Boone and Crockett Boundaries, Minimum Scores, and Records

Recognized boundaries for Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young, and Longhunter records and the World records

Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young, and Longhunter recognizes the deer found on the islands of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia and along the coast of Alaska ranges as a subspecies of mule deer, the Sitka black-tail (see map above). A separate trophy category was established for typical Sitka black-tail deer in 1983 with a minimum All-time records book entry score of 108 (Awards minimum 100). The non-typical Sitka blacktail deer category was established in 2001 with a minimum score of 118 (Awards minimum 118). The world record typical Sitka black-tail deer was taken at Juskatla, British Columbia, in 1970 by Peter Bond scoring 133 0/8”. The world record non-typical Sitka black-tail deer was taken on Prince of Wales Island, Southeast Alaska in 1987 by William Steele scoring 134 0/8”. Images of these world record deer can be found at following link; B&C WORLD'S RECORDS MULE DEER .

The Pope and Young Club’s minimums for Sitka Black-tail are 75”, velvet entries are accepted. The top ten Sitka black-tail deer listed in the Pope and Young Club can be found here. The world record archery typical Sitka black-tail deer was taken on Prince of Wales Island, Southeast Alaska in 1987 by Charles Hakari scoring 116 3/8”.

The The Longhunter Society’s minimums for Sitka Black-tail are 75”. The Longhunter Society records are not available online but you can learn more about the society here. The world record muzzleloading typical Sitka black-tail deer was taken on Dall Island, Southeast Alaska in 1998 by Jim Baichtal scoring 121 6/8”. You can read the story here…

Scoring Mule Deer and Blacktail (Extracted from the Forth edition of the Boone and Crockett Club’s Official Measurement Manual, How to Score North American Big Game, 2016)

There are six categories that fall into this chapter – mule deer (typical and non-typical), Columbia blacktail (typical and non-typical), and Sitka blacktail (typical and non-typical). They are separated by boundaries, so it’s important to know where the trophy was taken. If there is any question on the boundary or if the trophy owner feels that the trophy is being miscategorized, we can perform a DNA test to confirm. For trophy owners who submit an entry it is $100 and for curious hunters it is $130 to test their sample. Information on DNA verification can be found on pages 210 – 211 of How to Score North American Big Game. If you need a DNA kit for a trophy please contact the office and we can get one headed your way.

When a trophy owner requests a mule deer/blacktail to be scored the first thing to do is establish the five normal points. Anything that doesn’t fit the five points would be considered abnormal. While there can only be five normal points and they are set, mule deer and blacktail present their own sort of scoring procedures that are unlike any other categories.

G-3 Reversal

One of the most common that you may run into would be the G-3 reversal. For this rule to be considered the G-3 must be absent from one side, if both antlers have a G-3 the back fork must be scored as the G-2. This configuration is most commonly seen with Sitka blacktail, this can occur on Columbia and mule deer as well. “Normally, the G-3 projects forward…from G-2. In some cases the shorter branch point will project backwards as Figure 8-D displays. …if the rearmost point is designated as a G-2 (which is normally done), the resulting pairing with the other antler will match this short point with the longer G-2 of the other side. Except for this reversal, the rack may be very symmetrical and matching the long G-2 with the short, ‘reversed’ point would produce a large deduction. …it is permissible to label the rear pointing projection as the G-3, which will better pair the two longer points that come off the main beam.” (pg. 87, How to Score North American Big Game, 4th edition)

The mule deer category is where we see the most entries with the inside spread exceeding the longer main beam length. This requires the inside spread to be recorded as the lesser measurement of longer main beam instead of the full inside spread. Mule deer/blacktail are also the only categories where a point off of a point (G-3 off the G-2) is considered normal and a circumference is taken on a point rather than the beam. This is addressed on page 85 and is number four under the heading Points: “Except for the G-3 point, point branches (those arising from points rather than the main beam) are always abnormal." Keep in mind that the G-3 comes off the front of the G-2, while it is possible for the G-2 to turn (like a main beam can) the G-3 must still come off the front. If a point comes off the inside or outside of the G-2 in the area of where a G-3 might originate it would be considered abnormal. If possible, it might help to lay the antlers down and picture the G-2 like a main beam and if it doesn’t come off the top then the point is abnormal.