A complete listing of South Carolina’s whitetail deer antler records is now available online at www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/alltime.html.
Although summary information has been available annually, this is only the fifth time that the complete listing of all antler records has been available since 1998. The South Carolina white-tailed deer Antler Records Program was initiated in the spring of 1974 and since that time, 6,389 sets of antlers (6,147 typical and 242 non-typical) have been officially entered into the list.
Initially, scoring sessions were only conducted a few times each spring, but since 1987 antler scoring sessions have been scheduled throughout the state with approximately 12 sessions occurring annually. Each year SCDNR wildlife biologists and wildlife technicians score approximately 500 sets of antlers. Generally, only about 25 percent of the antlers that are scored make the Antler Records List, with the bulk of entrants falling short of the minimum scores.
The purpose of the Antler Records Program is twofold. First, because of the increased interest in deer hunting, it is a means of recognizing outstanding white-tailed deer taken in South Carolina. Secondly, it provides management information that allows DNR wildlife biologists to identify areas that produce quality deer.
Records are based on the Boone and Crockett Club scoring system, which measures the mass and symmetry of deer antlers in two categories—typical and non-typical. Current minimum scores for the South Carolina Antler Records List are 125 typical points and 145 non-typical points.
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