- Thread starter spectr17
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I find the easiest way to judge antelope is to break the horn measurements into segments. I use the LENGTH measurement and the PRONG measurement for the OVERALL LENGTH measurements and I use the two measurements under the prong for the BOTTOM MASS measurement and the two above the prong for the TOP MASS measurement. Now I have the horn broken into 4 segments or measurements instead of six, and since I just double this one horn for the final score I've sorta taken 12 measurements and broken them into 4. Now, for the actual scoring I like to stick with the half inch method where you keep all your measurements in half inch increments, for instance - if you're scoring the prong you'd have a score of either 5.0, 5.4, 6.0, 6.4, 7.0 etc...
Individual measurements...
LENGTH - Break the length into two parts: From the base to where the prong inserts will be the first part (what I call "to the prong" and from the prong to the tip will be the second part (some call this the curl, I call it "past the prong". For the "to the prong" measurement usually I use the ear as a reference. If the prong is even with the ear than it's probably 6.0-6.4 inches up the horn. [Ear length does vary greatly so knowing the ear length in the area you're hunting is a big help.] For the "past the prong" measurement I try and imagine wrapping my hand (from thumb to middle finger) around the horn from the prong up. Since I know how far that is (because I've measured it) I can estimate either how much longer past that the horn is or how much shorter it is. Add these two measurements together and you have the length. To practice use horns you already have. Stand away from them and imagine your hand on the tops and guess a score. Then actually put your hands on the horn and reguess if you must. Then measure it and see where you screwed up - if you did.
PRONG - You just need look at a lot of prongs and know that the prong breaks down into two measurements - "off the horn" ( from where the prong inserts into the main horn to the tip) and "behind the horn" ( from the prongs insertion point to where a straight edge meets both horns on the back). To judge "off the horn" you really just need to see a lot of prongs, guess the length, and then check it. For "behind the horn" just know that a thin buck will have around 2.0-2.2, an average buck around 2.2-2.4, and a heavy buck around 2.4-2.6 [At least in AZ this holds fairly true]. Prongs really are the easiest part of an antelope to judge.
BOTTOM MASS - This measurement obviously consists of two measurements: the base and the first quarter circumference. You can use the eye as a reference as almost every eye on an antelope is between 1.6 and 2.2 with most right at 2.0 when you measure from black to black [which is what you see when you're looking from afar in the field]. If the horn appears smaller than the eye then the buck is thin, if it looks the same or a little better then the buck has average mass, and if it looks considerably bigger the buck has heavy BOTTOM MASS. Thin BOTTOM MASS is considered under 12.4, average is about 12.4-13.4, and heavy is above 13.4 [you Wyoming folks might have a different opinion about this].
TOP MASS - I don't really use a reference in the field for this one. The only reference I use are the other antelope I've seen and taped in the past. I just put together the top two measurements and come up with something along the lines of....6.0 is thin, 6.4 is average, and 7.0 and above is heavy.
If I was to do this on a real antelope it would go like this...
I'm viewing him through my scope and he's facing me. I score the first thing I can see. Here it would be the "past the prong" measurement. I imagine my hand on his horn. I think my middle finger would reach to where the bend is and that would leave about an inch and a half left to the tip. My reach is about 8.4. 8.4 plus 1.4 equals 10.0 inches "past the prong". I also note the top mass from the front angle and the bottom mass although I can't score them accurately from this view. He turns to the side. I note his prong is ear high. I give him 6.4 to the prong. This gives me 16.4 inches in length. I note his prong appears to be 4 inches "off the horn" and he appears to have a lot of mass behind the horn. I give his prong 6.4 [It would be 6.6 based on my above comments, but remember, we're using the half inch method]. That gives me 23.0 inches in total length. His horn appears wider than his eye at the base and from the base to the prong it appears to open up [get bigger] for the measurement under the prong. I give him 14.0 on the bottom mass. His tops appear to be relatively uniform with the rest of his mass so I score them at 7.4. This gives me 21.4 inches of total mass. I add the 23.0 to the 21.4 and come up with 44.4. I double that to get 89.0. A monster buck.
From state to state things vary and sometimes from unit to unit. Just be consistant and always be on the lookout for "JoeBoo". The myth. The legend. And if you find him be sure to send me a photo.
I hope this helps. I've spent my life so far devising ways, methods, techniques, and systems in order to accurately field judge antelope and I feel I'm progressing well. This is just one of my techniques and hopefully it will help you in the future and better yet spark your own creativity and allow you to develop a system better than mine.
Good luck in the draws. Better luck in the hunts.
--Grail
Individual measurements...
