You are correct! There is a bit of confusion above because yes, as hunters we consider a buck’s gross score as the sum of all points, normal and abnormal, plus mass, beam and inside spread measurements. Looking at it this way, a buck’s antlers have only one gross score. On a Boone and Crockett Scoring form, this score would be the sum of the “Subtotal” plus “E”.

I made a simple math error above, so thanks for catching that. The second to last paragraph is now editted and correct.

In this article you said that a buck may have scored 125-net as a typical and 185-net as a non-typical, assuming there are 30 inches abnormal points. This means that this deer’s typical gross score is 155 and that these abnormal points do not contribute in any way to the typical gross score, but rather they only serve as deductions when arriving at the typical net score. When you add the 30 abnormal points to the base 155 frame you arrive at the non-typical net score off 185, according to what you have written. Ok…

But on your “scoring terminology” page, you responded to one persons comment and you stated,
“To score a set of deer antlers using the Boone and Crockett method, many measurements must be taken. This series of measurements consists of 8 different variables that are named “A” through “H.” All of the measurements are added together to get the gross score.”

My understanding has always been that all of a deer’s points, both normal and abnormal, are measured to arrive at a buck’s gross score (regardless if it’s a typical or non-typical). This seems to be the commonly accepted definition of gross score and is consistent with your post where you said columns A-H on the scoring sheet are added together to arrive at gross score.

But in the above article, it seems that rather than using the commonly accepted definition of “gross score”, you have implied that the term “gross score” is essentially same thing as the “subtotal” line on the B&C scoring sheet (which doesn’t factor in the abnormal points).

Can you please clarify what the definition is of “gross score” since it is not an official term used on the B&C scoring sheets?

Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hunting!