One for the record books? Game commission measures antlers statewide

If a hunter bags just about any big game animal in Pennsylvania, game warden Zach Hay can take its measurements to see if it qualifies for the state’s record book.

“I just want to see if this is bigger than the last one I got scored in 2013,” said Dave Schroeder Jr. of Johnstown, gesturing to the large mounted buck head he brought to the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Southwest office in Bolivar on Saturday morning.

Schroeder was among more than a dozen hunters looking to take the measure of their kill and see how it stacks up to other hunters across the state.

While Schroeder was waiting to hear the total score on a buck he shot last year, Jason Golias, 51, of Stoystown got some good news about the one he bagged back in 2017: With a total measurement of 141⅜ inches, it qualified for inclusion in the state’s record book for typical whitetail shot with a rifle.

But what exactly gets measured? A whole lot, Hay said as he applied small pieces of masking tape to the tines on Schroeder’s deer.

“The brow tines get measured from the inside, and everything else gets measured from the outside. You measure every point, and then you measure the spread between the beams (the central stem of the antlers),” he said. “When we go to the training, they pretty much make us score every animal you can find in North America.”

When measuring along the curve of an antler, Hay must use steel wire, applying a small green plastic clamp at the measuring spot before straightening it out and checking its length on a yardstick. The measurements reward mass and symmetry. Antlers receive deductions if a tine on the left side isn’t replicated on the right. Ensuring equity when determining mass means that hunters cannot have a fresh kill measured. The skull must be processed and dried, which causes it to shrink slightly along with the antlers.

The atmosphere at the game commission’s Southwest office on Saturday morning was similar to a hunting camp — lots of swapping stories about where a hunter was when they got their biggest buck and how they feel about the Saturday opener or adding more Sundays to hunting season.

The vast majority of measurements are taken on deer, although game warden Andy Harvey said there was one bear on Saturday’s schedule.

“Bears are measured by the width and length of the skull,” he said. “Sometimes the older the bear, the bigger the skull, but more than anything, it’s about genetics.”

For deer, a guide sheet from the Boone and Crockett Club, which keeps its own state and national hunting records, lists the many measurements necessary to score a set of antlers. Hunters can also make it into Boone and Crockett’s record book, but its qualifications for typical whitetail are a little steeper than Pennsylvania’s, with the minimum record-setting measurement at more than 160 total inches.

“My (2017) buck didn’t make Boone and Crockett, but I’m pretty happy to get it in the state record book,” Golias said.