Game Commission scorers will be available at Middle Creek June 21

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Shoot a half-decent whitetail buck these days and you can count on hearing the question from someone.

"What did he score?"

We live in an age of measurement and comparison.

People want to know how big, how far, how much, how many about a variety of things, then they want to compare their findings to others to see how they stack up.

Hunters are no different.

No longer is it sufficient to say "I shot an 8-point buck last season."

"What did he score?"

We have a long list of measuring and record-keeping systems dedicated solely to determining exactly how big an animal's rack, set of horns or skull is then ranking it against others of the same species.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission offers one such measuring and record-keeping service.

Time is running out for Lancaster County hunters to sign up to have Game Commission officials locally score the trophy deer, elk and bears they've shot in Pennsylvania over the years.

And it might be years before the agency offers the service again.

(The last time the Game Commission ran a scoring session was in 2001. Budgetary constraints have prevented the agency from doing any until this year.)

Game Commission scorers will measure — free of charge — Pennsylvania-killed deer, elk and bears in Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area's visitors center on Saturday, June 21.

But in order to have your trophy scored on that day, you must register by May 21 — six days from today.

As of Wednesday, only 22 sets of deer antlers and one bear skull were registered for scoring at Middle Creek, according to Doug Killough, the Game Commission's southeast region director.

Of course, you can seek out a Boone & Crockett Club or Pope & Young Club certified scorer on your own at any time and have your trophy scored.

But that requires some leg work and coordination of schedules.

Here, you know that certified scorers will be working June 21 at Middle Creek.

And, assuming your rack or skull meets the minimum requirements, your trophy automatically will be entered in the Game Commission's record books.

Also, any score sheet produced by the Game Commission can be submitted to Boone & Crockett and/or Pope & Young for inclusion in their respective records programs, assuming the score meets the minimum requirements established by those clubs.

In order to avoid wasting time measuring trophies that won't meet the Game Commission's minimum requirements for its records program, agency officials are asking that everyone interested in having their antlers or skulls measured do a rough-scoring on their own at home.

If the rough score comes up within 10 points of the appropriate minimum score, then the hunter should call and schedule a time to have the trophy officially measured.

If the rough score is more than 10 points below the minimum, don't bother calling.

Blank score sheets may be downloaded from the Game Commission Web site (www.pgc.state.pa.us) by clicking on "Hunting" in the left-hand column of the home page, selecting "Pennsylvania Big Game Records" in the list of categories and then scrolling down and choosing the appropriate score sheet.

Score sheets also may be obtained by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Pennsylvania Game Commission, Big Game Score Sheets, Dept. MS, 2001 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110- 9797. Be sure to specify which score sheet you want: white-tailed deer, typical or non-typical; black bear; or elk, typical or non-typical.

The score sheets provide guidelines on how to score your trophy, so don't worry if you've never measured one before.

Be sure you actually pre-measure your trophy. Don't go by the guess made by your buddy who just looked at the rack and gave you an estimated score while claiming he knows "all about that stuff."

I'll never forget the time I saw a photo page of deer in a statewide newspaper that prints whatever information is submitted by the hunters.

There was a photo of an average, Pennsylvania 7-pointer that the caption said "green scored in the 150s," right over top of a photo of an obviously larger 10-point that the caption said "green scored about 142."

I'm sure the score for the 10-pointer was accurate. The other one was way off, and I'll bet no one ever put a measuring tape to it.

The Game Commission's minimum scores for its various record-book categories are: 140 for typical whitetail taken with a firearm; 115 for typical whitetail taken with archery; 160 for non-typical whitetail taken with a firearm; 135 for non-typical whitetail taken with archery; 20 for black bear taken with a firearm; 18 for black bear taken with archery; 290 for typical elk taken with a firearm; 200 for typical elk taken with archery; 325 for non-typical elk taken with a firearm; and 275 for non-typical elk taken with archery.

Under Pennsylvania Big Game Records Program criteria, crossbow and muzzleloader harvests are listed in the firearms categories.

To schedule a time to have your trophy officially measured June 21 at Middle Creek, call the Game Commission's southeast region office at (610) 926-3136.

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com