Nadefa antler contest

SJames said:

I agree with everyone that thinks Nadefa should be the place where we all can take our antlers and enter them all into a fair playing field and then have them all fairly ranked. It is a great idea!



But we have a long way to go! If Nadefa wants to try to achieve that goal they are going to have to make some major changes to their scoring contest. I can see that the industry has no confidence in the way it is run.



At the conference, they had 3 official SCI scorers. These guys were very good and dedicated and probably all volunteer. I really appreciate their dedication. I would say that each and everyone of them knew what they were doing. But even with 3 official scorers, they were under-maned. So scoring seemed to be done very quickly. Each set of antlers was done by one man and totals were added up by a really nice lady. It was an "OK" system for people who just need a score for their antlers. It was not even close to satisfactory for a competition.



The biggest problem with scoring is the fact that on big antlers, when a set of antlers is scored by 3 separate measurers, they can come up with 3 very different scores. When there is palmation, there is a HUGE difference. Most of the time they wont even come up with the same number of points. I have seen official scorers count points inside of palmated antlers that shouldn’t even be counted. They simply don’t meet the criteria for a point. But the palmation seems to let everyone use their imaginations. We need Nadefa and SCI to take the lead and get a solid definition on what a point is, what is fair to measure and what is not. I have attended 2 different SCI classes and been told 2 different things in regards to a points definition. I have always used the one inch rule where it must be an inch long and no wider than an inch one inch down.



To correct this we need to get Nadefa to get with SCI and put together a scoring “team” that will attend the conference each year with the same group of scorers (year to year is important too!). We may need to pay them or at least pay their way. This would take care of a lot of the problems. Then all antlers could either be panel scored (I didn’t see any of that) or scored at least 2 times separately and then the score sheets compared and the differences discussed. We need to dedicate some serious time (and money) to scoring these bigger antlers. All entries HAVE to be scored the same way by the SAME people. It’s the only fair way.



In the hunting world, if you want to enter a trophy that will make the top 10 it must be panel scored by a group of "Master measurers". And when they hand out the very top trophies at their convention, those trophies are scrutinized over and over again.



Until we make that type commitment with Nadefa and then put pressure on everyone in the industry to use that medium to rank their antlers, we simply won't have the participation needed to have a real contest.



Most breeders shop their antlers around until they find a score they like from an official scorer. Its only human nature. There are several “Official scorers” out there that stretch a score way long. They are well known and are very much in demand by breeders. The only way we currently designate an “Official scorer” is they have to sit through a class and send in an easy test along with the fee. There is no real test of what they know about scoring a whitetail. The class covers all species. Everyone who pays to take the class, passes and is designated an "Official scorer". So that title really doesn't carry much weight with me.



When I see an ad that says "official score" I just smile. There really is no such thing!



This topic could go on and on….I don’t have that much time …LOL

Click to expand...

SJames said:

I agree with everyone that thinks Nadefa should be the place where we all can take our antlers and enter them all into a fair playing field and then have them all fairly ranked. It is a great idea!



But we have a long way to go! If Nadefa wants to try to achieve that goal they are going to have to make some major changes to their scoring contest. I can see that the industry has no confidence in the way it is run.



At the conference, they had 3 official SCI scorers. These guys were very good and dedicated and probably all volunteer. I really appreciate their dedication. I would say that each and everyone of them knew what they were doing. But even with 3 official scorers, they were under-maned. So scoring seemed to be done very quickly. Each set of antlers was done by one man and totals were added up by a really nice lady. It was an "OK" system for people who just need a score for their antlers. It was not even close to satisfactory for a competition.



The biggest problem with scoring is the fact that on big antlers, when a set of antlers is scored by 3 separate measurers, they can come up with 3 very different scores. When there is palmation, there is a HUGE difference. Most of the time they wont even come up with the same number of points. I have seen official scorers count points inside of palmated antlers that shouldn’t even be counted. They simply don’t meet the criteria for a point. But the palmation seems to let everyone use their imaginations. We need Nadefa and SCI to take the lead and get a solid definition on what a point is, what is fair to measure and what is not. I have attended 2 different SCI classes and been told 2 different things in regards to a points definition. I have always used the one inch rule where it must be an inch long and no wider than an inch one inch down.



To correct this we need to get Nadefa to get with SCI and put together a scoring “team” that will attend the conference each year with the same group of scorers (year to year is important too!). We may need to pay them or at least pay their way. This would take care of a lot of the problems. Then all antlers could either be panel scored (I didn’t see any of that) or scored at least 2 times separately and then the score sheets compared and the differences discussed. We need to dedicate some serious time (and money) to scoring these bigger antlers. All entries HAVE to be scored the same way by the SAME people. It’s the only fair way.



In the hunting world, if you want to enter a trophy that will make the top 10 it must be panel scored by a group of "Master measurers". And when they hand out the very top trophies at their convention, those trophies are scrutinized over and over again.



Until we make that type commitment with Nadefa and then put pressure on everyone in the industry to use that medium to rank their antlers, we simply won't have the participation needed to have a real contest.



Most breeders shop their antlers around until they find a score they like from an official scorer. Its only human nature. There are several “Official scorers” out there that stretch a score way long. They are well known and are very much in demand by breeders. The only way we currently designate an “Official scorer” is they have to sit through a class and send in an easy test along with the fee. There is no real test of what they know about scoring a whitetail. The class covers all species. Everyone who pays to take the class, passes and is designated an "Official scorer". So that title really doesn't carry much weight with me.



When I see an ad that says "official score" I just smile. There really is no such thing!



This topic could go on and on….I don’t have that much time …LOL

Click to expand...