How to judge?

[Ryan Avery]

My son drew a Idaho Antelope tag. I've never hunted them. What's are the general rules for judging size/score??

Thanks!

 

[WRO]

This is a big one, he's mid 80's. Mass is really the key



This buck was 16" tall, but just didn't have the mass and went 74.5 gross.

How to Field Judge Pronghorn - Pronghorn Guide Service

I've heard these videos are really good, and these guys are the best in the world at killing giant antelope. Listening to their podcast with Jason carter, they've killed 2 world records, 100+ goats over 90", and 450+ that net book.

I always live by, if they look big, they're big. if you have to make them big they're not.

 

[Jimss]

Like all horned critters mass makes up a huge chunk of pronghorn score. If you take a look at B&C there actually aren't many B&C bucks listed from Idaho but you never know. If you look at enough bucks in the unit your son drew prior to the season you should get a feel for what a great buck is for the unit he drew. I wouldn't recommend the field judging video mentioned above because most of the bucks in that video are so over the top gigantic that they aren't much a reality in Idaho. The Grimmets are known as the guru of trophy antelope guides but I've never been a fan of using eyes, ears, nose length etc for field judging horns. I seldom use these to determine mass and horn length. The same exact horns on a small body/body parts buck will look a lot bigger than the same horns on a giant bodied buck. If you find a giant bodied buck and his horns still look giant....than you may have found a keeper! When I first started trophy antelope hunting I was fooled and had ground shrinkage on too many occasions using body parts for field judging.

I'm not sure if your son is interested in B&C but I usually don't get too excited about bucks until they are around 80". For higher scoring bucks the first thing I look for is MASS. If a buck doesn't have MASS all the way to his horn tips I keep looking. You usually have to look at a buck from different angles to get a good feel for mass. If you don't have an exceptional spotting scope you might as well forget about judging antelope effectively! It is next to impossible...especially when you toss in heat waves.

If not interested in score you might as well look over as many bucks as you can. Once you find a buck that your son gets excited about...the chase is on! First and foremost....have a great time!

 

[Ryan Avery]

Thanks guys!

Jimss, I have a feeling it will be a short hunt He likes to pull the trigger.


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[Justin Crossley]

This is very useful since myself and three others also drew WY antelope and will be hunting them for the first time.

 

[topher89]

Ears are around 6 inches long. That can help a bit with determining length.

 

[Unoboats]

Ryan. Always look for mass. Make sure the bases are wider than their eye from the side and it's really a nice goat.


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[Muledeerfanatic]

Look at thousands of them

 

[Travis Bertrand]

I ran into a cool website that had a cool article.

Speed Judging Speed-Goats

 

[Ryan Avery]

I ran into a cool website that had a cool article.

Speed Judging Speed-Goats

Haha, that is awesome Travis! Great article too!


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[Lostinthewoods]

Thank you all for posting this!
I've got a sweet NM ranch tag and I really want to maximize the efforts on the hunt.

To me it sounds like MASS or bust!

 

[Justin Crossley]

I ran into a cool website that had a cool article.

Speed Judging Speed-Goats

Who's the ugly guy in the bottom photo of the article?

 

[Tanya Avery]

Ryan. Always look for mass. Make sure the bases are wider than their eye from the side and it's really a nice goat.


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Size matters! Bigger is always better!


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[Corey Paulsen (teamkabob)]

Following


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[Fitzwho]

For me Pronghorn are animals that I just like how certain ones look. Maybe one day I may get to take a B&C something.

This was my first speed goat from the Texas Panhandle: (as several guys have said mass is key for a big one, part of that is how high up the horn his cutters are. This one scores around 72", but if his cutters were another 2-3 inches higher, with the same overall length, he'd be knocking on 78-80 gross)

 

[DRUSS]

I have the grimmets videos also they do help but a lot of those bucks are above what I am in the area of. Mike Eastman book on antelope helped me more. Little easier for me to understand anyways.