Judge this deer

[ridgetop]

Here's one more live picture and as I walked up on him on last years muzzy hunt. The guy that gave me the live pictures was a little disappointed about hearing about me getting the buck because it was on his hit list but he was a good sport about it. I'm grateful for him sharing the pictures with me. Any more guesses on width and gross score?

 

[boiler]

I like him even more without the velvet. Beautiful! Now give us the score!!

 

[ridgetop]

Thanks guys for your input. This buck is a complete opposite of the buck that ColoradoV showed and had us guess. That's why I thought it would be interesting to see how hard it can be to judge some bucks. This buck was probably 3.5 years old at best. He had a very small body and ears and probably had some of the thickest velvet I've ever seen. He came in right at 29" wide and had a gross score of 159". The guy that gave me the pictures was thinking it was a 30"+ 180" class buck from the trail cam pictures he got, he just couldn't believe how much smaller it looked on my wall.
Here's a picture of it with my 170" 2013 muzzy buck on the right and a 130" buck above them.
He's still a great buck and was fun hunting it.

 

[B&C Blacktails]

Geeze! That's crazy no one came close. This is a great exercise

 

[Doe Nob]

View attachment 18787

What is the story with the troll in the upper right corner of this pic? Any more pics of that freak?

 

[ridgetop]

What is the story with the troll in the upper right corner of this pic? Any more pics of that freak?

It's a young elk that had great potential to be a real freak.
I shot it back in 1994 on a general season hunt.

 

[D_Dubya]

Wow! Certainly had me fooled on the score, but just goes to show score isn't everything, it's still a great looking buck! thanks for sharing!

 

[ridgetop]

Wow! Certainly had me fooled on the score, but just goes to show score isn't everything, it's still a great looking buck! thanks for sharing!

The three main things that killed its score was..... inside spread, short main beams and willowy mass.
The buck had great tine length and the tines were some what bladed. Which gave it a heavier look than it really was, especially in the velvet.

 

[N8tve_Hunter]

180 tops... Maybe 27 inch spread.. Still not a mature buck judging by his body size.. Give him another few years, he has the potential to be a monster.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ColoradoV]

Nice I was only about 40" off on my guess lol! It is hard to judge and even harder from pics on the net.

Thanks for the post and fun.

 

[bigmoose]

Nice I was only about 40" off on my guess lol! It is hard to judge and even harder from pics on the net.

Thanks for the post and fun.

Yep, me too. He still looks bigger than the 170 buck next to him in the photo. Go figure....

 

[fackelberry]

I guessed the width perfect but was about 23" inches off gross score. He looks just as good as the 170 in the picture, hard to see where the buck on the right has 11 inches more antler. but photos are hard to judge.

 

[ridgetop]

I guessed the width perfect but was about 23" inches off gross score. He looks just as good as the 170 in the picture, hard to see where the buck on the right has 11 inches more antler. but photos are hard to judge.

The big difference is the inside spread, main beams and eye guards. The OP buck had a 16" inside spread and about 21" main beams with no eye guards. The 170" buck had a 23" inside spread, 23" mains and 2.5" eye guards and 5" or so more in mass. That's over 20" more over the OP buck but the OP buck makes up for about half of that in longer G-3s and 4's.

 

[ridgetop]

Here a field picture of the two to compare.

 

[fackelberry]

Ya those field photos are a little easier to tell. I just hate judging animals from photos. They are way different in person. Bout like trying to guess the weight of a fish in a photo. Thanks for the pictures.