Starvin Larry

  Y J.R.; PHOTOS BY JOHN HAFNEROCTOBER 9, 2017

Do You Know How to Score a Whitetail?

Bad Boys. Bruisers. Booners. Many nicknames describe huge whitetail bucks, but I like Booner most. It means that the buck’s antlers are so big that they are listed in the Boone and Crockett record book.

Net about 190 as a typical, 210 as a non-typical

The most commonly used scoring system for giving recognition to exceptional North American big-game animals is the Boone and Crockett (B&C) system. Here is some background on the Boone and Crockett record book, instructions on how to measure and score a buck, and information on what it takes for a buck to become a Booner.

Boone and Crockett Club

Even before record books were invented, hunters have always recorded the sizes and measurements of racks on the deer they killed. This helped sportsmen remember how big the animals were and compare them to bucks shot by other hunters. But without one universal way to measure and tally rack sizes, many hunters argued which bucks truly were the biggest.

Net high-140s as an 8-pointer

The Boone and Crockett Club is a non-profit organization of avid big-game hunters founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt. In 1949, an official committee of B&C members tackled the task of broadening the scope of the club’s existing, basic system to a more comprehensive, equitable and objective measurement system intended to give recognition to exceptional North American big game animals. Their efforts resulted in a scoring system that is impartial, honest and fair. They called it the Boone and Crockett scoring system.

Hunters love using the B&C scoring system to compare animals and talk about big bucks. It’s definitely better than just arguing about which buck is the biggest. Now, when a hunter asks another hunter how big his deer was, it’s easy to answer with a B&C score.

Don’t Miss: Realtree’s New Booner News

The Record Book

Net low-150s as a 9-pointer

The Boone and Crockett club publishes one official record book that all hunters can use to register and document their buck’s score. This way, all the facts about the deer — its size, who shot it and where — can be documented forever. The newest Booners are added in every three years in their Awards book. Every six years, all-time qualifiers are added to the ongoing all-time records book.

In addition to the typical and non-typical categories, the record books also offer two award categories: award and all-time. The award recognition category stays printed in the book for three years, while the all-Time category trophies stay in the book forever. For whitetails, the minimum scores to make it in the record books are as follows:

Read more @

https://www.realtree.com/deer-hunting/articles/how-to-score-a-buck-on-the-boone-and-crocket-scale