In 2012 I shot a 10-Point buck the second day of the early bow season. Unfortunately, the shot only got one lung and by the time I found him the following day his coat was slipping and he could not be mounted. The taxidermist advised me to save his rack and use the cape of another deer later on and I could make a mount using a second deer. A week later I was fortunate enough to shoot another nice 8-pointer and I used that cape for my mount. My question is: is it possible to get the 10-point rack scored for a possible Pope and Young entry? He was right on the brink of the 125 mark when I measured him but I didn't know what I was doing. He could be a little more, could be a little less. Is it too late to have him scored now that the rack is covered by the other cape? I was planning on getting it done but now that whole hoax in NC has me wondering if the measurer will even score it because there is a seam visible at the crown of the head where the antlers were mounted. I posted this pic a few weeks ago in a different thread...but here he is again for good measure.
If you tagged the deer and it's recorded somewhere and if the antlers were maintained on the original skull cap so as to preserve the original deer's natural width, unmolested...then I'd say you're fine. It's not like it'll likely be any sort of a new record so it'll likely never be challenged to start with. However if it should be challenged then it could be proven you did indeed record the harvest and also the rack is preserved, unaltered, in it's natural state. It doesn't matter that it's under a different cape. Now, if you cut the antlers off individually and the taxi guesstimated on actual width and mounted them on a split or new skull cap...then I think that under close scrutiny like x-ray or disassembly of the mount...it would be said that the natural spread had been potentially altered and it would be disqualified. This is my opinion as a pure nobody but my best guess.
Honestly unless getting it "officially" logged as a P&Y, just spend some time with tutorials on scoring...even a thread here on it. Score it two or three times to be sure and you'll know instantly if he was a P&Y and inches wise how he sizes um. Great buck though either way.
I've scored him several times myself when I submitted him for the 2012 contest on here. He scored somewhere around 125 3/8, I believe. However, I scored him again this morning but realized I never did the net score. He netted around 118 so now I don't think it'll be worth it to have him scored by an official scorer.
Honestly, who gives a hoot about "official" P&Y scores unless its a potential record? I never have personally. I never really cared much for the scoring systems that use net scores, deducting, etc. I realize they're needed, but for me, score what the good lord gave him and go with that. Nice buck btw!
