Field scoring comparison

Y’all seem to like to score more when the answer is known so see how you like this. I purposely picked 4 bucks that are very similar shape and width and all slick 10 points. Less than 2” between all 4 widths. The upper left is off my new lease and others off my second lease. All this year except upper right was 2019. Upper left fd 150#, upper right 164 fd, and others 140/145. I purposely cropped out hunters so you had nothing for comparison on size to offer perspective. Some are zoomed in more than others but I couldn’t avoid that. It can be very hard to estimate score. A little game for y’all to play in case your Thanksgiving is slow. Happy Thanksgiving.

I wouldn’t have passed on any of them. They all meet my field measurement requirement.

Nice ones

It is interesting, reading all of them were within 2” of each other on width....i would have guessed a lot more for some.

Just based on the pics, bottom right looks widest at 24”, followed by bottom left at around 20-21”, the top two bring in the rear at around 19-20”

Thats what the pictures show me, but knowing what was written, the pics show me wrong. There is an obvious issue with the ears on some, but even then, i believe there is an issue with relative size of the deer, even though they all dressed out similar sizes. Head proportion....would be interesting to measure the heads and inter-ear wodth on those deer just for comparison, i look at those pics and have a real hard time saying they are all within 2” of each other on width.

The inside spreads are in no particular order 21 2/8, 20 6/8, 19 6/8, 19 4/8. Hopefully we will get some guesses on scores. It looks like some of our regular scorers are hunting and busy with Thanksgiving. Keep in mind the main reason I posted these was to show just how hard it is to estimate score. Rather we realize it or not, to know how big something is we will compare it to something else. Whatever else is in the pic like the hunter or other deer or parts of the deer like ears, head, body etc.

I never was much on score, but I would think the one the young lady shot scores the highest...But then maybe not, the one next tp it has some nice G2's and good beams.

Free, I am going to sit this one out as I've been pretty much +/- 3-5" on nearly every scoring estimate I've submitted on THF over the last 1-2 years. I guess 40+ years of hunting South Texas was good for something having seen hundreds if not thousands of live and harvested bucks during those years. I do enjoy your posts of your awesome bucks, can you remind me of the county they are in?

I thought this was a real interesting set of pics to play with trying to score. Thread hasnt gotten much action so Im hoping its because Thanksgiving weekend and everybody busy. I would really like to see what STx thinks but I guess hes on an extended Mule deer hunt. Quite a few regulars that usually try to score I would like to hear from. Its really difficult to score with no more than this to go on so maybe some are nervous about throwing out a score.

I honestly prefer your live, individual field pics of deer; more fun for me to score on the hoof than 4 similar racked dead ones. This one feels more critiquing to me...

DQ, I like the live ones much better as well but others have said they like to guess score when they get to eventually know answer. This one is very difficult but I picked it cause I think it will make a good teaching point about how difficult scoring is without the proper pics an angles etc.

Top Left 144-146
Top Rt 139-141
Bot Left 151-153
Bot Rt 149-151

I see 150, 147, 152 and 158 in the same order..

Sorry free, I think you posted this because of some of my comments recently and I was away playing at the lease.

I think the bottom left (I'll call it Nails) was the biggest just at first glance. Looking a little longer, here are my guesses....

Top left: 152
Top right: 148
Bottom left: 156
Bottom right: 159

TLew, yes, your comments gave me the idea. And then two of these bucks got killed just a few days ago and I thought it was uncanny how we had killed 3 bucks within two weeks of each other and another last year that looked so much alike. And then as I texted some of my friends the pics they kept getting the scores wrong. Im holding out to give any results hoping STx can climb up a mountain wherever hes hunting and get cell enough to comment. Hoping other regulars will chime in too. Thanks to yall chiming in so far.

UL: 138
UR: 129
LL: 144
LR: 141

lol
STXRM is trying to get a bigger muley than last year. I hope he does but that is not gonna be easy!

tough for me to score deer that I'm not familiar with, especially once they're on the ground.

pretty deer all around though. looks like you have some solid genetic traits for big 10s

I think I might post up a deer from my lease and see what folks think.

Kyle, please post some. I post a lot cause I think its a great way for me and others to learn and I just really like looking at deer and I know others do, Scoring is always hard and I agree with you that its even harder when dead and just one pic. Thats really my point with this series is how hard it is to judge with just these pics.

I'm still waiting for the answer key to see how bad I failed

Agreed
These threads are great for everyone for sure and can only help us all.

I love all the ones you've put up this season already!

Good stuff freerange!

on the one I know the answer to you are off by a little over 10%....not gonna tell you which one that was. My guess is the scores we have seen so far are all quite a bit off.

I will say this, when I saw the buck in person this weekend that I know the answer on, I was shocked how much bigger it was in person compared to the pics. The pics do NOT do it justice at all, make it look way smaller (approx 20-30 inches smaller based on most guesses here so far) than it actually is. Again, not gonna say which one, but it is interesting how everyone is judging that deer way smaller than it actually is.

I'm sure they're all a lot wider than we're giving them credit for and carrying more mass too. That 2nd one has shorter tines but carrying quite a bit of mass that is probably getting severely shortchanged by most..

