moose spread

[Ridgerunner]

How do you determine that you are looking at a 40" bull, or a 45" bull, or a 50".  I realize a 50 would have the WOW factor, but I'm seeing plenty of pics of 40" bulls and they look pretty impressive as well. 

[jdb]

I just was reading this morning in one of shockey's books about an 80" winter kill!

[robodad]

How do you determine that you are looking at a 40" bull, or a 45" bull, or a 50".  I realize a 50 would have the WOW factor, but I'm seeing plenty of pics of 40" bulls and they look pretty impressive as well. 

I posted this before but here you go, an approximate measure you can use in the field is the ears, figure they are 10" each and there is approximately 10" between them so around 30" overall. It is not scientific but a general measurement and a pretty good guess !!!

[boneaddict]

anything over 40 has wow factor. 

[PA BEN]

How do you determine that you are looking at a 40" bull, or a 45" bull, or a 50".  I realize a 50 would have the WOW factor, but I'm seeing plenty of pics of 40" bulls and they look pretty impressive as well. 

I posted this before but here you go, an approximate measure you can use in the field is the ears, figure they are 10" each and there is approximately 10" between them so around 30" overall. It is not scientific but a general measurement and a pretty good guess !!!

Just talked to my Taxidermist in Colville and she said the same 30" between ears.

[PolarBear]

So, how wide would the average old 200"er that are so common in parts on NE Wa. be?

[boneaddict]

about 72 inch I suppose...at least 60 +

[popeshawnpaul]

I never really figured this out.  You'll just know when you see it.  I'm not sure I buy the 30" ear thing.  The smaller moose just posted on the 49 degree moose thread has horns outside his ears by quite a bit and he isn't over 38"...

[PA BEN]

So where do you measure from? Outside to outside? Inside to Inside? And what part of the rack do you measure across?

[boneaddict]

Dads moose I have on the wall is 30 inches from ear to ear.  I think I did all this measureing for Jack a year ago.  I think my wash moose is also about that.

[boneaddict]

I WARN YOU GUYS.  Don't get all caught up in the spread thing.  If its a nice moose SHOOT IT!
This guy is 30 inches ear to ear.  When he came around the corner in front of Idabooner, do you think I was concerned about how wide he was.  I did check for split brows, but you know what, I don't think it would have mattered.   SHOOT

[huntnphool]

Okay Bone/Pope how about this. If the inside spread of the paddles is wider than the ears, framing if you will, would that put him around the 45"-50" mark in most cases?

[Intruder]

Fronts and paddle size are just as important (probably more) than spread. 

When using the ear reference remember it's based on ears being flat.  Generally you are gonna see em w/ their ears up a little.... so adjust accordingly.  I would guesstimate that when you look a a bull w/ his ears up they're gonna be around 24" give or take.

[popeshawnpaul]

Yeah, stop worrying about the spread and start figuring out the paddle size.  The more white paddle area you see the better.  Kind of ignore the points, they don't mean much.  Is the paddle area big and long or is it small and round.  This is where the points will throw you off.  You measure the flat palmated portion of the paddle, not the points. 

I took Bone's moose and drew a few lines on there.  You take the overall spread in red.  The palm length is in yellow and you measure it from the back side of the horn, not the front side I drew it on.  IF, Bone's moose only had a single brow point you don't get to measure the palm length to the fork in the brow palm.  You only get to go down to the front of the main palm where the brow tine sticks off.  That extra 6-8" you get from being able to measure up to the fork in the brow palm is what really helps your score.  The width is important too.  My bull was about 9" wide, Bone's here looks bigger.  The width is the blue.  You measure the widest part.  The green dots are points.  You get 1" for each point.  So all the points only add up to 11 on the left side and 13 on the right on Bone's moose.  So let's do the math:

Width:  45
L palm length:  24-28?
R palm length:  24-28?
L palm width:  10"
R palm width:  10"
L points:  11
R points:  13
L circumfrence:  7?
R circumfrence:  7?
--------------------------
Total:  155 gross? 

