Boone & Crockett is the best known scoring guide for whitetail deer that modern hunters use to this date. Anytime you hear about world record bucks being harvested, you hear about Boone and crocketts whitetail deer scoring system! Boone and Crockett came up with this scoring system to establish records of Big-Game species in North America. This Scoring system was designed to help the Big- Game species that were going extinct or low in population to recover by Selective Harvests of the mature animals, and as a guide for hunters to follow.

Today many species of Big-Game are thriving, and this scoring system for Whitetail deer is used as a tool for giving data for conservation and management!

Terms to Know:

Boone & Crockett Typical: Symetrical Antlers with 4-6-8-10 and so on points that are in a normal formation from the main beam.

— These Deer have to reach a minimum score of 160″ (Net) to qualify for the Boone & Crockett Award. The All-Time Award is 170″ (Net).

— Any Deer scoring in the range of 125″–159″ (Net) is considered a Pope & Young Buck.

Not all deer will fall into this category, because Antlers form in many different ways, and directions!

 

Boone & Crockett Non-Typical: Non-Symetical Antlers that are complicated for scoring and requires the knowledge of a Pro-Measurer to score Properly.

— To qualify for a Boone & Crockett non-typical Award, the deer must score 185″ (Net). The All- time Boone & Crockett Award is 195″ (Net)

 

Code Of Conduct: To qualify for the Boone & Crockett Award you must harvest the animal in a “Fair-Chase” (Harvest where the Whitetail Deer has free range, not pinned) Hunt. Click here to view the “Fair Chase” Code of Conduct!

 

Gross Score: The Score before any deductions. This is how many inches are on the Whitetail Deer’s Head! If you Don’t Care about the Boone & Crocket Award then tell all of your Hunting Buddys at camp this score!

 

Net Score: This is the Total Score After the Boone & Crockett Deductions are taken out! This is the score that Has to meet the Boone & Crocket Criteria to qualify for the award!

 

Starting Out:

To get started Scoring Whitetail Deer, whether it is yours or a friends, I highly suggest Downloading a Scoring sheet from the Boone & Crocket website Here! Select whether the Deer is Typical or Non-Typical from the chart on the left side of the page OR ——Click Here For Typical Whitetail Deer!

–Click Here For Non-Typical Whitetail Deer! 

I will suggest that you use the online scoring tool included on this page, as it will automatically will in your score and calculate your Deductions! This will make it very easy when scoring your Whitetail Deer!

Lets Begin Scoring Your Whitetail Deer!

Lets take your Boone & Crockett Scoring Whitetail Deer Sheet, and start putting tape to some Antlers! I recommend buying some Trophy Tape to accurately score your Deer! You can then Plug your measurements directly into the Boone and Crockett online scoring software! Here are the 7-Easy Steps to Scoring Whitetail Deer in 2020!

1. Count and record the points, and match the typical points from one side of the antlers with the other side of the rack!

-Take not of all Abnormal points (Drop-tines, and kickers) on each side of the rack! The tine needs to be more than 1-inch To be considered a point!

2. Do the tip- to-tip Spread (Distance from the tip of each main beam to each other), and then the Greatest Spread (The Measurement from widest point of main mean or point to center of the skull), and Inside Spread of main beam (Greatest spread from the inside of main beam to the center of the skull!)

-The wider the inside spread the better the whitetail deer score will be! Find the widest part of the main beams and measure it to the center of the skull!

3. Main Beam Measurement! Measure from the Bur at the the base of the Antler, all the way to the tip of the main Beam! Repeat this process for the other sides Main beam!

-(NOTE: Stay on the outside edge of the Beam! This is where the Trophy Tape will come in handy, as you will be able to score with easy as it perfectly forms around the antlers for easy and accurate measurements!) Make sure to log your measurements on your scoring sheet or plug it into the online tool!

4. Tines– Using your Trophy Tape, start from the point that the tine starts emerging off of the main beam along the outside of the Tine- to the tip of the Point! This will give you an accurate measurement of the “G” Tine measurement, if you referral’s to the scoring Sheet!

5. Mass Measurements– If you refer to your Boone & Crockett Scoring sheet you will see an H1-H4 measurement. Measure the smallest mass point between the Bur and Brow tine for the H1 measurement! If there is no G-4 Tine, you can get the measurement at the smallest mass point of the G-3 and the tip of the main beam!

6. The Boone & Crockett Scoring system is based on the symmetry of the left & Right side of the rack! For if there are any measurement differences on one side of the Bucks rack, you will need to subtract the difference in measurements! This deduction will come out of the final Gross Score of the Buck! The unsymmetrical Abnormal Points are deducted!

– You will now add together the deductions of inches

7. Finding Your Score! Add all of your measurements up! The inside spread, Beam Lengths, all G-points, and mass measurements! Round to the nearest 1/8 of each inch! Once you add all of these scores together you will find your gross score! Now take your total inches of deductions and subtract them from your gross score! Congrats! You now have your Final Net Score! This is where using the online tool comes in very handy as it will do the deductions for you! 

Congrats on the Success!

I Hope that this Article was able to help you through out the process of scoring your Whitetail Deer! Congrats on you Deer, and a successful season! If your deer Net scores over the required criteria make sure to submit it over to the Boone and Crockett Page to get your Award!

Like I stated at the beginning of the article, if the Boone and Crockett Record books don’t mean anything to you, then just share your Gross score! Some people don’t agree with this scoring system, and some people live by It! I want you to do what makes you happy! Good luck in your seasons to come!

If you would like to share your harvest or feedback with us, PLEASE send it to Content.Feathernett@gmail.com!