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How to Judge Big Bucks’ Antlers with your Alpen Binoculars
Editor’s Note: Today, the concept of trophy-deer management or quality-deer management is learned from how deer are managed in Texas. To raise trophy deer like Texans do on the land you hunt, you’ll need a lot of money, plenty of land and numbers of trophy deer. You also need quality binoculars like your Alpen ones to determine which bucks your can take at a place with prescription deer hunting.
 Every hunter at the Duval County Ranch near Freer, Texas, hunts with a guide because the guide can score the deer in the field. This ranch takes only deer of specific sizes to meet the ranch’s prescription written by wildlife biologists to yield the biggest bucks. Unlike deer in other parts of the country, most of these deer are small, weighing 150 pounds or less, with the average deer weighing about 120 pounds. So, when you see a deer with a 130-size rack on a 120-pound body, his rack looks much bigger. On this ranch, if you shoot a buck that scores better than 145 on the Boone & Crockett scale (B&C), you’ll have to pay $200 an inch for every inch of rack over 145. The guides are a big help in judging the bucks and preventing hunters from making a mistake in judging the bucks’ antlers. But hunters also need their Alpen binoculars to aid them in judging the sizes of bucks’ antlers. Hunters can expect to see plenty of bucks with antlers that will score from 120 to 130 and several bucks that will score more than 145 at the Duval County Ranch.
 One hunter was fortunate enough to see seven bucks in one day, the biggest of which would have scored about 175 B&C. That buck’s rack looked wider than a major interstate, and each tine appeared to stand up taller than the Statue of Liberty. Without question, this buck was an awesome 12 point and one of the biggest bucks the hunter ever had seen. Even though he couldn’t afford the price to take that buck, it was still a magnificent sight. Later that day the hunter spotted an 8-point buck that would have scored close to 145. As he raised his rifle, his guide, told him to hold off for one minute as he studied the buck through a pair of Alpen binoculars. The guide explained, “That buck may be 147 to 150. Unless you’re willing to open your wallet, don’t shoot that buck.” After some internal debate, the hunter decided his wife probably would not understand him paying $200 an inch for antlers, no matter how big and beautiful the buck in question was.
 “There’s another nice buck you can take,” the guide said. “I know he’s within harvestable range.” This hunter was hunting a management buck, and the buck his guide picked out was within the harvest prescription. At Duval County Ranch, management bucks score approximately 145 on the B&C and are usually mature bucks in the 4-1/2-year-or-older age range. The hunter waited until the buck was within 75 yards of his shooting house, aimed a little low on the front shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The buck sat down and fell over backwards.
 Next Week: More on How to Judge Big Bucks’ Antlers with your Alpen Binoculars
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