Poll - Should there be a change to Gross Scoring or Stay with Net

[catch22]

Another thread got me to thinking about the status quo thats been the standard BC/PY scoring way. Official Scores are net scores. Should there be a change to the Gross score?

Note - I know many of you dont care about the score, and horns dont eat well, and you wish it were the way it used to be when score didnt matter and you hate seek one, and you just want to fill your freezer etc ..... Please dont comment unless you have some input on the question.

 

[Whit90]

I seek one for the freezer every year...

Whoever said horns dont eat well has never ground up a set of 143" antlers to use as an additive in their post workout protein shake.

 

[bfriendly]

So I don’t know a lot about it, but I don’t know why a deer would get deducted for f growth.

 

[catch22]

So I don’t know a lot about it, but I don’t know why a deer would get deducted for f growth.

Im with you. Im not sure why symmetry of the rack is "more important" than the overall bone growth?

 

[DAVE]

I like the current system because it gives a picture of what the antlers look like. If someone tells me they have a ten pointer that scored 170 net typical I have a pretty good vision of how big the rack is, if someone tells me they have a 170 gross antlers there is no way for me to get a vision of what it may look like or the actual size. If a person wants to use a gross score then nobody is stopping them and I may be wrong but I believe the gross score is what the Buck Masters use, but to change the B&C system which has been used for over a hundred years does not make any sense. It seems that the hunters who claim to not care about score are the very ones wanting to change or do away with any scoring system currently used.

 

[Todd E]

I feel a buck deserves credit for every inch of bone he grew. But, I am not one to have any concern for change.

 

[Hughy]

Net score serves a purpose but I’d say most hunters aren’t concerned with the purpose only total inches. What I’ve always wanted is to have gross scored listed beside the net score to make both sides happy and give the deer the credit it deserves.

 

[Hunter922]

Gross only, the scoring system makes no difference to me. We have bucks that qualify for both PY/BC. More interested in the memory and seeing it everyday than any system or official score...

 

[kayaksteve]

I think the original intent of BC was more about producing healthy specimens and older deer and reducing overall harvest by encouraging such. Supposedly the more symmetrical the better the genetics and health of the deer is. I like a goofy gnarly set of horns but i guess it isn’t necessarily a good trait in a deer from a genetics and survival standpoint. It doesn’t matter to me either way because I’ll probably only count gross on any I ever score anyways

 

[earlthegoat2]

I figure antlers are antlers. If there is more antler in one deer than another, then one is bigger than the other in one way or another.

Maybe we should saw them off at the burr and weigh them. That seems the most accurate method of antler size to me.

I guess I would only care if I ever shot a biggun. Or cared about shooting a biggun.

 

[Geffellz18]

Yes-as in abolish the scoring system all together!

In all honesty though, like many I have no knowledge on the subject and how antlers are measured -Not sure why deductions are taken for Asymmetrical growth however. Is it considered a weakness in genetics?!?
Whatever the reason, I can’t understand the reasoning for it personally, so every inch should count IMO.
To me, growth is growth-primarily speaking for wild deer. Not high fence, protein fed, pet deer.

 

[huntfish]

There are different programs for scores. Some use gross, some use net.

 

[mallardsx2]

Nets are for fish. lol

 

[bilgerat]

I think he B&C club was started 1887 by a bunch of snobs in puffy shirts sitting around a fancy club house sippin cognac and smoking expensive cigars looking down on the common hunters, The rules they came up with were made up so they could pick and choose what bucks could qualify for their fancy book of records, They still refuse to score racks fairly from buck hunters they dont like or agree with , The Rampella and the King buck are good examples.

 

[DAVE]

I think he B&C club was started 1887 by a bunch of snobs in puffy ****s sitting around a fancy club house sippin cognac and smoking expensive cigars looking down on the common hunters, The rules they came up with were made up so they could pick and choose what bucks could qualify for their fancy book of records, They still refuse to score racks fairly from buck hunters they dont like or agree with , The Rampella and the King buck are good examples.

The Rompolla buck was a fake or at least never proving to be real and the King buck was a long way from being a world record.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I don't measure antlers, but if I was going to, I would measure every inch of antler on there. Deductions are stupid. Give the buck credit for what he gave his life for. All of it.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I think he B&C club was started 1887 by a bunch of snobs in puffy ****s sitting around a fancy club house sippin cognac and smoking expensive cigars looking down on the common hunters, The rules they came up with were made up so they could pick and choose what bucks could qualify for their fancy book of records, They still refuse to score racks fairly from buck hunters they dont like or agree with , The Rampella and the King buck are good examples.

Those snobs almost single-handedly saved conservation as we know it.
How do you get people to stop shooting every deer they see? Establish seasons and REWARD older aged males. Also, develop a system by which you can, from year to year, broadly look at a pretty reliable method of determining herd health which is antler size. (I know, its not the only method, maybe its not even the best method, but in low technology times across the entire nation, its pretty reliable for broad trends.)

I understand the need to examine symmetry in antler growth.
I understand its been like this for a century.
It would then be hard to rectify the records on hand and be able to compare apples to apples-kinda like when the nfl went from 12 games to 16, then 17. All the records are broken, but no one can think of them the same way.
For those reasons, I say leave it like it is.
Only in this generation is the refrain so often "we don't like how you've done it forever, change it for us."

I will also say, I've never been one to be concerned with score.

 

[elfiii]

Nets are for fish. lol

Came here to say this.

 

[across the river]

I think he B&C club was started 1887 by a bunch of snobs in puffy ****s sitting around a fancy club house sippin cognac and smoking expensive cigars looking down on the common hunters, The rules they came up with were made up so they could pick and choose what bucks could qualify for their fancy book of records, They still refuse to score racks fairly from buck hunters they dont like or agree with , The Rampella and the King buck are good examples.

In the late 1800's many of the big game species across the county had been decimated by Western expansion. The B&C was established as a conservation agency and started collecting mounts in expectation that a lot of the animals would go extinct. The net score wasn't originally in the scoring system, but was decided upon because a deer with a matching antlers was considered healthier than an animal with weird antlers, so they didn't want a "healthy" deer scoring less than an "unhealthy" deer. The thought was also that larger mature males were more vital than smaller deer in maintaining and growing populations, so the scoring system was establish from a conservation standpoint, and the club has be created with a lot in terms of conservation and saving animals from extinction. The also were vital in establishing hunting as a tool for conservation. But hey, lets not let facts get in the way of anything. There are plenty of different scoring systems, the B&C system is the most well know and most often used.

 

[catch22]

@across the river thats some good info above. well stated and educational to me