Scoring Antlers

August 27, 2009

Question: How are points on deer antlers determined? I would assume a forked horn buck has two points on the forked side and one point for the spike side, but I see in the harvest data most bucks taken have only two points total. (Steven J.)

Answer: Basically, anything that is “branched” in the upper two-thirds of the antler is counted as a point. Eye-guards or other bony projections on the lower one-third of the antler do not count as points.

“Forked horn” refers to the branch (or two points). This can be on one or both sides. According to Deer Program Manager Craig Stowers, the point score is not equal to the cumulative total on both antlers, as it is with whitetails. In the DFG’s deer harvest data reports, we only refer to the antler with the most points (for instance, a four-point or better buck may have four points on one side and a spike on the other).