Tale of the Tape: Buckeye Big Bucks Club

by Larry S. Moore

The current Ohio deer season is winding down with the archery season concluding February 6. It is the time when hunters remember the season, celebrate the harvest or perhaps lament about the lack of success. It's often a busy time of year for the official scorers of the Buckeye Big Bucks Club (BBBC). Perhaps no one in Ohio has scored more animals than Ron E. Perrine, Sr, of Xenia.

Perrine notes, "This is my thirty-seventh year scoring mounts. All totaled I've scored over 3,500 animals of all types. Most are deer but I've done lots of others. Someone once said if they had a category for Black Widow Spiders, then I'd probably score it! I will go where ever I am needed to score. There are a lot of BBBC authorized scorer's in Ohio. A list of scorers is on our website." Perrine, who scored 111 animals in 2010, keeps a personal book of all the animals he has scored. I've had the pleasure of watching as he scored some of Ohio's record bucks, including the Greene County "Beatty Buck."

The first part of the process is to examine the deer and layout the rack. Perrine uses tape to mark the rack for laying out the various measurement points noting, "We once had a guy accidently mark a rack with permanent ink marker. Needless to say the owner was not happy. I start with the main beam going straight up from the eye and get square. Good taxidermists that take the correct skull cap to fit the mold really help by getting everything set correctly." He moves around the deer quickly and carefully with the hands and eyes of an expert as the number of animals he's scored attest.

The tools are fairly basic and include a cable, alligator clip, and a measuring tape in 1/8" increments. All the tools are available through BBBC. Perrine uses a bow nock to measure one-inch when checking any little points to determine if they are to be counted. "A lot of people say if you can hang a ring on it then it's a point. For official scoring we are careful to have a base line. The point must be at least one-inch to be counted. Another common misconception is the tip to tip and outside spread measurements which are not entered for scoring but are used for identification of the rack," Perrine explained. It takes lots of measurements, turning, checking and double checking to ensure the tale of the tape is correct. "Sometimes I have to take a measurement a couple of times or even a couple of ways. I strive to be accurate. I don't want to penalize the deer in any way," Perrine added.

A white-tailed deer rack can be a typical or non-typical. The typical rack is one with all the points going in an upward direction and having approximately the same number of points on both sides of the rack. A non-typical rack, such as the Beatty Buck, will have antler points in all directions including down or drop tines and out to the side. There is a 60-day drying period required before a rack can be officially scored. The top record bucks normally have a green score taken quickly after harvest. The owner must have the identifying tags to ensure the deer was properly harvested and checked. The BBBC requires a Fair Chase statement when entering a buck into the record book.

Perrine advised that anyone who is interested in becoming a BBBC official scorer should contact the scorer in their area. Those wishing to become an official scorer must first serve a two-year apprenticeship program. Finally they must pass a test by scoring both a typical and non-typical rack to precise measurements under the watchful eye of veteran scorers. The program strives to maintain high levels of quality and integrity in the BBBC official scores.

The Buckeye Big Buck Club was started in 1957 to recognize the growing deer herd and to increase the appreciation of Ohio’s trophy bucks. The organization was formalized following the first awards banquet in 1958. As stated on the website, “The clubs goals are to: encourage trophy hunting by Ohio hunters, establish and maintain a permanent record of Ohio's trophy deer taken in fair chase, foster wise management of this valuable resource, and promote a positive relationship among hunters and landowners.”

For more information on the BBBC, find a scorer in your county or events where trophies will be scored, visit the website, www.buckeyebigbuckclub.org/. The BBBC will be at the 2010 Ohio Deer & Turkey Expo March 19 to 21 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus. The annual BBBC banquet will be held April 2 at the Roberts Center near Wilmington' Ohio.

Outdoor writer and hunter education instructor Larry S. Moore is a long-time volunteer leader for Buckeye Firearms Association and winner of the 2005 USSA Patriot Award, the 2007 League of Ohio Sportsmen/Ohio Wildlife Federation Hunter Educator of the Year and the 2010 National Wild Turkey Federation/ Women in the Outdoors Hunter Education Instructor of the Year.