New York's 50th anniversary Big Buck Club record book: What to know

I’ve been thumbing through dozens of photos of deer taken in the last two years from every corner of the state.

These are bucks with Boone & Crockett scores ranging from the low 120s to well over 200. Some of them would make your eyes pop right out of your head.

They are included in the recently published 50th anniversary White Record Book of New York State. It is the 21st edition — it normally comes out every other year — produced by the New York State Big Buck Club, which was founded in 1972 by Bob Estes of Caledonia, along with biologist Herb Doig and wildlife artist Wayne Trimm of the New York State Department of Conservation.

The book has grown to nearly 300 pages, and it is packed with information and photos of deer taken in New York. There are plenty of photos and statistics on bears, too.

Although I had nothing to do with it other than to congratulate him, I am happy to say my cousin and hunting partner Corky Schiro is represented. His 1996 12-point scored 145-7, and is now ranked 1,901st all-time for gun-taken typical bucks in the state. It was shot the last weekend of the season at our Steuben County camp, and is the highest scoring buck ever taken on our place since we got there in 1960.

As I remember, this buck was bedded down on a west-facing ridge with another big guy. Corky missed a shot at the one, which he believed to be a 10-point. That buck took off. The other got up, ran right at him, and stopped at 40 yards, and that was it.

Bucks have to measure out at 140 B&C points to get into the book in the gun category and 120 to make it in the bow category.

There are all kinds of interesting statistics listed, but, as you would expect, the many color photos are what catch your eye. They include state record deer taken in 2020 — Phillip Pless’s 18-point, 214-2-inch Niagara County non-typical with a bow, and Dieter Herbert’s 10-point, 191-7-inch Suffolk County typical with a bow.

There are many other big guys pictured, including deer taken in Oneida, Herkimer, Madison, and Otsego counties by Andrew Clark, Sean Chartrand, Mike Loomis, Nelson Rizzo, Darren Treen, Ricardo Grisolini (one of our local Environmental Conservation Officers), Doug Lemery, Tyler Champion, Mike Brewer, John Grower, James Matthews, Samuel D. Campbell, Becky Oster, Jason Florenz ,Brandon Zehr, Joe Dibello, David Neary, Mark Godshalk, Dave Pearsall, Jacob Bohnert, David Whorrall, Tyler Butler, and Jeremy Hoag, among others.

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There are some great bear photos, too, and pictures of some outstanding sheds.

A buck killed in 1912 by an unknown hunter and owned by John Palmer is the all-time Oneida County typical leader at 172 B&C points. Most memorable to me is the giant buck Tjaart Krueger downed in New Hartford in 2002, an 11-point that scored 170-4, the best ever in “modern” — post World War II — hunting history. Rich Cooper found the sheds from that buck from the year before — exact same antlers, just a bit smaller — and gave them to Krueger.

John Kleaka ranks next in Oneida County with a 10-point that scored 164. Sean Chartrand moved into the top 10 in the county with his 155-1 10-point taken in 2020.

The top 10 highest scoring typical and non-typical racks for every county are listed. A 17-point Oneida County buck that scored 195-1 for Alfred Wardle in 1927 is the highest scoring non-typical rack from our area. In 2006, Jim Doyle dropped a 17-point that measured 177-2, the second best ever.

The difference between typical and non-typical? Among other things, non-typical racks tend to have numerous points, and often are oddly shaped and asymmetrical. You know them when you see them.

And there are plenty of photos of them in the book to give you an idea.

I recently read a statement from a hunter that New York is not a big buck state. Well, maybe not as much as some Midwestern states, but the book proves we have a few beasts.

Besides reams of statistics and the many photos, the book includes sample deer and bear scoring sheets, the history of the New York State Big Buck Club, and a list of official measurers. It was compiled by Kevin Frankie and edited by Janine Frankie.

Copies are $25. They can be ordered through the club’s website at nysbigbuckclub.com, and also are available locally through official measurer Jim Dowd at 315-281-7931.

Pennsylvania bears are real heavyweights

Every bear weighs 500 pounds, right? Well, in Pennsylvania they really do, and a lot more than that.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s preliminary report for 2022, issued in late November, listed 2,551 bears taken. That’s a lot. The New York number in 2021 was 1,346.

Some of these are extremely large bears. The heaviest weighed 755 pounds, way more than a two NFL tackles. Another weighed 747 pounds, and another 704. Six others weighed more than 600. Tioga County, just south of New York’s Steuben County, led the state with 153 bears. Lycoming County accounted for 124.

I am not sure on the heaviest bear ever taken in New York, but I believe it to be right around 750 pounds.

Write to John Pitarresi at 60 Pearl St., New Hartford, N.Y. 13413 or jcpitarresi41@gmail.com or call him at 315-724-5266.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: A look inside NY's 50th anniversary Big Buck Club record book