Pennsylvania Game News - September 2015 - 4

Since 1965, there have been four No. 1 bucks in the typical firearms category. Fritz
Janowsky's, large photo, has reigned supreme since 1979. In the small photos, from left to
right, Raymond Miller's buck took top honors in the 1965 program. Floyd Reibson, pictured
here with his former No. 1 buck and a trophy taken a year earlier in 1930, took over the
top spot in 1967. And Ivan Parry's 1974 harvest led the category for a three-year stretch.

Under the guidance of the Boone &
Crockett Club, the state established its
first Deer Records Program. The Game
Commission would hold six official
scoring sessions - one in each region
of the state - where trophy bucks taken
in Pennsylvania by fair chase or picked
up as roadkills could be measured officially, according to Boone & Crockett
standards. Those that met the minimum
scores outlined by the state's new program would qualify for entry into Pennsylvania's official record book.
In the six two-day sessions held that
first year, more than 1,300 trophies were
measured. Three hundred qualified for
the record book, with the final results
unveiled at a late-September banquet.
As the years went by, the program
grew. More trophies entered the record
books, top-scoring trophies were supplanted by those that were even bigger,
and new categories were added for black
bears and, eventually, elk.
The name was changed to the Pennsylvania Big Game Scoring Program to
reflect these additions.
And while the program has gone
through changes, as well, particularly in
the way trophies are added to the records
book, it seems an obvious conclusion
that, 50 years into its run, the program
is stronger than ever.
MADE TO BE BROKEN
Other things aside, the 1965 session of the then-Deer Records Program was important for the fact that
- at last - there was an official state
record of trophy bucks known to have
4

been taken in Pennsylvania.
An upstart outdoor writer at the time,
and later a member of the Pennsylvania
Outdoor Writers Association's board of
directors, John Plowman said POWA
shared in the idea it was important that
people have an accurate perception of
Pennsylvania's deer. But the new program also gave the state's outdoor writers a chance to tell some fantastic stories.
"Once in place and understood, the
new big game records program had an
immediate and positive impact for all of
us outdoor columnists," said Plowman,
who now is executive director of Hunters Sharing the Harvest. "This being the
1960s, we were responsible for covering
everything afield for the local hometown weekly on up to the Philadelphia
Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and all
the other major papers.
"Stories of verified and measured
trophy-class animals, taken right here
in Penn's Woods became big news, and
as outdoor writers it was our job to tell
the world Pennsylvania had a program!"
Plowman said.
There were some truly remarkable
animals measured as part of the 1965
session.
Taking top honors in the typical firearms category was a buck taken in 1957
by Raymond E. Miller, of Bedford. The
buck scored 177 5/8 and remains No. 7
on the all-time list. A buck scoring 207
7/8, taken in 1951 by Ralph Landis, of
Port Royal, was tops in the nontypical
firearms category. It's one of only two
bucks to have held the category's No.
1 spot, and it remains No. 4 on the all-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - September 2015