Your thought on counting points on deer, All together or one side,eye guards etc

[boneaddict]

What he said!

[jackelope]

It's only an Eastern thing because they don't have anything else.

thats probably the most valid point made on this topic.

back east we count whitetails as 8 pointers or 9 pointers. they still all have to be an inch long to be legal, so thats how i, along with everybody i used to hunt with counted them. i don't know why you western hunters don't count them, but you don't and thats ok. i do on whitetails, because thats the way i grew up. when i came out here and finally figured out why all you jokers were speaking so highly of killing a 4 point, thats the way i count muleys and blackeys....no eyeguards if it ain't a whitetail.

i also agree i can't figure out why you western hunters have to make things so difficult all the time.
 
kidding.

[boneaddict]

Everyone back east are like clones.......
But take the extremes of the west....for instance, compare Texas with California, Montana with Pike street in Seattle.  It takes complicated rules to deal with such diversity.
Fact is you have folks running around calling blacktails 300 pounders and little dawg like whitetails the same.  You just need a cut and dried system that sorts out that kind of BS.

[robodad]

It is quite simple really if you think of it this way, Count every point that is an inch long and if there are eye guards then say with eye guards and if there are no eye guards then don't say anything, and if there are different points per side call it "7 pt" (3x4 no eye guards) or "9pt with eye guards" (3x4 with eye guards) another example "8 pt with eye guards" (main frame 3 pt with eye guards) or the same buck with no eye guards would be "6 pt".

So a 4 pt with eye guards would be an "10pt with eye guards" and without the eye guards it would be an "8 pt"

Folks could immediately tell what you were talking about and not ask what sort of configuration you meant.

As for elk, every point should be counted and called like this "3x5" or "5x5" or "6x7" ect, cause there are almost always eye guards on them and they should be counted just like any other point.

[Ray]

If it's my deer brow tines count. If it's someone else's they don't 

[GoldTip]

IMHO there are only two ways to count points, eastern and western.

Eastern they count every point over an inch, bilaterally.
Western we count only one side including the eyeguards on whitetails, and only one side not including eyeguards on Mule deer.

[robodad]

Just curious Goldtip, where does the east stop and the west begin ??

[GoldTip]

Mississippi river.

[Coasthunterjay]

Well after reading this for a while and re-thinking ...I would have to say that the points you count to make a deer legal for harvest are all points.......!

Listen to me for a second. If you shoot a WT with a fork and a 2 inch eye guard to make it legal then you obviously count all points.....Now for all you trophy mulie hunters out there...If you had passed up on three or four ok sized mule deer and finally last day comes and its 30 minutes from dark and you have a nice long tined 2x2 mule deer with 1 inch eyeguards (last deer of the season)..... Bamm!

You would do the same as the person putting food on there tables..... You would count it and shoot it. I know that all you guys that have been lucky enough to shoot a big mule deer havent always been lucky and i know that when it came down to it you shot that forked mule deer with an eyeguard and counted it as a 3point! "But now that you have become a better, more skilled, and sucessful hunter you feel that you need to put yourself in a different catagorie?" humm? I think some peoples ideas as what they count are going to change now.

My final change goes for eyeguards count.  If you shoot a mule deer like i said and someone argues to me that i shot a 2x2 with sticker eye guards and i go to court....The second   i show them that it has 3 points. That each point is aninch long or longer on one side. Then case closed, I WIN!! but i still only count one side unless its uneven.....then its a "BY(?X?)"

ALL POINTS COUNT! THATS MY .02 GOOD CENTS 

[dbllunger]

Normally I just count everthing that is typical and not eye guards on white tails.  WT eye guards are just expected so I don't even mention them.
MD I just say "with eye guards".
Extras I just say "some extra junk"

Pretty basic and I just expect serious hunters to know what I am talking about. 

[boneaddict]

Better just keep your 2 cents Coast, its not wortha penny.

Pretty basic and I just expect serious hunters to know what I am talking about.

Exactly..........


Just think.....picture yourself talking to some good ole boys.  You tell them about the nice 4 point you got, you pull it out to show them and its a three with a little eyguard.  Think how disappointed they will be in their minds.
Picture yourself the next year around the same fire.  Your buddy is talking about the nice 4 point he got.  he goes to his truck and pulls out a nice 4x4 with eyeguards, and the crowd roars.

[Red Dawg]

bravo. I have been the guy that was disappointed. right on the money.

[boneaddict]

AND THEN.... in Red Dawgs case this year, he tells everyone that he shot a 5 point, some guys are thinking hummm must be a nice one, one guy is thinking its just a 4 with an eyeguard, and then Red pulls his buck out of the back of the truck (it wouldn't fit up front) and everyone about craps their pants at the monster.  Eyeguards the size of steak knives with stickers.  Nice 5 point!

[Red Dawg]

When i awoke from being passed out due to shooting the biggest buck of my life i realized that he was a 6x4 with double eyegaurds on one side a standard eyegaurd on the other with a 4" cheater on the left antler. I think it is slightly easier to describe him as a 6x8 as all of his character makes me run out of breath.

[Coasthunterjay]

Just think.....picture yourself talking to some good ole boys.  You tell them about the nice 4 point you got, you pull it out to show them and its a three with a little eyguard.  Think how disappointed they will be in their minds.
Picture yourself the next year around the same fire.  Your buddy is talking about the nice 4 point he got.  he goes to his truck and pulls out a nice 4x4 with eyeguards, and the crowd roars.

Im sorry but thats *censored*! And im glad to know that you are only hunting for what your friends think of and not what you think. Hunting to me is a passion not a combined sport were im trying to impress some body else...if you have a problem with it then call it a freaking 4x4 including eyeguards....

Then again that goes back to what i was saying about you monster mulie hunters. Everything has to be different for you guys.....not all of us can be that lucky......one persons 4x4 thats including eyeguards could be a trophy in there minds.....i would have thought you better.....

SURE DOES MAKE ME FEEL BETTER KNOWING THAT IF I GO HUNTING WITH YOU EVER, THAT I MIGHT GET LOOKED DOWN AT BECAUSE I WOULD SHOOT A 4X4 THAT IS A 3X3 MAIN FRAME WITH EYEGUARDS AND CALL IT A 4POINT

All points still count.....And the difference between it having a 1inch eyeguard and a 5 inch eyeguard shouldnt matter either way.......

Sorry if that dissapoints you that your friends (trophy deer to him) 4x4 isnt 4 points high. Its 3 high with an extra low? Thats stupid. you shouldnt be depressed or be like ohh? When someone shows you a deer thats a 4x4 i expect to see 4 points. I dont care if there sticking out the deers ass or all in one jumbled mess. I just want to see 4 points that are an inch long....all kills are excellant kills.......

DISAPPOINTED....? WOW! What a choice of words.........

I think that for the first time on this website that i truley have just been disappointed by the responses in this post.......!