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- Jan 28, 2003
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Every year I talk to folks who come out and want to hunt for a "huge" trophy critter of some kind. When I ask them what they consider a "huge" trophy I hear a lot of misconceptions about what makes a huge trophy critter. Here are a couple of the more common ones.
Mule deer and the myth of the 30" spread. A 30" spread on a mule deer buck is a wide spread, no two ways about it. But a mule deer obtains it's score from having deep, long double forks per side, good mass and scoreable points. I've seen 24" spread, yet tall bucks that will be tickling the book and 30" wide flat horned bucks that won't hardly score at all.
The 10 point whitetail. To me a 140" 8 point is a far more impressive deer than a 120" 10 point. Total point do not make the trophy score on a whitetail.
Pronghorn and the fabled 16" horn, yes it's a horn, not an antler. A pronghorn buck derives it's score primarily from it's 4 mass measurements per horn and it's cutters. While length is important a 12" or 13" tall buck that has heavy mass and high set cutters that allows for three mass measurements under the cutters will seriously outscore an average mass and average cutter length 16" buck.
A 6x6 elk seems to be the green horns standard trophy requirement. A 6x6 alone doesn't mean anything trophy wise. There a lot of immature rag horn 6x6's running around. You've got to add beam length, tine length and mass before that elk starts to score. I'll take a thick, mature 5x5 any day over a rag horn 6x6.
The 8' mountain lion. An 8' mountain lion measured from the nose to the tip of the tail is going to be a large bodied cat. If he's got a skinny head he isn't going to score at all. A cat that scores well is going to have a large broad head. Bears are the same deal.
Now with this being said. I am not in any way suggesting that you should not go after the animal that tickles your fancy. Some of my favorite "trophies" are freak horns and just cool looking smaller critters. I shot a 7'11" mountain lion with a pin head once. He looks mighty impressive none the less. What I am saying is that when you ask a seasoned hunter or guide to show you a trophy you two might be speaking different languages. The experienced guy will most likely be speaking in total score not fabled and "meaningless" (score wise) benchmarks.
Mule deer and the myth of the 30" spread. A 30" spread on a mule deer buck is a wide spread, no two ways about it. But a mule deer obtains it's score from having deep, long double forks per side, good mass and scoreable points. I've seen 24" spread, yet tall bucks that will be tickling the book and 30" wide flat horned bucks that won't hardly score at all.
The 10 point whitetail. To me a 140" 8 point is a far more impressive deer than a 120" 10 point. Total point do not make the trophy score on a whitetail.
Pronghorn and the fabled 16" horn, yes it's a horn, not an antler. A pronghorn buck derives it's score primarily from it's 4 mass measurements per horn and it's cutters. While length is important a 12" or 13" tall buck that has heavy mass and high set cutters that allows for three mass measurements under the cutters will seriously outscore an average mass and average cutter length 16" buck.
A 6x6 elk seems to be the green horns standard trophy requirement. A 6x6 alone doesn't mean anything trophy wise. There a lot of immature rag horn 6x6's running around. You've got to add beam length, tine length and mass before that elk starts to score. I'll take a thick, mature 5x5 any day over a rag horn 6x6.
The 8' mountain lion. An 8' mountain lion measured from the nose to the tip of the tail is going to be a large bodied cat. If he's got a skinny head he isn't going to score at all. A cat that scores well is going to have a large broad head. Bears are the same deal.
Now with this being said. I am not in any way suggesting that you should not go after the animal that tickles your fancy. Some of my favorite "trophies" are freak horns and just cool looking smaller critters. I shot a 7'11" mountain lion with a pin head once. He looks mighty impressive none the less. What I am saying is that when you ask a seasoned hunter or guide to show you a trophy you two might be speaking different languages. The experienced guy will most likely be speaking in total score not fabled and "meaningless" (score wise) benchmarks.