Typical vs non-typical scores
Typical and non-typical scores come from the same tape measurements. The only difference is what happens to the abnormal points: points out of the normal pattern, such as drop tines, stickers off the side of the beam, or points growing off other points.
Four ways to total the same rack
- Gross: everything measured, abnormal points included, nothing taken away.
- Net typical: the frame (spread credit, beams, typical points, circumferences), minus the side-to-side differences, minus the abnormal points. A typical score rewards a matched, clean rack.
- Net non-typical: the frame, minus the side-to-side differences, plus the abnormal points. Extra points help.
- No-spread composite: both sides' measurements plus abnormal points, with no spread credit at all. Useful for comparing racks without one wide buck running away with it.
The differences are subtracted either way. They are taken on every matching pair: the main beams, each typical point (G1 against G1, G2 against G2) and each circumference. The spread is not part of them.
The same buck, both ways
B&C entry 231476 is a non-typical whitetail with 6 7/8 of abnormal points on the right and 1 2/8 on the left, 8 1/8 in all. It grosses 161 7/8, so its frame is 153 6/8. Its sides differ by 5 4/8.
- Net non-typical: 153 6/8 − 5 4/8 + 8 1/8 = 156 3/8.
- Net typical: 153 6/8 − 5 4/8 − 8 1/8 = 140 1/8.
The two are 16 2/8 apart: twice the abnormal points, subtracted once and added once. A rack with little abnormal growth scores nearly the same both ways; a rack with a lot nets far more as a non-typical. Boone and Crockett keeps typical and non-typical categories apart, and a trophy is entered in one of them.
Add it up for you
Open the free score calculator
Score from a trail-camera photo instead: Tinewise, an iPhone app, traces the beams, points and circumferences on the picture, every line drawn where you can check it. Coming soon to the App Store.
More scoring guides
Unofficial. Not affiliated with the Boone and Crockett Club or any record book. Only an official measurer, at least sixty days after the kill, can score a rack for entry.