Each year Ponoka Fish and Game honours the end of hunting season by inviting hunters to a horn and antler measuring at Lake Pofianga, where they can vie for bragging rights and show off their racks.
The scoring took place Sunday, Dec. 7 with more than 50 sets being brought in for measurement.
The length, width and circumference are taken into account for each set and added into a total amount of inches.
“The more inches we can get, the higher it (score) goes,” explained Fish and Game member Leonard Davis.
“Most of us around here are just for bragging rights,” he added.
However, if a set can score high enough, it can work its way into the Alberta Record Book.
People come from all over Canada to have their game’s horns and antlers scored at the annual event and this year a large set of moose antlers fell just shy of the 210 score needed to be added to the book.
Les Greipl shot a male moose in the Yukon and the appaling set, with good definition and character points, came in at 202 inches.
“This was a once in a lifetime (hunt) . . .it’s the place, it’s the size of the moose and seeing the county up there was awesome,” said Greipl, referring to his first Yukon hunt.
Greipl and his friend, who were on a non-guided hunt, noticed the large male the day before it was actually shot and when they finally took to calling it in, at 7 a.m., it took approximately three hours to work its way to the hunters.
“We called this one the night before but he wouldn’t come in,” said Greipl.
“This guy and another big one came in,” he added.
While the other moose was bigger, its antlers were more paddled shaped with less defining points.
After several hours Greipl was able to claim his trophy from 20 yards in a single shot, 30 km from the Alaskan border.
“It’s the biggest moose I’ve ever got,” said Greipl.