Technology May Pull Plug On Record Buck

The largest nontypical whitetail buck ever recorded by a bowhunter was killed this season in Ohio.

But the technological advances of the bow used to shoot the buck could prevent the trophy from being recognized for world-record status.

Mike Beatty of Xenia, Ohio, shot the 39-point buck with a compound bow Nov. 8 in Greene County in the state’s southwest corner.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Tammy York said the buck was unofficially scored at 291-3/8 points by Ron Perrine, an official scorer for the Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young clubs.

Final measuring won’t be done until mid-January. The clubs, which keep the official records for North American game, require a 60-day drying period to allow for shrinkage before official measuring is done.

Boone and Crockett is the keeper of North American big-game records, including those taken by all fair-chase methods of hunting, as well as animals that might die from natural causes.

“We keep track of the trophy for the trophy’s sake,” said Jack Reneau at the club’s headquarters in Missoula.

The Ohio buck would not be among the top three bucks ranked by Boone and Crockett in the category for nontypical whitetails.

A nontypical deer’s antlers are not symmetric. They have different numbers of points on each side.

The No. 1 nontypical buck scored 333-7/8 after it was found dead in Missouri in 1981. The No. 2 buck also was found dead.

The No. 3 buck, the largest recorded by a hunter, scored 295-6/8 after being shot with a firearm in Mississippi in 1995.

However, the Ohio buck’s “green” score appears to have plenty of margin to allow for shrinkage and be a bowhunting world record. It should beat the current Pope and Young world record of 279-7/8 points scored to a buck taken by an archer in Nebraska in 1962.

Pope and Young is the official keeper of bowhunting big-game records.

But Pope and Young officials are skeptical about the trophy’s eligibility for world-record status.

“We won’t know until the official measuring is done and the details are submitted,” said Kevin Hisey, Pope and Young spokesman in Chatfield, Minn. “We’re hearing rumors that the buck was taken with a compound bow that doesn’t meet our standards.”

This could be a bitter pill for a hunter whose odds of seeing another buck of that caliber are a gnat’s whisker better than zilch.

Beatty’s buck was 4 years old and weighed about 250 pounds, York said, adding, “I think the best description I can come up with is, it looked like the deer uprooted a tree and is wearing the roots on his head.”

The buck is certain to become an Ohio state record for archery, York said. But the jury is still out on the continental level.

Ohio has few restrictions on archery gear for bowhunting. Even crossbows, illegal in most states, are legitimate in Ohio.

In the mid-1980s, when Pope and Young officials saw the trend of compound bows becoming more efficient and easier to use, the club took a stand.

The club set a maximum “let-off” at 65 percent of the bow’s rated power. Trophies taken with bows that exceeded that standard would not qualify for the record book.

The string in a compound bow runs through a series of wheels. Once the shooter pulls the string through the peak of resistance, the pressure is relieved. This allows the shooter to hold a drawn bow at less weight than the bow will deliver once the arrow is released.

A 65 percent “let-off” would allow an archer to hold a mere 17.5 pounds of resistance on bow rated at 50 pounds.

“We believe there is a point with all technology in archery equipment, including let-off and sights, at which the advances will start to jeopardize bowhunting’s existence,” Hisey said.

“Bowhunters enjoy liberal seasons based on the primitive nature of the sport. As you put the let-off higher and higher, a compound bow essentially becomes a vertical crossbow.

“We drew a line in the sand at 65 percent to make a statement.”

The states of Washington and Idaho already have set that standard in their regulations for legal archery equipment, Hisey said.

Indeed, a contingent of Washington archers were instrumental in getting Pope and Young to set the standard. Those same bowhunters convinced the Washington Wildlife Commission to adopt the 65-percent maximum rule in 1987, when the state adopted a system requiring hunters to designate at the time of buying a license whether they would use modern firearms, muzzleloaders or bow and arrow.

“Our agency was brought right into the middle of the debate going on within the bowhunting community,” said Mik Mikitik, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department hunter education coordinator.

A respected group of hunters argued that technology could erode the early and extended season advantages bowhunters were getting from the new choose-your-weapons system.

“Their logic prevailed,” Mikitik said.

Washington also prohibits anything electrical from being attached to a bowhunter’s bow. More debate on future restrictions on the technological advances in primitive weapons, including muzzleloaders, is likely to blossom this year.

But as long as some states have more liberal standards for archery equipment than the Pope and Young Club, asterisks could start dotting the record books like chicken pox.