Pennsylvania Game News - February 2022 - 34

MINIMUM SCORES
Typical Whitetail, Firearm .............. 140
Typical Whitetail, Archery .............. 115
Nontypical Whitetail, Firearm ....... 160
Nontypical Whitetail, Archery ....... 135
Black Bear, Firearm .......................... 19
Black Bear, Archery .......................... 17
Typical Elk, Firearm ........................ 300
Typical Elk, Archery ........................ 200
Nontypical Elk, Firearm .................. 325
Nontypical Elk, Archery .................. 275
would need to be removed before official
measurements could be taken.
For bear skulls that have been frozen or
boiled, the 60-day drying period begins the
day the skull is removed from the freezer,
boiling pot or submersion in any other
liquid.
All adhering flesh, membrane and cartilage
must be completely removed before
official measurements can be taken.
Hunters should not glue the lower jaw to
the skull, because the two required measurements
are taken using only the top part of the
skull. If the two pieces are glued together,
they will have to be taken apart before scoring
can take place.
Bear skulls entered in the records also
must be completely free of paint or decorative
coating at the time of measuring. This
ensures that precise and correct length and
width measurements can be taken, and verifies
the skull is legitimate and comprised of
real bone.
Trophy antlers that have been sawed in
half are not eligible for entry in the records.
Trophies with skull plates that have been
shattered or split by shooting or dropping
are eligible, if the pieces fit perfectly back
together.
I encounter bear skulls with damage
much more often than I do deer or elk.
Skulls can be damaged if the animal is
shot in the head, but more commonly, they
are damaged during processing, when the
34
posterior end of the skull gets sawed off.
If the removed portion of the skull is
available, and it has not been reattached, its
length can be included in the skull length
measurement if it can positively be proven
that the removed portion belongs to the skull
being scored.
NOTHING BUT NET
The gross score for antlered game is the
total measurement of a typical frame, plus
the total length of all abnormal points, plus
the total inside spread.
But it's the net score, not the gross score,
that's entered in the records.
To arrive at a typical rack's net score, the
total length of abnormal points is subtracted
from the score and deductions are taken
from each point of the rack that doesn't
match the exact length of its matching point
on the other side.
Pennsylvania's scoring program mirrors
the Boone and Crockett Club system. Both
reward antler symmetry which are indicators
of an animal's health and can reflect the
health of the population.
With nontypical antlers, the scoring
principles are the same, except abnormal
points (points coming off the side or bottom
of a main beam or points off of points) are
added to the score instead of subtracted. The
minimum scores for inclusion in the records
are higher for the nontypical categories.
WHO TO CONTACT
To find and official scorer near you,
contact me, Bob D'Angelo, by email at
rdangelo@pa.gov or by calling the Game
Commission Harrisburg Headquarters at
717-787-4250.
While hunters are correct to consider
every harvest a trophy, those truly exceptional
deer, bears and elk always will be special,
and adding them to the official records
ensures they'll always be remembered.
Pennsylvania Game News - February 2022

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