Possible New PA Record Buck

[Bud Man]

By Jeff Mulhollem Editor | 0 comments

"Good morning honey. Well, go get that big buck. Be careful,

I love you lots! XOXOXO"

Brookville, Pa. - That was the note Rena Altman left for her husband of 22 years, Dave Altman, on the second day of firearms deer season when she left for work at the DuBois Nursing Home very early in the morning.

He still has it.

She and Dave knew the trophy buck resided near their home just north of this Jefferson County borough - it had lived there for several years at least - but they didn't know just how special the animal had become.

She had found one of the monarch's shed antlers two years ago during a walk with her sister in a field near their home. It was a 14-point then, with a Boone and Crockett score they estimated at 170 or better.

Since then, it had been glimpsed a time or two. This past archery season Dave, a 50-year-old PennDOT worker who has been hunting for 38 years, had a chance to take it with the new bow he bought in July.

"I had three pictures of him on my trail cams from archery season, and I became obsessed with this buck," said Altman, who hadn't shot one in six years.

"I hunted every day of archery season trying to take him, and I almost did. He was as close as 20 yards to me, and he presented himself broadside at about 35 yards, but there were too many tree limbs and branches between us, and I decided to pass on the shot."

On Tuesday, Nov. 29, Altman went through his normal pre-hunting routine. He left his house at 6 a.m. to be in his stand on leased property a half mile behind his house at 6:20, after applying a scent-killing product on all the layers of his clothing before putting them on.

"I got in my stand - up 40 or 45 feet - and the wind started blowing, and it was raining," he recalled. "I made up my mind that I would be leaving to sneak around at 9 or 9:30.

"At about 8:30 I stood and stretched and happened to look behind me and I saw his horns," added Altman, who is originally from Apollo in Armstrong County and moved to Jefferson County in 1993 when he got transferred with a job.

"I knew immediately it was the big buck.

"‘Oh my god it's him!'" I said to myself. "I made a shot between 150 and 200 yards and he just hunkered, and I thought I missed. He went into a thicket and I could still see him. I put another shell in the chamber but he never came out."

Ironically it was the first deer he had shot with the Ruger M77 .300 Win. short mag with a Nikon scope. The gun was a gift from his brother-in-law thanking Altman for helping him move numerous times while he was in the Service.

Shortly after taking the shot, when Altman decided to go after the buck, he left his climber in the tree and descended like a fireman down a pole - he was so excited - and he ran through the briars to find the deer collapsed.

"I called my wife, and she was in a meeting - so I told them to get her, ‘it is kind of an emergency'" he said. "I just told her I got the big one."

A hunter came by and offered to watch the buck while Altman went to get his four-wheeler, but he said no thanks, he'd drag it.

"No way I was letting it out of my sight," he said. "Then another guy came up and radioed his brother who arrived in a few minutes with a four-wheeler, and we tied the deer to it and drove out to my truck."

Altman had the deer weighed at Mark Jordan's Taxidermy in Punxsutawney, and it tipped the scales at 170 pounds (dressed), with an estimated live weight of 250 pounds. "That's not a very big deer for that big of a rack," he said.

"But I believe he was still rutting, and they lose a lot of weight because they are not thinking about eating - they are so focused on breeding."

The rack was indeed huge, 17 points with a spread that took his breath away. When the taxidermist unofficially green scored it, it came out a staggering 2025⁄8. Another unofficial but experienced antler scorer rated it at just over 203 inches.

If, after the required 60-day drying time, the antlers score anywhere near those numbers, it would make Altman's buck a new state record. He will have two Pennsylvania Game Commission certified Boone and Crockett scorers in Philipsburg measure it on Jan. 28.

The top four Pennsylvania state record typical bucks were all taken a long time ago. According to Game Commission records, they are:

1. 189 inches, taken in Bradford County in 1943 by Fritz Janowski;

2. 184.6 inches, taken in Greene County in 1974 by Ivan Perry;

3. 182.5 inches, taken in Blair County in 1951 by Chester Ellison; and

4. 1804⁄8 inches taken in Sullivan County in 1931 by Floyd Reibson.

"My buck is going to be in there somewhere," said Altman, who has three children and three grandkids. "That Janowski rack - all I can say is, it has some mass. It was a very impressive buck.

"It all depends on the deductions," he added. "I am pretty sure my buck will be in the top five. I don't want to sound arrogant and I guess I don't really believe it will be a new state record - but it will be very close."

Word of the Altman buck spread quickly. Before his interview with Pennsylvania Outdoor News, he had talked with writers representing North American Whitetail, Buckmasters and Rackmasters.

This trophy deer came at an interesting time in Altman's personal deer-hunting progression.

"I hadn't shot a deer in a long time because I had gotten to the point in my life where I started horn hunting," he explained. "About the time the kids left home, I started passing on the small ones. We eat them, but I wasn't that hungry any more.

"I have taken some pretty big bucks, but none like this one, of course. These days I enjoy taking kids hunting. I really enjoy watching them shoot deer."

He knew there were eight different bucks in the area he was hunting and he started the season out on opening day just trying to get one for his niece, Erin.

"I didn't care if I got one or not," Altman said.

Altman has ordered a full-body mount of the huge buck - record or not. "That was actually my wife's doing," he said.

"The taxidermist gave me the price for a full-body mount and I said, ‘Oh no, my wife will kill me.' But when I told her, she said ‘we're going to do it - it will be worth it.'"

[weekender]

would have prolly been a big one next year

[scattered_grass]

would have prolly been a big one next year

yea, I'd have let him walk for sure..