It seems as though hunters have been killing some very nice white-tailed deer over the last few years.

Game Commission officials would not say if its recent scoring sessions produced any new records, though it's already known that Washington County archer Jerry Simkonis' non-typical whitetail -- taken with a bow last season and measured previously over the winter -- is the new standard bearer in that category.

But some nice deer were measured nonetheless.

In the northwest region, for example, Walter Schuckers of Reynoldsville took in a 12-point typical killed in 2006 that scored 1714/8. That's high enough to rank the Jefferson County deer in the top 15 all-time in the state right now.

The biggest typical deer taken with a firearm measured at the commission's southwest scoring session was a Greene County animal. Taken by Keith Dolan of Carmichaels in 2007, it scored 1566/8. The largest non-typical taken with a firearm was a Beaver County deer killed in 2000 Marlane Waddingham of Beaver Falls. It scored 171. The largest archery typical buck was a Chester County deer killed in 2003 by Dennis Johns of Natrona Heights. It scored 1387/8.

Some even bigger deer may yet show up in the record books, however. Regis Senko, information and education supervisor in the commission's northwest region office, echoed the comments of his colleagues in several other regional offices when he said that he suspected this fall's ceremony to showcase the biggest deer will reveal some even larger-racked animals.

"What we saw, compared to the deer we've seen at taxidermists and in the papers and in person, was not indicative of what's been taken out there, I don't think," Senko said.

Bob Frye can be reached at [email protected] or 724-838-5148.