http://northamericanwhitetail.com/na...a503zaftupdate

" As a result of the panel' s decision, Wayne has notified P&Y that he does not want the buck listed in the club' s records in either category. Nor will he list his trophy in the record book of the Boone and Crockett Club"

Kind of sounds like Zaft only wants the fame and money assosiated with the World Record status, and not giving the deer the true credit it deserves. [:' (][:@]

Courtesy of North American Whitetail Magazine ............................................. [b][color=#3333FF]The Pope & Young Club has ruled that a giant Alberta whitetail arrowed by Wayne Zaft on Oct. 8, 2001, falls far short of the world-record score at which the deer had been entered into the bowhunting organization' s record book.

The Zaft buck, which was shot in the bow-only zone near Edmonton, had been officially measured at 206 7/8 net typical and entered into P&Y' s records at that score. Had the score been upheld, the deer would have become No. 1 over Mel Johson' s 204 4/8-inch Illinois buck, which has stood as the archery record for almost 40 years.


At the time the Zaft buck was entered, the burning question was whether or not the club would accept the rack as a basic 6x5 typical. To do that, the panel would need to agree with original measurer Dave Paplawski' s ruling that a pair of " common-base" points on the right antler both were typical. The panel disagreed, ruling the more forward of those points is non-typical. This decision resulted in a significant loss of measurable antler on the typical frame, as well as much higher deductions for asymmetry. When the new net score was calculated, it dropped all the way to 172 5/8. The net non-typical score would be 210 1/8.

As a result of the panel' s decision, Wayne has notified P&Y that he does not want the buck listed in the club' s records in either category. Nor will he list his trophy in the record book of the Boone and Crockett Club, which already has notified the hunter that it will accept the P&Y panel score, rather than have its own panel verify the score at its 2004 convention in Kansas City.

Despite the loss of more than 30 inches off the original net score, even at 172 5/8 the Zaft buck would have qualified for inclusion in the all-time B&C records, which have a minimum qualifying mark of 170 net for typicals.

Had the original score of 206 7/8 been accepted by B&C, the deer would have ranked No. 2 in that club' s typical listings. Only Milo Hanson' s 213 5/8-inch world record, downed with a rifle near Biggar, Saskatchewan, in 1993, has been certified as scoring higher. The current No. 2 typical in the B&C records is James Jordan' s 206 1/8-inch rifle kill, which was shot in Burnett County, Wisconsin, back in 1914.

The Zaft buck will remain listed in the Alberta record book, which already has accepted the 206 7/8 score as submitted. There reportedly are no plans to lower it on the basis of the P&Y or B&C decisions.

Wayne provided this update to North American Whitetail just prior to P&Y' s biennial banquet in Madison, Wisconsin.

END OF STORY.[:-] Hopefully

Nub, I don' t believe the final chaper has been written just yet. There' s still one more issue at hand that should be settled. That is Zaft' s provincial record, which according to him, he still holds. I see a big problem with this. First off every deer in the Alberta record book has been scored under the P&Y scoring system. Now that Zaft has been panel scored as oulined above, will the Alberta score for Zaft relect this change?. After all, one would think that the P&Y panel scoring would supercede that of Dave' s. Afterall, Dave Paplowski scored it as a measurer of P&Y and all other deer have been scored under the P&Y scoring system. It would be quite odd if the Alberta record surpassed that of the WR even though they were both scored under the same system. And you couldn' t very well go by the BTR score that was afforded Zaft. It wouldn' t make sense to have this deer at #1 with the BTR score when all of the other deer have been scored under an entirely different scoring system, would it? I wondering what will be the ABA' s position on Zaft' s provincial record now that the results have been made public.

I think the Zaft buck has one of the prettiest racks of all time.

I also believe it was a pick up and not a hunter kill.

If Zafts buck was originally scored by a P & Y scorer from Alberta, and he errored in the score, how many others did he give the benifit of doubt? Seems to me they would have to re-score a bunch. I think if they want to keep his original, they can have at it. I won' t care, unless I happen to hunt in Alberta and kill one bigger.

Nub, the big difference here is the positioning of the buck. And yes he was scored by a P&Y scorer. And since he scored it as a P&Y scorer, it should be that organizations final judgement that should be the provincial score as well. Whenever a rack is scored by a P&Y panel, any score that the panel deems it replaces that of the original scorer. Why should the Garvey buck, which would hold the #1 title in Alberta if Zaft' s does not, be viewed under a completely different set of rules. I wouldn' t expect every buck to be reviewed but the fact of the matter is this one was, as was the Garvey buck (and any other buck that has special significance). It seems to me that if Zaft were prepared to accept the score from P&Y when he thought he had a WR, should be prepared to accept the new score as well. He can' t ask for the recognition and then turn around and say, no I' m going with the original score if it' s not to his liking. He took the risk. He should live with it. I think the Alberta score should reflect the P&Y score. After all, the other bucks listed are by their respective P&Y scores. He can' t discount the score as though it doesn' t exist and neither should the Alberta' s Bowhunting Association. There are many examples out there where an initial score was subsequently changed after being panel scored. I don' t hear those people claiming the original scoring as being the correct one. Zaft would be a special person indeed if he were the only one that does not have to adhere to this.

P&Y Club had a decision to make - either accept a pickup as the new #1 and lose respect of many, or score that G2 and G3 as common base and be done with it. Thats what they did, end of story for most people and for the most part.

What happens in the Alberta books is a Canadian thing ... end of story.

Maybe now P&Y will modify their rules so that a person entering an animal for record status must be able to prove positively that they took the animal being entered or it goes into the sheds or found section. If there are any questions or questionable facts it goes out. If you take an animal that may be record quality, you should seek a wildlife official or other official to verify what you have done. This game playing and trying to pull scams to get records has got to stop by some tougher rules. I just wish that they either would or could prosecute those who try to get away with this kind of crap and get caught it it. P&Y got suckered into this one and at least figured a graceful way out.