Record buck taken in Westmoreland County
HARRISBURG – History was made this year when a trophy whitetail rack shattered the previous state record in the Typical Archery category.
Ron Shaulis, of West Newton, harvested the trophy buck Oct. 24, with a compound bow on public land in Westmoreland County. The rack had a net score of 185-4/8, which surpasses the previous record of 178-2/8 from a buck taken in Allegheny County in 2004.
“The 13-point rack was very symmetrical, and lost only 7 7/8-inches in side-to-side deductions, which included an inch-and-a-half abnormal point off the right-side G-2 point,” said Bob D’Angelo, Game Commission Big Game Scoring Program coordinator. “That’s not much in deductions on a set of antlers this size.”
The rack had 25- and 26-inch main beams, more than 11-inch G-2 and G-3 points, a more than 20-inch inside spread and 4½-inch or better circumferences at the four locations where circumference measurements are taken on the main beams.
Shaulis put in a tremendous amount of time scouting and monitoring trail cameras, and it paid off. He credits the Pennsylvania Game Commission for sound practices with deer management in the state.
“I didn’t know what I had until I took the rack to the taxidermist,” Shaulis said. “He told me I should definitely get it scored, as it might be a new record. That’s when I knew I wanted to take it to Harrisburg to get it officially scored.”
Game Commission executive director Bryan Burhans congratulated Shaulis on his record buck.
“Ron’s enormous buck is the trophy of a lifetime and representative of the amazing quality deer hunting available in Pennsylvania today,” Burhans said. “While Ron’s buck takes the top spot for a typical taken with archery equipment, no record is safe in a state where more than 150 successful buck hunters have their names added to the state’s record book each year.”
Last year, a buck taken in Clearfield County that scored 228-6/8 was a new No. 1 in the Nontypical Archery category.