So you're staring at some antlers and you are not planning on entering the record books at the moment. It's your first time scoring some mostly typical antlers and you want to "quickly" figure out a rough "gross" score. That is all this tip is for. There are some additional very technical ways & rules to accomplish this, but for the moment let's make this as easy as possible. This way you can brag to your buddies and avoid some "eye-rolls" :)
Go ahead and grab your tape measure and let's get this done.
In summary,
Inside spread + Main Beam(A) + Tines(A) + Four Circumferences(A) + Main Beam(B) + Tines(B) + Four Circumferences(B) + Abnormalities
*(A) & (B) just depict the separate racks.
Step 1. Measure "Inside Spread" at the widest point
= D
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*The following will be for "Rack" (a). Rack (b) will be duplicated after. The (a) is just to denote the two separate racks.
Step 2. Measure the outside of the "Main Beam" of "Rack" (a) from burr at skull all the way to final tip.
= F(a)
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Step 3. Measure each "Tine" length. Only tines originating from "Main Beam".
= G1a+G2a+G3a+G4a+G5a+(more if needed, but don't include the final main beam tip as a tine.
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Step 4. Measure ONLY FOUR "Main Beam" circumferences. This is done at the smallest point of the main beam between each tine (and between the skull burr and first tine for H1). For a 6-point buck there won't be an H4. For an 8-point buck H4 is half-way from last G3 tine to the final main beam tip.
= H1a+H2a+H3a+H4a
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Step 5. Add in Abnormal points that are greater than 1" and longer than they are wide.
= E1a (and more if needed).
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Step 6. Perform Steps 2-5 again for "Rack" (b).
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Step 7. Add them all up and get your Rough "Gross" Score.
= D + F(a) + G1a+G2a+G3a+G4a+G5a + H1a+H2a+H3a+H4a + E1a
+ F(b) + G1b+G2b+G3b+G4b+G5b + H1b+H2b+H3b+H4b + E1b
= Rough Gross Score
