Sure, hunters who brought prized antlers to be measured by provincial and North American judges last week were curious how they sized up.
Members of the Okotoks and District Fish and Game Association were just as interested in sharing a few stories with fellow club members at the Association’s second annual horn scoring event Feb. 26 at the Crystal Shores Beach House.
“I brought it in to let other people see it, sharing the animal,” said Darren Banasch, as he was waiting to have antlers from a moose and a mule deer measured.
Judges from Alberta Fish and Game and the Boon and Crockett Club were on hand to score antlers and horns and see whether any were worthy of being entered into the provincial and North American record books.
It was a long wait for Banasch to get a set of moose antlers, he’s been waiting 11 years to get a tag for a moose in the provincial hunting draw.
“An 11-year wait for a draw tag is a long time, so it’s probably one of the ones that takes the longest to get the tag,” he said.
While the wait for a tag took more than a decade, it took minutes to get a moose once Banasch got out in the woods.
“It was a fantastic experience, it took 11 years to get the draw, when we finally got out to go hunting, my partner and myself, it took 15 minutes to find him and get him,” he said. “It was pretty quick.”
Banasch is keeping the location where he found the moose a closely guarded secret. He spent time preparing over the summer months, scouting out the perfect location to be ready for the hunt.
This is where the real fun is, said Banasch.
“It’s a matter of scouting and spending time out in the woods and finding out where they like to live,” he said. “If you understand that you can find them. There’s lots around.”
Jim Clarke, a certified Boon and Crockett judge, tabulates the scores based on an extensive series of measurements, including symmetry, the overall length, circumference at four different points and width of the main spread.
Different measurement standards are set for different animals.
No single area is more important than another, said Clarke.
“It all adds up,” he said. “In Boon and Crockett symmetry is the best.”
Records are kept on the provincial and North American levels. The minimum score needed to make the record book varies by animal. A score of 160 inches for a white tail deer will get into the provincial record book, but it takes a score of 170 inches to get into the Boon and Crockett record book for North America.
Clarke has an antelope in the North American record book, with a score of 82 and six-eighths of an inch.
“The minimum to get it in Boon and Crocket is 82, so it just made it in there,” be said, adding it’s difficult to find high-scoring antelope in Alberta because it’s at the northern end of the animal’s range.
Clarke said hunters usually aren’t looking to get into the record books, rather they’re looking to satisfy their curiosity.
Measuring antlers is also a good way to measure the health of the animal and the herd, he said. If judges are seeing a lot of higher scores, he said it’s a good indicator that the herd is in generally good condition.
“They’re healthy, they’ve done well in the range, they’re healthy, the nutrition is there, the genetics are there, they haven’t had a hard winter,” he said.
Clarke said results from scoring events across the province help to track the health of animals in Alberta.
Curiosity brought Okotoks club member Dan Robley in to have a set of white tail deer antlers measured.
He got them during a hunting trip in the Provost area in 2010. The antlers were mounted and he finally decided to see how they scored.
“Just out of my own curiosity,” he said.
Like Banasch, hunting is not about the score for Robley. He said he likes to hunt to get outdoors and be in nature and for the meat.
It’s a similar story for most hunters, said Richard McKnight, president of the Okotoks club.
He expected to see 20 people bringing in sets of antlers over the evening.
While nothing made the record books last week, McKnight said there was lots of interesting sets of antlers brought in and the event was a good time for club members to share a few stories.
“It’s about fellowship and who you know and who’s doing what,” he said.
For more information about Okotoks Fish and Game, visit www.okotoksfishandgame.com
