8 Point vs. 4 Point

[Alan]

Been looking at the pics of all the great looking deer. But now I'm a little curious, out here in Oregon what some of you consider to be an 8 point, we call a 4 point, we only count one side. If you have a 7 point it would be a 4 by 3, what I assume you would call a 4 point, we call a fork and I assume a spike is a spike (2 point?). Where does the line start for 8 point vs 4 point.... continental divide?

Where you at and what's it called?

Just curious,
Alan

 

[rattler]

Alan here in our area we count all point's.You are right 4 on one side 3 on the other we call a 7 point a fork we call a 4 point. as far as were it start's i'm not sure about that.

rattler

 

[dun]

Alan here in our area we count all point's.You are right 4 on one side 3 on the other we call a 7 point a fork we call a 4 point. as far as were it start's i'm not sure about that.

rattler

But brow tines aren;t counted "western count". Every projection that you can hang a ring on is counted as a point "eastern count". A six point eastern may be a 3point without brow tines or a forky with brow tines. What it boils down to is a typical "easter count" 8 point is a "western count" 3 point. The only time the western count differs is when it has different numbers of points on one side then the other. 4X3, fork spike, etc.

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Western count is 4x4, but around here he'd be an 8 point. A "2 point" we call a forkhorn and a spike is still a spike, but can be shot and tagged with an antlerless only deer tag.

 

[Alan]

Dun is right on, we don't count the eye (brow tine), a spike is still a buck or bull and is hunted as a buck or bull. Although we do have units (areas) for both deer and elk that can only shoot a 3 point or better. When hunting season starts all units are open to buck or bull only, some 3 point or better, then toware the end of the season last week or two, they open it up to any deer or elk, meaning doe or cow.

Oregon and Washington have three types of deer and two types of elk. Deer; western side has black tail, eastern sides have mule deer, and a couple of small areas on the west sides have white tail. Elk; east side is Rocky Mountian elk and west sides are Roosevelt elk.

just some info.

Alan

 

[SkinMan]

I guess we are greedy down here in the south. We count them all, even the browtines.
We only have whitetails in our area.

 

[L.A.]

Yep, Dun is right as always or most always. I just figured Easterners counted that way to make up for there dear being about the size of a large dog. ;-)

 

[dun]

Years ago a friend of mine that had been born and raised in the west went deer hunting with his FIL in PA. He had been warned that there were so few deer if he saw anything with horns to shoot it. As luck would have it he saw a little forky and shot it. When he was having it checked at a check station popele started talking about the nice 4 point. He went to look at the "nice 4 point" only to realize it was his forky that was being talked about.

 

[Jogeephus]

Years ago a friend of mine that had been born and raised in the west went deer hunting with his FIL in PA. He had been warned that there were so few deer if he saw anything with horns to shoot it. As luck would have it he saw a little forky and shot it. When he was having it checked at a check station popele started talking about the nice 4 point. He went to look at the "nice 4 point" only to realize it was his forky that was being talked about.

:lol: :lol: I recently heard some boys bragging about a trophy spike they had just shot.

 

[L.A.]

A few years back, I pulled into the game station stop. The Warden just looked totally confused or amazed. He checked my buck and tag, then said come look at this. As we walked to a truck the warden said "How do you like the moose this guys bragg'n bout"? It was a mule! brand and all. I know how this sounds, but check it out, Albany county, hiway 230,Wyoming game & fish.

 

[Brute 23]

It divides at the same place every thing else does... THE NORTH vs THE SOUTH. Bunch of yanks can't count high enough to do all the horns at once, got to only count one side. :lol:

 

[dun]

A while back I saw a cartoon of a cowboy standing next to his dead horse and a woman with a rifle standing next to him. The caption was "I agree lady, it is your deer. Just let me get my saddle off of it"

 

[Dave]

Brute,

It isn't a north/south thing. It is a east/west thing. Hunters in New England count points the same as you do in Texas. Those of us in the west don't need to make a deer sound bigger than they really are.

