Hi all,

Can someone please tell me what to look for in a good Muntie please?

A friend shot the first one on a new bit of land on Monday. It struck me as a good animal as I had never seen one with brow tigns quite so long. They were about 20mm on each side. He was an old buck by the looks of him and his broken tusk. The span on the antlers at the tips was about 10-11cm. Length was quite short at around 7cm

All the measurements are guesstimates but I think are fairly close. Judging from the Handbook the tigns themselves are very good but I know nothing abouut the rest.

Any thoughts?

FB

They are hard to judge from afar because of how tall the pedistal is.

7 cm is kind of short, I think. 7 inches would be superb.

That sounds a Gold to me. Can't tell you lengths in units, just know when one is good by looking at it.

Field evaluation is going to cause a lot of missed oportunities - shoot first then evaluate!
(Having ensured it's a muntjac )

FB,

Shamelessly copied from the Deer-UK site:

"Muntjac bucks have long pedicles from which relatively small antlers grow. Normally a single backward curved antler up to 10 cm in length and terminating in a small hook is grown from each pedicle, although exceptionally a buck’s antlers may reach about 15 cm in length. In mature animals a small brow tine is produced from the coronet. There is no apparent coronet visible on young bucks. Mature bucks shed their antlers between March and April and re-grow them by August or September. A buck’s first head can be cast at any time up to two years of age, depending on the month of birth."

I would say your mate has a very respectable buck..

If your'e interested in learning more about muntjac, I can recommend Charles Smith-Jones relatively new book:
MUNTJAC: MANAGING AN ALIEN SPECIES.

I am pretty sure it has how to score the heads ect, but I can't check as my copy is out "on loan" still

You can get it from Coch-Y-Bonddu books at http://www.anglebooks.com

I don't particularly like their new site; I don't find it very user friendly, but their service has always been good.

Regards,

Pete

1894,

with my limited knowledge I think he has a good buck, but don't think it is quite a Gold.

I'll try and get some photo's but I think the length might be the limiting factor.

Either way a good buck for his forst Muntie!!!

FB

Shows what I know, good find!

Small deer, and damn big hares in England.

D99,

Indeed the hares can be huge. You alwayys know the inexperienced guy that shoots a hare early on in a days walked up shooting!!

FB

Here's a CIC silver I shot in Woodstock/U.K.

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:
1894,

with my limited knowledge I think he has a good buck, but don't think it is quite a Gold.

I'll try and get some photo's but I think the length might be the limiting factor.

Either way a good buck for his forst Muntie!!!

FB

Agreed it might not be a gold but it will be a medal if it is symmetrical as the brow tines seem large.

To give an example of how they are measeured, one of my golds has 11.5/11.6cm main beams, 2.3cm/1.9cm brow tines, 8/8cm coronets, 3.5/3.6cm circumferance at mid distance up beam and an inside span of 11.2cm. It is 61CIC which is just a gold.

Bronze 56
Silver 58.5
Gold 61

Thanks 1894

I think we need to measure it and find out!!

How are you getting on with the Roe these days? You seem to have had a good start judging by some posts.

Rgds,
FB