Scoring Deer on the Hoof – TrophyScore Product Review

TrophyScore is a great new software program that allows digital game camera users to download their whitetail photos and then, using TrophyScore, measure the animal to give the user a reliable estimate on its trophy score. This program will allow hunters to rough score their deer before they shoot. We’ve posted the TrophyScore Review here.

My CamTrakker game camera came with the software for the TrophyScore program. After we recovered Roy’s 10-point buck I installed the software onto my computer and I scored the buck with TrophyScore. This was a perfect opportunity to use the program and see how accurate it was.

Here is How it Works

When you open the program you select a picture of the buck you want to score from your digital images.

After the picture is loaded your first step is to give the program a reference to base all the measurements on. You have the choice of measuring the buck’s eye or its nose. To do this you use our mouse and click on the edges of the eye or nose. The instructions display as you move through the program and are available to guide you along the way. The instructions state that to measure the eye you mark the edges of the eye, without getting into the skin.

You can Zoom In and Out on any feature and I found it was easier to get an accurate measurement of the eye by zooming in on an eye to measure it. I clicked on each edge of the eye and a line filled in between the two points. Then the program asked me if I had measured the eye or the nose and I of course selected eye.

You only measure one, either the eye or the nose. If your picture has a front view you can see all the nose and get a good measurement. But from the front, the eye is at an angle so your measurement won’t be as accurate as a profile shot. On a side view you can not see all the nose but you can see all the eye.

Onward, here is how to measure the nose. At this point the screen shows you how to make the measurement and you click on the sides of the nose, from inside nostril edge to inside nostril edge.

Next, it’s time to measure each antler beginning with the right antler. First you click along the right main beam. When it is marked you click Next. You then measure the length of each tine, one at a time beginning with the brow tine. When you’re done with the right antler you do the left. Then you measure the width of the antler at the base and between the points. Lastly, you measure the spread of the antlers and click Next. The program tells you it is ready for Completion and when you click Next you receive a print out of the rough Boone & Crockett score, including both gross and net scores.

How Easy Was It To Do This

My first time through I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t zoom in on my nose measurement and didn’t get it right and the buck scored over 160. But on my second time around I knew what was going on and took advantage of the zoom feature — then the program nailed the score. TrophyScore actually adjusts to the angle of the deer in your photo by the relationship of the eye or nose measurements to the antler measurements.

So was it easy? Yep. Accurate? That too!

Roy’s measurements with the tape were half an inch more. The TrophyScore grossed the buck at 131.2″ and the it taped 131.7. That’s incredibly close. The TrophyScore web site has full information on the program and you can download it from the site.

Will it work on live deer? Yep, that is what it was created for!

This article was adapted from www.Bowhunting.net Check out the rest of this story here.