New Edition Of Pennsylvania Big Game Records Book On Sale

Pennsylvania’s all-time ranking updated for 2013.

Pennsylvania’s official all-time ranking of trophy big-game animals has been updated for 2013 and is available for sale from the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The new edition of the Pennsylvania Big Game Records book includes nearly 200 new entries. And to make them easier to identify, and to show where they stack up historically, entries from the 2012-13 hunting seasons appear in bold type in the 2013 book.

“Hunters for years have turned to the Pennsylvania Big Game Records book as a valuable tool to show where trophy animals are being harvested,” said Bob D’Angelo, coordinator for the Game Commission’s Big Game Records Program. “This small change of bolding entries in the 2013 book gives prominence and context to the most-recent record harvests, and gives the whole book a fresh, new feel.”

The new book nearly doubles the number of entries for record bear harvests in the archery category. In the 2012 edition, nine black bears qualified for inclusion in the book. This year, there are 16 entries, three of them resulting from 2012 harvests.

Also included in the 2013 book is a depiction of the Arthur Young buck, painted by artist Ernest Durphy. Taken in 1830, the buck ranks 11^th all-time in the typical firearm category. No animal is documented in any record book anywhere in the world with a date earlier than Young’s enormous McKean County whitetail.

The story of Young’s historic hunt also will be featured in the December 2013 issue of Pennsylvania Game News magazine.

Copies of the 2013 Pennsylvania Big Game Records book are available from the Pennsylvania Game Commission online at The Outdoor Shop, www.pgc.state.pa.us, or by calling 1-888-888-3459, or mailing remittance to: PA Game Commission, Dept. MS, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797.

The book costs $5, plus shipping and handling. Pennsylvania residents also pay 6 percent sales tax. Shipping and handling charges are $1.25 for orders up to $6; $2.95 for orders up to $20; and $4.95 for orders up to $35.

For additional information, contact Pennsylvania Big Game Records Program Coordinator Bob D’Angelo at the Game Commission Harrisburg headquarters (rdangelo@pa.gov).

Pennsylvania’s Big Game Records Program is based on the Boone & Crockett Club’s scoring program.

The Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association started Pennsylvania’s program in 1965 to showcase the outstanding hunting opportunities available in this state.