Best rack competition is not just about size

Big game hunters in Labrador are being asked to bring out their best trophies as the region holds its first moose antler scoring competition.

The contest, which is open until May 25, will score the entries on specific guidelines.

According to organizer Tony Chubbs, the most points come for width, then height. But the shape and symmetry of the branches, or palms, are also important.

"We just want people to have some fun with it, and to get a look at some of the nice antlers that might be around Labrador," Chubbs told CBC Radio's Labrador Morning.

Chubbsis with the Labrador Hunting and Fishing Association, which will award prizes for the top three entries at its annual dinner on June 8.

For an interview at the CBCstudio in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, he brought a set of impressive looking antlers from an animal he killed two years ago, even though he described them as "average."

A friend of his, he said, has a "huge set" retrieved from what what they believe was a wolf kill.

Mainly about the meat

Most hunters in Labrador do not hunt for trophies, according to Chubbs. They are interested in the meat.

"We usually shoot the first animal that we see that looks most palatable," he said.

Most moose are also killed at a time of year when they don't have antlers.

"During the fall, early winter period, all bull moose drop their antlers ... and start growing them out again in the spring, just after the rut," Chubbs said.

Still, he believes there are racks worth looking at in sheds and cabins around the Lake Melville area.

He said all entries must be intact with the skull plate,not sawed in half.

There's a $25 entry fee.