Field Judging Whitetail Deer

If you want to take a big buck, you need to know how to tell if a buck really is as big as you think. Here’s a rough breakdown on field judging whitetail deer on the hoof (assuming you’re after a record book buck).

1. Look for 10 points or more. Not one buck in the top 300 B&C has fewer than ten points. A ten pointer almost always makes Pope and Young.
2. Tine length. The length of each tine needs to be at least the length of the bucks ear.
3. Body size can trick you. A big bodied deer can sometimes look like it has a small rack…and vice versa. Deer tend to be bigger as you go north.
4. Look at the main beam. A giant bucks main beam extends  to near, or even past the end of the nose.
5. Mass adds up. 
6. Inside spread. A buck only needs to be a little outside the ears (on alert). More, of course, is better.

A whitetail deer is scored by adding up the following measurements, rounded to the nearest 1/8 of an inch:

1. Greatest inside spread.
2. Length of main beam on left side.
3. Length of main beam on right side.
4. Each individual tine length.
5. Four mass measurements per main beam.

Online Whitetail Scoring Calculator

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