MIKE BRAUN Pope & amp; Young Club change will affect U.S. deer records

The national organization responsible for the recordkeeping of deer taken by bow and arrow has changed a fundamental aspect of its recordkeeping that will likely mean more deer being submitted for record consideration.
The Pope & amp; Young Club recently relaxed its rules in regards to the let-off percentage of compound bows. The change will allow the submission for record of deer taken by hunters using bows that have larger let-off percentages.
In a nutshell, let-off is the amount of strength it takes to draw a compound bow string behind a specific point and then hold the drawn bow. The higher the let-off percentage, the easier it is to draw behind the specific point and hold the shot.
According to Kevin Hisey, executive secretary for P & amp;Y, high let-off is a recent trend in bow design.
"Bows with standard let-off ranging from 70 to 80 percent are popular because they're easier to hold at full draw while aiming or while waiting on game to present a good shot," Hisey said in a prepared statement from P & amp;Y.
Previous rules
"Previously, Pope & amp; Young rules determined that game shot with a bow having let-off of more than 65 percent would not be eligible for entry in the record book," he said.
The change from the club's long-used 65-percent let-off standard on modern compound bows came at a recent meeting of the P & amp;Y's board of directors. A "compromise solution" on the let-off rule was adopted by the club's board and "forwarded to the club's regular members and senior members (voting members) for a vote on a change to the club's by-laws," Hisey's press release explained.
According to the information sent out by P & amp;Y, "effective Jan. 1, 2004, the club will begin accepting entries taken with compound bows that have let-off greater than 65 percent. This change is retroactive, meaning that animals harvested in the past can now be submitted for possible acceptance into the records.
"The 65 percent value remains an important numerical 'line,' as any entry taken with a compound bow having percent let-off greater than that will be listed with an asterisk. The club's definition of let-off remains the same and is an important consideration when accurately completing the entry materials."
Rule change
Contacted at the P & amp;Y office in Chatfield, Minn., Hisey explained that the reason for the original 65 percent benchmark was that "membership was growing concerned about technological advances. They thought there might come a time when such advances had a negative affect on the sport."
He said the rule change is an acknowledgment of certain larger animals shot with bows, despite the higher let-off. Hisey stressed that P & amp;Y's rule change was not a wholesale acceptance of technological advances in compound bows.
The let-off change was passed by the P & amp;Y membership by a vote of 294-148.
Glenn Hisey, records chairman for P & amp;Y, said "What everyone should realize is that the challenge before us was to find an equitable resolution to an issue that would be acceptable to people who, to be completely truthful, are fundamentally polarized on the issue."
He added: "The higher let-off bows will be so designated, thereby keeping an awareness of the principle of equipment limitations as an inherent part of what bowhunting is."
An immediate example
One immediate example of how this change will have an effect is that the now-famous Mike Beatty deer would be considered for P & amp;Y recordkeeping.
On Nov. 8, 2001, Beatty of Xenia, Ohio, harvested a huge whitetail in Greene County. The large, non-typical whitetail reportedly had a 60-day entry score of 304 6/8 inches.
Since Beatty was using a bow with an 80 percent let-off, the possible record 39-point buck couldn't be considered for a P & amp;Y record, at that time.
According to information kept by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, a score sheet produced by a panel of judges assigned to measure the antlers has been made official by the Buckeye Big Buck Club, and has been submitted to the nationally based Boone and Crockett Club for future inclusion in that club's records books.
Currently, the DOW said, only two non-typical bucks in the United States score higher than Beatty's and his buck should end up as third largest in the record books but would be the largest non-typical ever taken by a hunter.
Of the two igher scores bucks, one is called the "Missouri Monarch" and scores 333 7/8. It was found dead near St. Louis in 1981. The second is Ohio's "Hole-In-The-Horn" at 328 2/8, found dead by a railroad track near Ravenna in 1940.
Beatty, reached at his Xenia home last week, said he looks forward to having his buck accepted into P & amp;Y.
"I submitted it a while ago, and we are expecting them to accept the deer" into the P & amp;Y records, he said.
Not bothered
Beatty added that he wasn't bothered at all by the fact that when his deer is listed it will have an asterisk under the new P & amp;Y guidelines.
"Doesn't make a difference," he said.
Any number of other record-sized deer, taken at any time in the past, are also now eligible for P & amp;Y, with the asterisk distinction making a line of demarcation between bows with high-percentage and lower-percentage let-offs. Ohio hunting rules don't have any say on the let-off on compound bows, according to the Division of Wildlife.
A spokesman for the DOW said that it is legal to hunt with a bow using any let-off amount as long as the draw weight is 45 pounds.
P & amp;Y officials said they will be producing a "traditional-only" record book, likely in 2007, with subsequent editions published on a six-year cycle.
"Those entries will remain in the all-time record books, as has always been the case," according to P & amp;Y-released information.
Next record book
"The next all-time record book (which has been, and will continue to be, published on a six-year cycle) is due out in the spring of 2005. The deadline for that book, the 6th Edition of 'Bowhunting Big Game Records of North America,' is Dec. 31, 2004."
While this new rule is not a complete acceptance of higher let-off bows, it is a way, at least, for those who harvest record-possible deer with more modern equipment to gain recognition for their harvest. As technology and research makes changes in equipment, those who serve as the keepers of records and information need to also keep up with those advances.
braun@vindy.com