LENGTH - Break the length into two parts: From the base to where the prong inserts will be the first part (what I call "to the prong" and from the prong to the tip will be the second part (some call this the curl, I call it "past the prong". For the "to the prong" measurement usually I use the ear as a reference. If the prong is even with the ear than it's probably 6.0-6.4 inches up the horn. [Ear length does vary greatly so knowing the ear length in the area you're hunting is a big help.] For the "past the prong" measurement I try and imagine wrapping my hand (from thumb to middle finger) around the horn from the prong up. Since I know how far that is (because I've measured it) I can estimate either how much longer past that the horn is or how much shorter it is. Add these two measurements together and you have the length. To practice use horns you already have. Stand away from them and imagine your hand on the tops and guess a score. Then actually put your hands on the horn and reguess if you must. Then measure it and see where you screwed up - if you did.
PRONG - You just need look at a lot of prongs and know that the prong breaks down into two measurements - "off the horn" ( from where the prong inserts into the main horn to the tip) and "behind the horn" ( from the prongs insertion point to where a straight edge meets both horns on the back). To judge "off the horn" you really just need to see a lot of prongs, guess the length, and then check it. For "behind the horn" just know that a thin buck will have around 2.0-2.2, an average buck around 2.2-2.4, and a heavy buck around 2.4-2.6 [At least in AZ this holds fairly true]. Prongs really are the easiest part of an antelope to judge.
BOTTOM MASS - This measurement obviously consists of two measurements: the base and the first quarter circumference. You can use the eye as a reference as almost every eye on an antelope is between 1.6 and 2.2 with most right at 2.0 when you measure from black to black [which is what you see when you're looking from afar in the field]. If the horn appears smaller than the eye then the buck is thin, if it looks the same or a little better then the buck has average mass, and if it looks considerably bigger the buck has heavy BOTTOM MASS. Thin BOTTOM MASS is considered under 12.4, average is about 12.4-13.4, and heavy is above 13.4 [you Wyoming folks might have a different opinion about this].
TOP MASS - I don't really use a reference in the field for this one. The only reference I use are the other antelope I've seen and taped in the past. I just put together the top two measurements and come up with something along the lines of....6.0 is thin, 6.4 is average, and 7.0 and above is heavy.
If I was to do this on a real antelope it would go like this...
I'm viewing him through my scope and he's facing me. I score the first thing I can see. Here it would be the "past the prong" measurement. I imagine my hand on his horn. I think my middle finger would reach to where the bend is and that would leave about an inch and a half left to the tip. My reach is about 8.4. 8.4 plus 1.4 equals 10.0 inches "past the prong". I also note the top mass from the front angle and the bottom mass although I can't score them accurately from this view. He turns to the side. I note his prong is ear high. I give him 6.4 to the prong. This gives me 16.4 inches in length. I note his prong appears to be 4 inches "off the horn" and he appears to have a lot of mass behind the horn. I give his prong 6.4 [It would be 6.6 based on my above comments, but remember, we're using the half inch method]. That gives me 23.0 inches in total length. His horn appears wider than his eye at the base and from the base to the prong it appears to open up [get bigger] for the measurement under the prong. I give him 14.0 on the bottom mass. His tops appear to be relatively uniform with the rest of his mass so I score them at 7.4. This gives me 21.4 inches of total mass. I add the 23.0 to the 21.4 and come up with 44.4. I double that to get 89.0. A monster buck.
From state to state things vary and sometimes from unit to unit. Just be consistant and always be on the lookout for "JoeBoo". The myth. The legend. And if you find him be sure to send me a photo.
I hope this helps. I've spent my life so far devising ways, methods, techniques, and systems in order to accurately field judge antelope and I feel I'm progressing well. This is just one of my techniques and hopefully it will help you in the future and better yet spark your own creativity and allow you to develop a system better than mine.
Good luck in the draws. Better luck in the hunts.
--Grail
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Thanks a bunch grail. That should keep me busy for awhile looking for Joeboo.
One question, on scoring you mentioned to keep it to .5" increments. In the exmaple you gave you had 5.0, 5.4, 6.0, 6.4, 7.0 etc... Did you mean 5.5, 6.5?? If not, why 5.4?
One question, on scoring you mentioned to keep it to .5" increments. In the exmaple you gave you had 5.0, 5.4, 6.0, 6.4, 7.0 etc... Did you mean 5.5, 6.5?? If not, why 5.4?
Hntrjohn,
That's not necessarily true. In fact it's usually the opposite and here's why:
When the prongs move up the horn it does three things to the score.
1) It makes the horn longer...obviously.
2) It makes the measurement under the prong smaller [1st quarter].
3) It makes the measurement above the prong bigger [2nd quarter].
When the prong is low on the horn it has exactly the opposite affect. The main reason for these two phenomena is because the lower the prong the longer it will be and the higher the prong the shorter the prong will be [generally].