I don't know if tha't's close Bone, but the best I could do from a picture.  Now, if this bull only had single fronts, then he would score about 7" less on each side and would be about 140" gross.  With deductions it would not meet the B&C minimum.  He would look big and be big, but the score would suffer.  So do you see how a 45" or 50" bull only matters by about 5" of score.  It's not as important as other scoring factors that add up.  As near as I can tell, this moose is the same size as mine only it has more points on each side.  I think mine had only like 7 on one side and 8 on the other.  Now those points are huge.  Bone's moose has small points but lots of them, which helps the score.  One of them is near 18" long but you only get 1" for 18"...  That's what I think is crazy.

So decide what you want.  If you truly want a B&C moose just know what you are looking for.  If you just want a big ass moose, shoot one that impresses you.  Like Bone said, if you are concentrating on score too much you may miss out on a big moose.  The scoring system sucks, but if you want a B&C moose that's the gig.  In my opinion, the palm length is the most important thing to look at when you look at a moose if you are going for a high scoring bull.  Think yellow line, not red.

[robodad]

How do you determine that you are looking at a 40" bull, or a 45" bull, or a 50".  I realize a 50 would have the WOW factor, but I'm seeing plenty of pics of 40" bulls and they look pretty impressive as well. 

I posted this before but here you go, an approximate measure you can use in the field is the ears, figure they are 10" each and there is approximately 10" between them so around 30" overall. It is not scientific but a general measurement and a pretty good guess !!!

Another thing you may use in the field is the face length measurements to compare to the palm length and a rule of thumb here would be 23-25" on average between the bosses and the tip of his nose. So if you run accross a bull with paddles longer then his face he would be a pretty good bull. Like I said before it is not scientific just a general rule of thumb !! 

[ICEMAN]

I opened this thread hoping to find something to put on a cracker. 

[MountainWalk]

the way i see it,, if its an oil tag, and you like him, shoot him. 

[finnman]

The WA game dept. web site said between 1992-2004 the average width of the bull moose harvested was 36-40 inches.......It then said the largest spread was a 58 incher!

That would be a PIGGY!

[huntnphool]

Thanks Pope, thats an awsome discription. Now I have to look at all those pics again.

[Slider]

Pope could you do that to this photo so I can get a better idea of the measure....er oops wrong photo....

[popeshawnpaul]

I see a few moose knuckles there... 

[huntnphool]

I see a few moose knuckles there... 

Did you have to go there At least you're not talking spread

At least Ice now has something to go along with his crackers, just don't get crumbs in the bed Ice

[PA BEN]

Found this one on line.

CANADIAN MOOSE
Boone & Crockett minimum – 195
Pope & Young minimum – 135


The Canadian Moose is the only type of moose found in Alberta and there are opportunities to hunt them throughout the mountains, foothills, boreal regions and prairies. Moose are divided into three categories, Alaskan-Yukon, Canadian, and Shiras (Wyoming). They are basically scored the same, with the Alaskan being the largest, Canadian second and Shiras the smallest.

Moose have the most antler mass of the deer family, but are still difficult to judge. Moose are difficult to judge from the side, if you are able to spot one in the open, try to get a look at it from the front and look at his greatest spread, palm width and the points on the palm. A frontal view is the best because you are able to see both the spread and palm width at the same time. This is an important feature, as the total inches of spread are included in the final score. An antler that is widely palmated will usually have a greater spread than one that has narrow palms. Record-class Canada moose will usually have at least a fifty-inch spread to place in the Boone & Crockett record book.

The palms length and width are very important to the score, as well. To be “Book” worthy, the palm should be in that eleven-inch range in width, and have a length of thirty-six to thirty-eight inches. When looking at the palm, pay close attention to the brow tines. Look for the brow palm or even a forked brow palm or point. The length of the palm is measured to the fork of the brow palm or points. If there is no brow palm present, the measurement will be taken to the end of the main palm. This will be end in a great reduction in the score, so watch for the brow palms or forked points.

Points off of the palms are also counted added to the score. These points are often hard to judge in the field, so look for long points off of the main palms, if possible. Points are an added bonus, but don’t get caught up on them. Greatest spread plus palm width and length are the key ingredients for a trophy moose.

[ICEMAN]

I see a few moose knuckles there... 

Moose knuckles? All I see are camel toes!