Jerry Pepe with his 2009 Allegheny County, PA trophy 10-point.

Again, let me first apologize for my limited number of posts lately. Same reasons!

I had the opportunity to score a great buck taken by Jerry Pepe of Allegheny County, PA during the 2009 archery season. Upon first glance, I could see that it was a really nice 10-point with a uniform rack. It wasn’t until I put the tape on him that I realized just how uniform he was. Amazingly, the deer had just 4/8 of an inch of total deductions. That’s impressive for a small six-point that scores 50 inches, let alone a 158 7/8″ gross score rack! Of all of the deer I’ve measured, I can’t recall one that was as close to perfect as this one.

The main beams were just 1/8″ different in length with the longer one measuring 23 2/8″. The brow tines were responsible for the largest deduction, still just 2/8″ as the left one was slightly longer. The only other deduction was on the G-3s, which measured 9 5/8″ and 9 4/8″. The circumferences were perfectly matched on both sides.

Jerry had been hunting this buck for three seasons before finally connecting on November 7 last year. He told me that he thought the buck had been shot during the 2008 season because he hadn’t seen it yet in 2009 until that fateful day. He made a quick and clean kill, and now has a tremendous trophy to show for it. He also shared with me photos of another bruiser that’s hanging around his area, which he hopes to get a shot at this fall.

Putting my hands on a great deer might have been the motivation I needed to finally get at least a trail camera or two out there. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes. Congratulations on a great deer Jerry!