Dec 20, 2014 4 min read

I have heard it so many times, I have become a skeptic and tend to say, “Let’s wait and see.”

I downed a couple of coyotes, so I know they are here, but when it is said the Pennsylvania Game Commission stocked, I am skeptical. I tend to believe Wildlife Conservation Officer Rod Ansell when he tells of catching one in his trap and then tagging and releasing it to be tracked. If these destructive predators were stocked by the Commission, why did they arrive in bordering states at about the same time? Would West Virginia and Maryland tolerate our Commission stocking animals in their turf? I doubt it very much.

Then, there was the story with proof shown on every phone that doubled as a camera. How could one question the validity of the large long tailed cat pictured in the pickup truck? I looked and said no comment.

Cougars running in the wilds of Pennsylvania are released pets that outgrew their welcome. Turns out this one was really a wild mountain lion, but one that was killed somewhere west of the Mississippi. People will go to great lengths to con the public and get their picture in the paper.

In a like manner, every year I hear of a state record buck being taken. It, like the cougar, is backed up by a phone photo.

I tried to touch on those weeks ago when I wrote it’s not a Boone & Crockett buck until it is accepted by the Boone & Crockett Club. There is more than numbers involved.

Yes, the antlers are measured and the totals, minus differences, side to side give a total score. However, there are other criteria that must be met.

Most of this involves the legality of the hunt and the rules of fair chase. The hunting license of the year the game was taken must be produced. The same can be said of tags and required paperwork.

An affidavit must be signed and witnessed that the animal was taken legally and ethically. A deer that was shot in a pen is banned from the record book, and more than one well-known sports show vendor has been caught cheating.

One Alabama resident made big money in advertisements showing his Boone & Crockett buck. It turned out the huge rack he was displaying was a pair of sheds from a penned buck.

Another well-known outdoorsman and writer toured the country – getting paid, of course – showing what was billed as the record nontypical buck. When it was measured by a panel of experts, it wasn’t a record, but the owner still pocketed the cash.

A buck is not a record until the organizations involved say so. It doesn’t matter if that organization is Boone & Crockett, Pope & Young or the state involved. It’s not a record until approved.

So, it was in the past couple of weeks when a picture of a beautiful buck was passed around, claiming it was a Pennsylvania record in the typical category. The old record was a buck taken by Fritz Janowsky in Bradford County in 1943. This huge buck scores 189.

The newly acclaimed record was measured by my good friend and official measurer Bob D’Angelo of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and while it is a fantastic rack, it finished up at 166. A once-in-a-lifetime deer and one any hunter would be proud of, it isn’t a new state record.

When one considers the millions of bucks harvested in this state, just being in the top 100 is something special. A score of 166 should place this buck somewhere in the top 60 or so.

So, the next time someone comes up to you with a photo in his or her phone proclaiming the buck in the photo a new state record, join the old man and say, “Let’s wait and see.”

• The last day of what used to be called the Eastern Sports Show in Harrisburg will find D’Angelo scoring deer, elk and bear for the Commission.

Because of the potential workload, D’Angelo is limiting the deer heads to those with at least 8 points. Someone asked me when hearing of this limitation if it was a Boone & Crockett rule that only 8 points and up be measured.

The answer is no. I told him that is a rule instituted by the scorer. If you arrive with buck with an 85-inch spike on each side, I am sure someone will measure it. After all, such a spike would make book.

George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.