Let me give you an example:
Buck # 1
On this buck the prongs are relatively low [about 6-6.4 inches up the horn] with 10 inches or so past the prong giving us a total of 16-16.4 inches in length. We'll use 16 for simplicity. We divide 16 by 4 and get 4. This means this bucks 1st quarter will fall at 4 inches from the base. This is good because, as you can see by the picture, the measurement is clearly larger than the base at this point. But, the 2nd quarter is going to fall at 8 inches from the base which, if the prong is 6 inches up the horn, will put the measurement 2 inches above the prong. This isn't ideal, of course, as you'd like to have this mesurement right on top of the prong if possible.
This bucks estimated measurements would be around -
Base: 7.0
1st Q: 7.6
2nd Q: 4.4
3rd Q: 3.2
Total Mass: 22.4
Having more mass on the bottoms is usually beneficial because of the greater variance in bottom mass measurements when compared to top mass measurements. Most bottom mass measurements will fall [on a mature buck] between 12 and 15 inches [a 3 inch variance] whereas most top mass scores will fall between 6 and 8 [a 2 inch variance].
Buck # 2
On this buck the prongs are relatively high [about 8 inches up the horn] with around 9.6 past. This bucks good horn went 17.6 when he was taken. This means that this bucks 1st quarter will be 4.4 inches up the horn. Only half an inch higher than 'buck # 1' and yet we still have plenty or room between the bottom of his prong and where the tape falls on this measurement. As you can see by the picture the measurement is virtually the same here as it is at the base. Now, the 2nd quarter is going to fall at 9 inches up the horn [8.7 in reality] and this is going to be good because it's only an inch from the prong [the closer to the prong on this one the better].
This bucks actual measurements are:
Base: 6.7
1st Q: 6.7
2nd Q: 4.7
3rd Q: 3.4
Total mass: 22.1
The mass on both bucks is similar, but the first buck has more total mass [if my estimates are correct - it's entirely possible that I could be way off].
When you factor in length the second buck would probably be larger overall, but with both over 90 you should probably just pull the trigger and ask scoring questions later.
There is one exception to this and that's when the prong is so high up the horn that the 1st and 2nd quarter fall under the prong. This would make the buck a lot heavier than if he was more of a typical antelope with 2 below and 2 above.
Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong (like Dennis Miller always says).
That's not necessarily true. In fact it's usually the opposite and here's why:
When the prongs move up the horn it does three things to the score.
1) It makes the horn longer...obviously.
2) It makes the measurement under the prong smaller [1st quarter].
3) It makes the measurement above the prong bigger [2nd quarter].
When the prong is low on the horn it has exactly the opposite affect. The main reason for these two phenomena is because the lower the prong the longer it will be and the higher the prong the shorter the prong will be [generally].
Let me give you an example:
Buck # 1
On this buck the prongs are relatively low [about 6-6.4 inches up the horn] with 10 inches or so past the prong giving us a total of 16-16.4 inches in length. We'll use 16 for simplicity. We divide 16 by 4 and get 4. This means this bucks 1st quarter will fall at 4 inches from the base. This is good because, as you can see by the picture, the measurement is clearly larger than the base at this point. But, the 2nd quarter is going to fall at 8 inches from the base which, if the prong is 6 inches up the horn, will put the measurement 2 inches above the prong. This isn't ideal, of course, as you'd like to have this mesurement right on top of the prong if possible.
This bucks estimated measurements would be around -
Base: 7.0
1st Q: 7.6
2nd Q: 4.4
3rd Q: 3.2
Total Mass: 22.4
Having more mass on the bottoms is usually beneficial because of the greater variance in bottom mass measurements when compared to top mass measurements. Most bottom mass measurements will fall [on a mature buck] between 12 and 15 inches [a 3 inch variance] whereas most top mass scores will fall between 6 and 8 [a 2 inch variance].
Buck # 2
On this buck the prongs are relatively high [about 8 inches up the horn] with around 9.6 past. This bucks good horn went 17.6 when he was taken. This means that this bucks 1st quarter will be 4.4 inches up the horn. Only half an inch higher than 'buck # 1' and yet we still have plenty or room between the bottom of his prong and where the tape falls on this measurement. As you can see by the picture the measurement is virtually the same here as it is at the base. Now, the 2nd quarter is going to fall at 9 inches up the horn [8.7 in reality] and this is going to be good because it's only an inch from the prong [the closer to the prong on this one the better].
This bucks actual measurements are:
Base: 6.7
1st Q: 6.7
2nd Q: 4.7
3rd Q: 3.4
Total mass: 22.1
The mass on both bucks is similar, but the first buck has more total mass [if my estimates are correct - it's entirely possible that I could be way off].
When you factor in length the second buck would probably be larger overall, but with both over 90 you should probably just pull the trigger and ask scoring questions later.
There is one exception to this and that's when the prong is so high up the horn that the 1st and 2nd quarter fall under the prong. This would make the buck a lot heavier than if he was more of a typical antelope with 2 below and 2 above.
Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong (like Dennis Miller always says).
