I don't score antlers.
I guess if I got tangled up with a giant rack I might ; but I figure a buck is what it can be. Measuring it against others is kind of an insult.
When spread is past the ears a buck has my attention as a potential shooter. Yet is that fair to tall racked or bobsled shaped racked bucks?
Your pictured buck like many has an unsymmetrical rack. It is what it is. Reasons abound including injuries and winter severity's effect on skeletal reserves Vs well being of the whole body when antlers are a luxury in comparison.
One side is a main framed 8-point and the other side is missing a brow tine and maybe damaged .
Not uncommon. And at age 2.5 -3.5 (?) where he's still growing skeletal mass , antlers are taking a back seat in the confirmation/health department. Or they should be still.
See the stoop to his hind quarters, the slight sway to his back and belly line sag. Check the brisket showing. And later when he fills out and is at peak weight and mass look where his neck joins his chest. Compare those dimensions to other bucks of varied age classes.
( It can be argued a 5-6 year old buck is a greater trophy than a younger one regardless of antlers.)
Don't count on accurately aging a buck by looking at the size of its rack. These traits of a deer's body are much more accurate.
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With average winter weight losses nearly a third of body weights at time , he doesn't need to rob his body of minerals that could better serve his bones instead. (Not that he hasn't been drawing against some reserves all along.)
Velvet shedding/hard antler ; hours West of you where I am starts roughly the first/second week of Sept..
He'll have longer tines . That of course look much sharper when the velvet is gone. Maybe some more mass as well.
Double the neck maybe as testosterone surges following hard antler and he starts working out..
Each tine adds up for scoring typical racks. Different ways to score them. By which book. Typical or nontypical ect..
A 150 buck is kind of a border for arguing trophy status.
The dimensions below are vague but are suggesting a 130 buck. That makes a mainframe 8 point need to have a lot of lengths and mass besides a nice spread. Which takes a mild prior winter and a very healthy prime diet. And no injuries. Or insect damage. Easier said than done.
Your buckis a greatbuck.
On paper it might hit 120? Again I don't score them.
But he's survived a couple winters. That's a lot of cold nights on the ground. And not being prey to a lot of predators.
It's a lucky deer that survives being birthed ; and year one.
And we know winters bite from our heated well fed low stress abodes.
Seeing his belly starting to sag is a win.
It gets crescent in another year or two we can expect more in the antler department. Though it's fine right now/ After all ; it is what it can be. Which is suited.
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