Alan, Washington has a lot more whitetails than you do in Oregon. There are lots of them in the northeast corner of our state. The few pockets on the west side are Columbia Whitetails. They are on the endangered species list.

 

[Alan]

Alan, Washington has a lot more whitetails than you do in Oregon. There are lots of them in the northeast corner of our state. The few pockets on the west side are Columbia Whitetails. They are on the endangered species list.

Dave, I never knew about the white tail in NE Washington, thanks for the education. The White Tail I know about are in the Cathlamet area, Puget Island, (I lived there for 2 years), plus they use helicopters to net them and move them to surrounding areas just upstream, Deer Island, Goble, ect. Also there is a small herd just out of Roseburg, OR in the Cascades.... but yes they are on the endangered list and they hang you for even honking at them. .... It is a East / West thing.

Alan

 

[3waycross]

I always thought it was a species thing.

On our farm in southern colorado we have both species and usually refer to the whitetails as 6,8, or 10 points and the mulies as 2,4,or whatever points. We also usually don't count brow tines on the mulies.

Having said all that the trend lately because of all the trophy BS is to refer to the good bucks by the actual or projected B&C measurement.

With Elk it is always by the side 5 point 6 point of 5x6 or 6x7. Unless they are hogs then it is by B&C.

 

[Dave]

In Western Washington some people don't count the brow tines on elk. You will hear of bulls refered to as a 3 point with double eye guards. That would be what most people call a 5 point. Well when the game department went to 3 point or better areas, I know of several people who passed up bulls that they called a 2 point with double eye guards. The game department would have call that a 4 point and it was legal. It took a few years to get everyone on the same page.

 

[Brute 23]

Brute,

It isn't a north/south thing. It is a east/west thing. Hunters in New England count points the same as you do in Texas. Those of us in the west don't need to make a deer sound bigger than they really are.

Alan, Washington has a lot more whitetails than you do in Oregon. There are lots of them in the northeast corner of our state. The few pockets on the west side are Columbia Whitetails. They are on the endangered species list.

It was a funny... you know,,, like a joke. Take note of the multiple .... :roll:

For us it is a species thing also like 3waycross said. ;-)

 

[backhoeboogie]

It isn't a north/south thing. It is a east/west thing.

Nothing to do with the "Mid West" being on the easter half of the U.S. either. That horn thing is always amazing to me. I don't eat those horns. Button bucks are my bucks of choice. (edit: ANTLERLESS TAGS)

Those big boys can just keep right on reproducing. If it is bigger than a 4 points TOTAL off of its head, it is safe around me. My brother killed a 28 point white tail out of my stand in '85. That deer had 7 guard tines (longest ones I have ever seen too). If I saw something like that one, I'd take it and have it mounted. Other than that, 18 month old deer are choice.

 

[mnmtranching]

The East/ West antler point count goes way back. At one time the White Tail deer populations pretty much stopped roughly at the Missouri River in the North and about Mid NB and South.

Anyway the Mule Deer horns typically fork then re fork as the buck matures. The Western count was for Mulies. What would be a 10 point in White Tail country is a 4 pt Muley.

But, when States started passing laws to control the hunting, deer heads expanded and increased dramatically. White Tails followed the brushy river bottoms to the West.

So, Westerners being used to the forked Mule Deer just used the same count for White Tails.

Who's right? Well according to all official scoring rules, any point 1 " long is score able. Yup! even in Western States.

 

[3waycross]

In Western Washington some people don't count the brow tines on elk. You will hear of bulls refered to as a 3 point with double eye guards. That would be what most people call a 5 point. Well when the game department went to 3 point or better areas, I know of several people who passed up bulls that they called a 2 point with double eye guards. The game department would have call that a 4 point and it was legal. It took a few years to get everyone on the same page.

We have a reg that says in open areas it has to be a 4 point or better. Then they turn around and say if it has a brow tine it's legal. I've seen a spike with a brow tine on one side that was shot for legal and was. Go figure.

I never heard of anybody not counting brow tines on Elk though.