2012 BIG GAME SCORING PROGRAM BOOK AVAILABLE HARRISBURG – Copies of the 2012 Pennsylvania Big Game Records are available from the Pennsylvania Game Commission online at The Outdoor Shop,
www.pgc.state.pa.us, or call 1-888-888-3459, or mail your remittance to: PA Game Commission, Dept. MS, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797. Over the counter sales cost $5, which includes sales tax; mailed copies are $6.25, which includes shipping and handling costs. For additional information, contact Pennsylvania Big Game Records Program Coordinator Bob D’Angelo at the Game Commission Harrisburg headquarters (rdangelo@pa.gov).
“Hunters who follow Pennsylvania’s Big Game Scoring Program will find it interesting that about 150 entries in all trophy categories were added to the listings in the 2012 Big Game Record Book,” said D’Angelo, “Among those new entries are the new number ones in the black bear and non-typical elk taken with firearms categories, and black bear archery category. In fact the new record bear with a firearm is not just the largest bear ever taken in Pennsylvania, it’s the world’s largest black bear taken by a hunter.
“The 2012 book also includes the photos of the Harris sisters, whose Northumberland County trophy deer rank sixth and 24th in the non-typical white-tailed deer firearms category.”
For years, the Game Commission has been posting the most recent Big Game Records Scoring Program “record book” on the agency’s website, and will continue to do so. But, in response to public requests, it is put into a bound booklet with annual updates.
Pennsylvania’s Big Game Scoring Program is based on the Boone & Crockett Club’s scoring program that was copyrighted by that organization in 1950. Established in 1887, by Theodore Roosevelt, the B&C Club was initially organized for the conservation of wildlife and natural resources on a national basis.
The Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writer’s Association started Pennsylvania’s Big Game Measuring Program in 1965 (although score sheets and listings in the record book go back as far as the early 1900s), to showcase the outstanding big game hunting opportunities available in this state.
Scoring and maintaining records of exceptional big game animals is important because it provides a means to compare the extraordinary whitetails, black bears and elk being taken in Pennsylvania and a starting point to sort out why an animal attained its exceptional size. Often these animals are the product of outstanding habitat and wildlife management practices. The Big Game Scoring Program also stresses hunter and conservation ethics, and is another tool that promotes recreational hunting and supports Pennsylvania’s strong hunting heritage.
Pennsylvania Big Game Records contains a wealth of information, including the minimum scores required for each big game category, some Boone & Crockett Club and Pope & Young Club information, a few photos, but most importantly, the listings. In each big game category the entry is ranked, the hunter is listed, and the county, year taken and the score are listed. The record book is not only interesting, but it can be used as a tool to identify where the “big ones” are being taken.
