Ohio Valley Outdoors Magazine

Simkonis monster non-typical nets 209 1/8
By George Block

The final score would be an amazing 209 1/8 inches net, making it, up to now, Pennsylvania’s largest non-typical buck taken with a bow.

Jerry Simkonis had just shot at the largest deer he had every seen at the 12-yard range, and he knew he had hit it, and hit it good. Now, he would sit and wait, afraid that too early a follow up would move the great buck and make tracking more difficult. He had decided long ago to give such a situation two hours, and now that time frame would seem like an eternity. Fortunately, a few does spent time near his treestand, offering a form of entertainment.
Simkonis had been hunting with the bow since his early teen years, and has taken quite a few bucks — some of which stare down at him from his walls. But this buck was a bit different.

Years ago he had learned one important secret of getting a wallhanger — and that was to locate one.
Simkonis had heard about a very large non-typical buck from a landowner of his acquaintance, and had spent the last two years hunting it, without success. In fact, he hadn’t even seen it, but was trusting the word of the landowner who spotted the buck the last three years.
The property where the buck was located was in Unit 2-B in Pennsylvania, which is really highly developed, with little open hunting land. He had failed the last two years, so this year, he would take a different approach.

In the middle of the property was a particularly heavy patch of cover. In fact, it was so thick with briers and vines it was also impassable. While a person may be stymied going through this thicket, a deer could manage it easily, and it made for a perfect hideout when people start to invade the home of this wise old buck. This year Simkonis would place his treestand in this thicket, and wait and hope.

Much later he would learn that the vines on the chosen treestand tree were really poison oak, and we would pay an itchy price.
During the course of the 2007 deer season Simkonis would pass on two eight pointers, knowing that the big buck was still around. Finally, almost like a ghost the big boy showed up, and Simkonis loosed a xx75 with a four-bladed Wasp head from his 25-year-old Hoyt bow. Now it was time to wait. It was a long two hours later that he picked up the trail and found the buck lying just 20 yards from where he had shot.

Later, he would bring the antlers to me to officially score. Knowing that this was a potential record book buck, I drafted the assistance of John Dino and Bob Rogers, both of whom had helped me measure at the Ohio Big Buck Rendezvous in Rogers, Ohio.
It took nearly two hours to finally come up with an official Pope and Young score. The buck had 36 points over an inch long, 15 on the right antler and 21 on the left. A full 26 of these points were of non-typical category, totaling 62 1/8 inches.
The final score would be an amazing 209 1/8 inches net, making it, up to now, Pennsylvania’s largest non-typical buck taken with a bow. The weight of the deer after field dressing came in at 182lbs.

For Simkonis, and many others, this is one buck that’s going to be hard to top.

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Block, of Eighty Four, Pa., is a retired steelworker who’s been in the outdoors all his life. He’s an all-around outdoorsman, considers himself a “rifle shooter”, has been reloading since he was a kid and has been a Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young scorer for 20 years. He’s a veteran outdoor writer (30+ years) with credits in many major hunting magazines and newspapers.