Field Judge Practice

[Hippie Steve]

Typical ear to ear length is 23". He looks like a standard 140" buck but he's not done growing bone yet this season. Most of your archery guys over estimate size, especially with velvet on. When you see a 180" mule deer with no fuzz, you will know it.

 

[Dos Perros]

This buck is low 140's, and the OP's buck has bigger fronts and is taller (IMO).

 

[cjdewese]

For newbies asking the guys scoring the buck. Is it mainly the Mass and Width that are keeping this from scoring as high?

He looks to have a nice frame and decent front and back forks.

 

[todd238]

Just for fun. Was out glassing over the weekend while on a camping trip and saw this buck.

Being relatively new to field judging, it could be helpful to hear what your guesses would be.

My guess is 178 gross. Adding the two “trash points” I’d guess 184”

What do you think?

140-150

 

[willfrye027]

For newbies asking the guys scoring the buck. Is it mainly the Mass and Width that are keeping this from scoring as high?

He looks to have a nice frame and decent front and back forks.

I’m not an expert by any means but I’ve measured and looked at a few..It’s hard to judge a typical because they will look so pretty and symmetrical. Just the size of the frame is not quite there..using the ears and face to get an idea of proportionally how big it is.

160” buck



High 180s frame with a couple inches of trash=190”




Hard to tell in pictures, but the bigger one is proportionally much larger in every dimension.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Is it mainly the Mass and Width that are keeping this from scoring as high?

He doesn't have enough length to surpass 160 inches. Main beams are too short and forks are a tad bit too short, for 170 inches. At best, with the extras, he's 150 to 160, in my opinion.

 

[S.Clancy]

My guess is 160, maybe. As far as age, he looks like a 4 yr old. I doubt he ever hits 190" if he is barely 160" ~4. 160" is a nice deer, bigger than most ever kill.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

160" is a nice deer, bigger than most ever kill.

So, so, soooo true. And that's the actual reality of it all -- 160" and larger mule deer are the exception, not the norm.

 

[S.Clancy]

For newbies asking the guys scoring the buck. Is it mainly the Mass and Width that are keeping this from scoring as high?

He looks to have a nice frame and decent front and back forks.

Tine length is the biggest factor, he doesn't have big fronts or backs or mass. He is prob 20-21" at the most inside spread. Beams 20-21". The buck in my avatar is ~183-184" main frame, with extras just a shade over 200".

The buck below is a high 160's buck. He has 10" G3, and decent backs, he lacks in beam length, they are only 20-21" (he was old and I think headed backwards).




This buck was 162-163". Backs are much bigger than OP, front's slightly smaller. Decent mass and height.


This buck is a pretty close comparison to OP buck. Decent frame, but shorter tines than the ones above. I think he scored 152 +/- . That would make OP buck a ~150" ish framed buck plus extras.

 

[Laramie]

My best guess is 145-150 including the extras. A lot would depend on if we are talking actual measurer score or guys sitting around camp measuring him. Guys around a campfire would easily get him to 160.

 

[Duh]

For reference this was 188 gross

View attachment 582443

200 if he wasn’t broken?

 

[Duh]

This is a 183 frame, without the extras. Only 20 inches of spread inside. I originally thought he was 180’s until I learned how to score a little bit.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I was going to say I shot one with a little bigger frame and more mass last year that was 5 years old, and he was about 160, nice buck though. I agree he will be a monster in a couple more years if he can make it

 

[Ucsdryder]

Without the trash that’s hard to see that buck is a 140” buck. I don’t see 150, let alone 160. I shot a 150 buck last year and mine had more length, width, etc.

 

[TaperPin]

Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses judging deer - I have to watch myself when deer are going away, they are skinny, they are in velvet or they don’t look right at me or away with ears fully out to the sides.

If that was a big bodied deer in the middle of cold weather in October his face would look much larger and filled out, making the rack seem smaller.

Not a lot of mass when velvet doesn’t appear real bulky - pretty skinny rack under there.

With his ears out flat it’s about even with the outside spread - a big deer will have his ear tips well inside the rack.

I think it also helps to develop an instant feel for the depth of the forks. That’s a simplistic way of saying tine length. With a one second view of a video or picture, you’ll already have a pretty good idea of his size based on that alone.

One year we found an honest 30” outside spread deer for my Texas buddy who had always dreamed of a timberline Wyoming buck…we had a few minutes to look him over and he had rather shallow forks and wouldn’t score high, but nice and wide so he took him opening morning.

What we didn’t expect, was the deer had either a birth defect or an old injury that caused one side of an otherwise perfectly symmetrical rack to point upward. From he center of his face to the left he would be a 31” deer, but if you only looked from center to the right he was only 27”. The actual width was 29” outside, so still a good deer.

 

[TaperPin]

For reference this was 188 gross

View attachment 582443

Wow - those genetics have a lot of forks.

 

[S.Clancy]

Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses judging deer - I have to watch myself when deer are going away, they are skinny, they are in velvet or they don’t look right at me or away with ears fully out to the sides.

If that was a big bodied deer in the middle of cold weather in October his face would look much larger and filled out, making the rack seem smaller.

Not a lot of mass when velvet doesn’t appear real bulky - pretty skinny rack under there.

With his ears out flat it’s about even with the outside spread - a big deer will have his ear tips well inside the rack.

I think it also helps to develop an instant feel for the depth of the forks. That’s a simplistic way of saying tine length. With a one second view of a video or picture, you’ll already have a pretty good idea of his size based on that alone.

One year we found an honest 30” outside spread deer for my Texas buddy who had always dreamed of a timberline Wyoming buck…we had a few minutes to look him over and he had rather shallow forks and wouldn’t score high, but nice and wide so he took him opening morning.

What we didn’t expect, was the deer had either a birth defect or an old injury that caused one side of an otherwise perfectly symmetrical rack to point upward. From he center of his face to the left he would be a 31” deer, but if you only looked from center to the right he was only 27”. The actual width was 29” outside, so still a good deer.

30" deer are exceptionally rare. Most B&C bucks have no spread measurement that touches 30". I have seen 3-4 in my life that were 30" at least outside. I killed one of them, a buck with a 30" inside spread.

 

[TaperPin]

30" deer are exceptionally rare. Most B&C bucks have no spread measurement that touches 30". I have seen 3-4 in my life that were 30" at least outside. I killed one of them, a buck with a 30" inside spread.

You’re right about that - and congrats on that deer - that’s a nice buck.

The genetics in southern Wy intermix a bit with the deer that come out of the Hoback, west side of the wind rivers, and a few other spots since a lot of those deer winter down south of Pinedale. For whatever reason the big boxy racks of western deer don’t develop the same out in the sagebrush with the southern deer as those racks often look splayed out rather than up, but there are a number of wide racks taken south of I80 pretty regularly.

In my lifetime I’ve only seen three 30” deer in the field - one 190ish, and two 175ish. The 190 - three of us watched him for 20 minutes 200 yards away just a few weeks from the season opening. I spent a month trying to find him, but never did.

The area I hunt had a teenage kid on a guided trip take a tremendous nontypical with all kinds of trash that was 36” . . . he guide said the kid had no idea what a gift that deer was.

The harsh winters and oil field workers poaching on the winter range are hard on the hoback deer, but the genetics are there to produce some nice deer.

 

[KurtR]

200 if he wasn’t broken?

Ya just guessing he broke about 12 inches off. He had both those tines the week before when I was chasing him with the bow. He was the deer that let me know I’m not a bow hunter not enough patience haha.

 

[KurtR]

Wow - those genetics have a lot of forks.

I have been hoping to find some of his kids but no luck so far.