You don’t have to be an expert mathematician to score your deer properly. Hunters of any skill level can score their own deer by following guidelines online. The Boone and Crockett Club website has an easy-to-use, user friendly scoring chart for you to efficiently and accurately score your whitetail deer. All you have to do is follow along, plug in the numbers, and let the internal technology work its magic.

To get started scoring your buck, you’ll need some basic tools. Grab yourself a yard stick or folding carpenter’s ruler, a wire cable or other flexible tool to help you measure along curves, and a flexible, ¼-inch-wide steel measuring tape that measures in eighths of an inch.

Points

Bucks are usually measured by “points” in casual conversation. If you’ve ever heard a hunter refer to their “8-point” buck, they’re referring to the basic measurement of the deer’s overall score. Generally, the higher the points, the bigger the deer.

In order for a point to count, it has to be longer than one inch and the length must be longer than the width by a full inch. All normal points are measured from the nearest edge of the main beam flexing over the outer curve to the tip. You’ll want to position the tape along the outer curve of the beam so that the top edge of the tape matches up with the top edge of the beam on both sides of the point. This determines the baseline for the point measurement.

Beams

To measure the main beam, you’ll want to measure a straight line from the burr at the base of the antler all the way to the end of the beam. Stay on the outside edge of the antler for this measurement and use a flexible measuring tape that will bend with the curve of the beam.

You will also need to measure the spread by finding the widest point between the two main beams. When recording this measurement, make sure your tape measurer is perpendicular to the skull at its widest point and parallel to the top of its head. 

Circumference

Next up are the circumferences which are taken from the narrowest place on the antler. Not all deer are perfect, however. Sometimes they have abnormal points or no brow point. There are special measurements for each of these discrepancies. Follow the formula on the website if this is the case.

With all the information at your fingertips, the formula on the B&C Club website is all you need to score your next big buck. You don’t need a degree in algebra to do it, either. They even have different links for different types of game. Each link has its own personalized algorithm built in and ready to go. Just follow the instructions, plug in all your numbers, and the website will crunch all the data for you and spit out your final number. Then, you can take that number and show it off to all your hunting buddies the next time you meet up.

If you think your buck is big enough to have broken a record and is eligible to be in the books, submit your bid officially by contacting the Boone and Crockett Club. An official from the club will come and score your buck again and put it in their records for all to see.

What’s your best whitetail score? Share your numbers in the comments below.

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