Free: Contests & Raffles.
It's about describing your animal so that people will understand the caliber (age class in general) of the animal.With whitetails 99% of the bucks have eyeguards as soon as they are forked. In that case it's safe to assume that someone will know that a five point is in fact a buck with 4 points and an eyeguard. With blacktails and mule deer, more often than not they don't have eyeguards. When you're describing the caliber of your buck you DON'T include eyeguard points in the number, you tack on "with eyeguards" at the end so that people know the caliber of animal you're talking about. There is a big difference between a 2 point blacktail or mule deer with eyeguards and a 3 point without any. Like what Bobcat said, it doesn't matter what the WDFW calls them, eyeguard points don't give you an idea of the age of the animal, which is what we try to get across when we describe the size of our animals to our buddies.If someone called me up and said they shot a nice 3 point blacktail and I went over and looked at it and it turned out to be a little forked horn with 1 inch eyeguards I'd probably laugh at their puffery. I've seen some gnarly old BT bucks with several 1" burrs around the bases, and if one of the guys in particular were to count those he'd probably have like a 6x7 buck (4x4 frame, w/ eyeguards, w/burrs), which is clearly NOT the case when you're trying to describe to someone what the buck is.Somewhat along these lines, it kills me when guys describe first year legal roosevelts down here in SW Washington as 2 points (2 point with 2 eyeguards). 98% of branched bulls have the two eyeguards, so if you just call it a 4 point people will understand what that is because ALL LEGAL BULLS HAVE THEM! When I meet someone new down here and we're talking about the animals we kill we always have to explain the way we are describing the points.
Quote from: 7mag. on May 22, 2011, 08:55:39 AMI think Bobcat nailed it.
I think Bobcat nailed it.
Single or double, 99% they're the same age though! That's really what we're describing when we give a point count.
Single or double (3x3 or 4x4), 99% they're the same age though! That's really what we're describing when we give a point count. Would you call this bull a 2x3? It would be more accurate to describe it as a 4x4 (age class wise) in my opinion.
For sure, and it has a lot to do with feed too as to whether or not genetics get to show. It's really all we have though, short of estimating age ourselves. The last bull I killed was just a 4 point (2 point ) but it had about double the frame and lots more mass than your average first year legal bull in that area. No doubt in my mind it was a 3.5 year old rather than a 2.5 year old. And yeah this thread isn't really going to change the way anything is described!Regessing animals throw a kink into this whole thing too, those point counts certainly aren't indicative of age. It's more often seen with bucks rather than bulls. Most bulls down here don't make it anywhere that far.
Quote from: Alan K on May 22, 2011, 10:09:37 AMSingle or double, 99% they're the same age though! That's really what we're describing when we give a point count.I agree. Which is why we don't count the eyeguards. To me saying I killed a 2 point tells everyone its a raghorn. Whereas if I say I killed a 4 point some people might assume I just killed a 2 point with eyeguards but a lot would assume I killed a 4 point with double eyeguards. Either way I don't really care to each their own. I will keep not counting eyeguards but it doesn't bother me when people do.
Quote from: grundy53 on May 22, 2011, 10:17:38 AMQuote from: Alan K on May 22, 2011, 10:09:37 AMSingle or double, 99% they're the same age though! That's really what we're describing when we give a point count.I agree. Which is why we don't count the eyeguards. To me saying I killed a 2 point tells everyone its a raghorn. Whereas if I say I killed a 4 point some people might assume I just killed a 2 point with eyeguards but a lot would assume I killed a 4 point with double eyeguards. Either way I don't really care to each their own. I will keep not counting eyeguards but it doesn't bother me when people do.grundy, you start counting elk that way, then you opened up a BIG can of worms with me. you don't count them that way, it not to each his own. the so called eye guards on an elk ARE a point and will always be a point. get out of that freaken mentality. its stupid. they are there they will always have them, if they don't they have broken them off. period.
I thought this was about mule deer??