What's the Big Buck Contest?
It's FREE to enter! Deer will be officially scored using Boone & Crockett and Pope & Young criteria.
With hunting season in the books, it’s time to make plans to bring your bucks to the Louisiana Sportsman Big Buck Contest scheduled for March 17-19.
Even if your deer mount isn’t complete, you can make arrangements with your taxidermist to bring the antlers to the contest.
You will be given free admission to the show and a free admission ticket to pick up your antlers on Sunday.
All deer legally killed during the 2022/23 season, the 2021/22 season and the 2020/21 season may be entered in the contest except deer that were entered and won other Big Buck Contests.
Deadline to enter this contest is 3pm Saturday, March 18, 2023, No Exceptions.
Bring your application to the Louisiana Sportsman Show or email it to showservices@louisianasportsmanshow.com
The Big Buck Contest Awards Ceremony will be held at 2:30 PM on Sunday March 19th.
The Big Buck Contest is sponsored by Louisiana Land Bank.
Prizes
The person with the highest scoring deer gets $1,000, while first place for each category will net $300, second place for each category gets $200, and third place will receive $100.
Rules
If your buck has already been officially scored and did not win any previous contests, it can be entered. Be sure to bring a copy of the scoresheet when you register your buck. Bucks that have been officially scored will not be scored again because this is against the rules for these two national programs.
If your buck was scored based on another scoring system, then it will be measured since the score is not official. Official measurers of these two programs will do the scoring and if your buck qualifies for national recognition, you will be given the paperwork necessary to enter it into their record books. LDWF will be given copies of the scoresheets for those bucks that qualify for state recognition to be entered into the state records.
Bucks will be scored either typical or non-typical with the winner being selected based on the score closest to the minimum score for each category or the score that exceeds the minimum score by the greatest amount. There are not separate divisions for typical or non-typical. A Louisiana gun-killed buck that measured 165 exceeds the minimum score of 160 by five points and would beat a Louisiana non-typical buck that scored 186 because 185 is the minimum score for a non-typical buck.