DQ, FR gave the widths in random order in one of his posts already. they go from 21and change down to 19 and change, I know one, but don't know the widths on the rest, so have no idea which is which really.

DQ, sorry, I never answered your question about what county. 3 of 4 from Throckmorton.

I guess I missed that 2nd post on inside spreads. Obviously we're off on how much mass and tine lengths they're carrying.

Throck sure has some nice genetics, nice to now have a lease out that way as well.

I think you are closer than me as I typically am under most of the time by a little and not over.
I went back and looked again and I am definitely short changing them all on their frames.
With a little more study on them I'll go

149
145
158
155

Ive held off giving the answer cause I really wanted STx to chime in cause this one fooled every single person along with friends I have sent to so I figured it would get him. I guess even if hes killed a Mule deer he will keep hunting with that camera till the bitter end.. Im still not giving the answer but Im attaching a pic of the upper left deer that is taken at a better angle. This pic should enlighten yall. For reference the buck in front is a 146 8 point.

I'll jump my original 152" to 170" now. Great buck.

Holy crap!!!!
I'm way off on that one in the cooler for sure.
That first pic of him holding him does not do him justice at all.

I'm having a really hard time seeing 146 on the 8 in the cooler with him as well. I only see 39-41" on that 8 up top and that would leave well over 100" on the frame to get to 146. Is it just a really bad pic of that big 8??

I'd say the 10 in the cooler from that pic is very close to 160 if not over by that pic which is crazy considering my first guess on him was 145ish.

Your hunters need to learn how to take better LDPs man.....Hell, I can make a 150 look 175.

Alright, this feels like a setup, but I'll try:

upper left 152.5
upper right 148.5
lower left 159
lower right 153.5

That's FR's point. I've been making some comments about pictures not being great, and he's exacerbating this (and doing a great job)

Its insane how pics can mislead either way. Sometimes deer look big and sometimes they look small. In this set, almost all guesses are still low for at least the one i know.

Another deer was taken from the same place and almost universally was guessed at least 10” low as well. Would he interesting if FR put that deer on here and i could guess most will be off on that one too.

Nothing like a ground check and ground growth instead of shrinkage....

Anytime I see a buck "skylined" like they are in those pics, I guess very conservative numbers. In this case, maybe they are as big as they look or bigger.

Ok, times up I guess. The upper left deer everyone is missing low by a lot. I have sent this collage of pics to friends and its the same with everyone. My point with this whole thread wasnt to trick anyone or try to use trick photography but just to show how hard it is to field score and especially from one pic and without much else in the pic to get reference. Besides the upper left all the pics were taken by my friends and we work on showing the deers rack as it truly is which is still tough with just one pic. We do not get the deers body or the hunter to sit way back so it exaggerates the rack like a bass fisherman does. Everyone was reasonably close on scoring those 3. All deer were scored by a good friend/hunter that is a certified TBGA scorer and I used to be one as well. They score 150, 149 and 151.
The upper left scored 170. If you study this stuff you can tell one main reason why he got missed. The field pic the cameraman(not me) was below the deer and it shows the tines as if they are laid back and doesnt nearly show their real length. In the walkin pic the camera is at about deers eye level and the tines are straight up and down. Sometimes when taking a pic to show the tine length you need to push his nose down to get those tines correct. Hes 106 down and 64 up. I guess another thing is his beam and mass are just deceiving which throws everything off. 24/25 beam and 17 to side mass. Also the 146 8 in walkin had 25 beam, 17 mass and 19 wide. That was just one pic but he was deceiving in person as well. Lastly, I dont have all the answers on why some deer and some pics are so deceiving but THEY JUST ARE. IMO, it takes a real expert to get within 5" either way on a consistent basis and 10" either way is not too bad. Thanks for playing along and if you think my analysis is off or you have anything to add please do cause its a never ending learning process.

Pretty close on the 2nd and 3rd deer, little off on the 4th deer - too high and way off on my first estimate of 1st deer but hit it right on the # with my estimate after seeing the meat locker pic..Fun times Freerange and great bucks....

Wait, the lower left is the smallest deer???? How long is that right g4? I demand a recount! haha

Thanks for the quiz FR! Fantastic deer either way

Free, those are all pretty deer. You have obtained access to some places which I think many on here envy and yes, you can include me in that crowd.

Awesome post man for sure!!
Crazy as hell how deceiving that first pic is of the top left buck versus the pic of him in the cooler.
WOW

And I still cannot believe that 8 in the cooler is that BIG. Wow I would have guessed him off that pic in the cooler at mid to high 30s
Do you have any other pics of him to compare??

ILUV, I always have more pics, but I hesitate to keep posting(I get impression some get tired of it which seems weird to me on a deer hunting forum.) Ill pm you. Those deer are off my new lease and most of the bucks beams are just longer and heavier and it throws off perspective on the rest.

Gros, how about a score sheet. This is a semi quick scoring job and I have found they usually get a little bigger when he scores them official.

skyline gets me once more...It looks like his right G3 has 2 inches on the right G2, and they're an 8th inch apart.

All great deer, by the way. I have killed a couple pretty big deer, but never a really big slick 10.