Build Your Own Deer Antlers

November 25, 2019

Build Your Own Deer Antlers

When you don't have deer antlers to measure for Boone and Crockett scoring, you can make your own antlers. Loris FFA broke out the materials and set to work and see who could make the best rack. 

Your limitations for classroom activities is only your imagination. Everyone always has a student who promises they'll bring in the stuff you need to help teach a lesson, but you know how often they remember to actually bring it. Other times no one you know has anything like you need. So, this is when you improvise and the students end up having even more fun.

This is a great way to follow up a discussion on ungulate wildlife. Every student has a story about a friend of a friend who harvested a white-tailed deer with a rack the size of a prehistoric, saber-toothed moose. Well this is there chance to make one.

The biggest needs for this activity are paper and tape. Cardboard can provide some more structure and bulletin board paper is always a great choice to. The goal is for the students to recreate to scale a set of deer antlers as individuals or as a small group. They can choose the number of points, height, weight, and spread of the rack but you want it as realistic as possible.


When they've all finished you can extend the activity by having the students measure their deer by the Boone and Crockett standards and determine the largest rack overall. Here's a link to their standards if you need some reference. This is where the realism part comes in. No prehistoric, saber-toothed moose sized antlers. For reference, as I write this, the largest 8 point deer harvested was 183 1/8 after deductions. In addition, you can always bring in a fellow teacher or administrator to judge for the most realistic rack constructed by your students.

I can't say enough great things about this activity. You can review so much as you observe their creativity and the students really get into making their own rack. If you need other wildlife lesson ideas here's a post Incubating Quail Eggs in Class Is More Than Just Hatching Eggs that will get your students egg-cited. If your students like a good poster we have a Wildlife Poster Set including one that illustrates measuring for Boone and Crockett scoring.