I know they have a drying period before racks are officially scored. My question is how much can a rack shrink over the course of several years? Recently I have been re-measuring several racks that were measured between 7-9 years ago. I am coming up with 4-6 inches less than what I had when they were fresh on every single one of them. If this was just one of the racks I would blame it on human error. The fact that this seems to be happening across the board was a huge surprise to me. Is it possible they have shrunk this much? They are all kept in a room with a wood burning fireplace which creates pretty dry air in the winter time. I just never dreamt they could shrink that much.
I know they have a tendency to sag !! Ohhhhh, THAT kinda rack....4-6 inches seems a little extreme, even on a GIANT rack..
I wish I never had. It all started with a couple sheds and snowballed from there. I know the score shouldn't matter, but it is bugging me to lose that much on every one. I haven't done everything, but so far I am getting the same result. I will also add that I am using the exact same tape I have used for the last ten years.
Yes, they will continue to shrink. 4-6 inches is a little much though. Hanging them over a fireplace may have a lot to do with it.
I had remeasure my 2005 buck recently and was also short 5 inches. I had two tapes I would use and found out later one was way off. At the time I just figured I might have used the bad tape to measure him when I first measured him. 5 inches just seems to be extreme to me also but who knows how much they shrink over time. I've got to remeasure another buck I shot in 2006... you've got me curious. Mine our in my office with no fire place nor even a heat register. Should be the best place in the house to keep them. Tim
I knew that they kept on shrinking, especially the inside spread, but 5-6 inches seems excessive. I'll have to remeasure some of my older ones and compare those measurements against the score sheets to see where the losses are coming from.
The bigger the buck, the more I seem to have lost. I wish I had kept score sheets on them. At this point, i can't see any other explanation other than they are shrinking. For example, I lost 4 inches on what used to be a 137 inch 9 point, 6 inches on what used to be a 160 inch 10 pt, and 5 inches on what used to be a 144 inch 8 point. I will check a couple more this week, but honestly I kind of don't want to know anymore. I am no longer sure what I can honestly claim these animals score. Do I use the score they once had, or the one they now have?
On a very big rack with a good amount of Inches 4 to 6 Inches to me don't seem extreme at all. As time goes on It will shrink less I believe. How close are your mounts to your fireplace?
WOW,if that much shrinkage is being seen,it would be interesting to know what the buck that my step dad's uncle killed scored when it was taken.It wasn't measured for 28 years and GROSSED 187 6/8" It could have conceivably GROSSED over 195" and netted over 200". This deer was also in a wood heated room.
I would have to use the score now as I didn't recheck them "right" after the 60 days. I am not going to run around and say my bucks green scored 160 or 149 every time someone asked how much they scored now that I know what they score. I can't on the 2005 buck since it might have been my error if I used the bad tape. If I had it offically scored right after the 60 days... or even if I would measured them myself sooner assuming no error on my part... I would go with that since they were measured after the 60 days to get away from the green score. Since I waited until now to rescore them... it is what it is. They say it isn't good to procrastinate... this is looking to be a good example. Tim
Thanks for checking back in TJF. I checked a buck I scored back in 03. It went from 148 to 140 now. The interesting thing on this one is the bases were over 5 inches at one time and are around 4 5/8 now.
Just for fun... I will recheck the scores this summer. Just curious how humitity affects them on a yearly basis. This big old house gets drier then a pop corn fart in the winter with the amount of heat we push through it. Now is probably the worst time to remeasure them. Can't wait to get my buck back from the Taxi. Will be interesting to see if he lost much in the last 4 months. Tim
