By Fred Stabbert III
NEVERSINK —March 14, 2006— A deer taken in the Town of Neversink may be the largest buck taken with a bow in New York State last year.
And, it may even rank as the largest 8-pointer shot in New York ever — gun or bow.
Domenick Demaria of Woodbourne recently had his massive 8-pointer scored by the Pope & Young Club, and the whitetail netted 169 7/8. The old 8-point record was 165.
“I entered him in the New York State Big Buck [contest]. I was told he may be the biggest taken with a bow last year in the state,” Demaria said. “I’ll know more after April 1, the last date to enter.”
The deer, which was shot with a recurve bow on November 6, 2005, was measured on January 30. The deer will have to be remeasured in April to verify the score.
“I put a lot of time in,” Demaria said Thursday. “I was out this morning looking around and saw a buck with little buttons already.
“To me it’s a full-time type of deal,” he said. “I don’t rifle hunt too much – too many people. I go with the bow and muzzleloader.”
Whatever Demaria is doing, he is doing it right. He currently has four of the top 10 bucks ever shot with a bow in New York State.
“Besides that 8-pointer, I have the third, seventh and 10th place deer,” he said. “I also have the second largest buck ever taken with a muzzleloader.
Demaria’s latest buck had a gross score of 174 6/8 but 4 7/8 inches had to be deducted.
The complicated scoring method is used to accurately determine the largest bucks taken nationwide and includes such measurements as:
• tip to tip spread;
• length of main beam;
• length of each point; and
• circumference of each horn at various locations along the main beam.
When measuring a “typical” whitetail deer — a buck with the same number of points on each beam — deductions are determined by the differences in length of corresponding points.
The person who measured DeMaria’s buck wrote, “Was biggest 8-pointer ever measured in 30 years.”
Although deer take figures were down across New York State for the 2005 hunting season, Sullivan County actually had an increase in the number of bucks harvested. But a sharp decline in the issuance of doe permits resulted in a reduction in the total number of deer shot, both countywide as well as statewide. New York State DEC officials deliberately decreased the doe permits to help rebuild a failing deer herd, which has dropped from over 1,000,000 statewide to just over 800,000.
“This is pretty good for Sullivan County,” DeMaria said. “This one little area.”
You bet.