Jan 21, 2022 2 min read

LANCASTER – For the first time since 1943, Pennsylvania has a new state record typical whitetail that was taken with a firearm.

The “new” record buck, however, is not so new.

It was shot about 60 years ago.

Frederick Kyriss shot the 14-point buck, which measured 202 7/8 inches, according to the Boone & Crockett scoring system, in Montgomery County some time in the 1960s.

He had the skull with antlers attached and mounted in his garage for decades without ever having it measured, according to a recent article in the LNP in Lancaster.

Pennsylvania Game Commission officials aren’t exactly sure when Kyriss took the giant buck, but guessed it was in the 1960s. In the record book, it is listed as 1960.

According to Bob D’Angelo, who heads the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Big Game Scoring Program, Kyriss died many years ago and his widow passed the antlers on to a collector.

The rack changed hands several times over the years, but recently ended up in the possession of officials from Bass Pro Shops, who had the rack officially measured and then told the Game Commission about it last spring.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission recently certified the rack as the state record for a typical buck taken with a firearm.

Not much is known about Kyriss or the hunt when he took the buck. His widow also is dead, and so are his hunting buddies who knew details about the buck.

According to the information he was able to gather, D’Angelo said Kyriss was known to have taken several good bucks “near a state prison.”

The Kyriss buck tops a 189-inch buck that had stood as the state record since it was shot by Fritz Janowsky in Bradford County in 1943.

While Pennsylvania’s typical archery records include several bucks taken within the last 20 years, the top of the firearms list is dominated by ancient bucks. Of the state’s top 12 whitetails taken with firearms, only two have been shot since 1974.