a rack outside his ears. I guess that would be safe. :?

 

[Rifleman]

Can I get some opinions/suggestions on how to judge a 120" buck on the hoof.

Declare them guilty, sentence them to firing squad, and execute the sentence! :lol:

Just kidding Mike I couldn't resist. For real though that is tough tough tough. I know what a 150 looks like in Indiana, but that is about the end of my expertise on the matter. I think you have gotten some real fine advice so far, good luck and hope you judge wrong someday on a 120 and it turns out to be a 220! :wink:

 

[Hunt 4 Bucks]

Can I get some opinions/suggestions on how to judge a 120" buck on the hoof.

I would also suggest going to a deer classic show. Don?t know about Tennessee, but Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have them around Midwest. They are a great place to see many different mounted racks. You can get a good start in judging, by trying to guess the score by looking. With some practice, you be amazed how close you can get.

If you can?t go to a show, starts looking at pictures of scored bucks and try to guess them.

 

[Wolf_River_Mike]

Thanks for your good advise guys. It all makes sense... well, except for Rifleman's avitar :lol: . I found a link that had some pretty good information on it. Said alot of the same things you guys said. He talks about the ground shrinkage RAF mentioned. I think this has alot to do with the life being gone out of the deer. I like the way he breaks down a bucks general appearance into 3 different base scores. Sounds straight forward enough, just need to practice.

Hunt 4 Bucks, we do have a couple of shows around here. TWRA sometimes will have a local show where they score racks. That would be perfect to spend an afternoon there in "training".

big6x6, the fine for being 109.99-119.99 is 100 dollars and you get to keep the deer. Not to bad I don't guess. It gets a little more painful for the next slot down or for repeat offences.

Here's the link:
Scroll down to FIELD JUDGE SCORE OF WHITETAIL DEER

http://www.1atexasdeerhunting.com/

 

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

WR Mike:

O.K. for training purposes, what do you guess the buck in my avitar would score? For a tip, that's a Savage ML-I in the pic.

Blue-Dto-37.5

 

[Wolf_River_Mike]

Blue-Dot-37.5 wrote:

what do you guess the buck in my avitar would score

I would guess he's a shooter fur sure I would guess 150.

 

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

Close! 140.

Blue-Dot-37.5