Potential New World's Record Grizzly Announced

CHATFIELD, Minn. – On the morning of the eighth day of his hunt, after a stand-off at 10 yards, bowhunter Rodney Debias made a perfect 30-yard shot at a monster grizzly bear. The bear has an initial record book entry score that is likely to best the current P&Y World's Record, once it is verified. The current World's Record grizzly bear is 26 3/16, taken in Unalakleet, Alaska in 2004 by Dennis Dunn.

Mr. Debias' grizzly bear has an initial entry score that is a whopping full inch larger than the existing World's Record. It's initial entry score, 27 3/16, is yet subject to Panel Judging verification, which could change the final accepted score.

Grizzly bears are the interior relatives of the coastal Alaskan brown bears. They are found in huntable populations in Alaska (north of the Alaska Range and the 62nd Parallel), British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.

The P&Y score on bears is taken on the skull and is the sum of the length of skull and the width of skull, to the nearest 1/16th of an inch. This grizzly bear is entered into the current, ongoing 29th Recording Period--the biennium representing entries accepted into the P&Y Records Program from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2014.

At the close of every two-year biennial recording period, numerical awards and honorable mentions are awarded to the most outstanding bow-harvested animals in each species category that have been entered during that recording period. New world's records are verified and proclaimed, and awards are presented to these outstanding animals during the Pope and Young Club's biennial convention and awards banquet.

Prior to the actual convention and awards banquet, outstanding trophies are requested to be sent to a designated site for panel judging. Panel Judging is a process of verification of the final scores of antlers, horns and skulls of the highest ranking North American big game specimen entered during that two-year recording period. A hand-picked team of highly knowledgeable and experienced certified official measurers gather for the actual scoring.

Congratulations to Mr. Debias on this incredible animal!

Look to see this outstanding North American big game specimen, plus roughly a hundred more of the biggest and best over the last two years, on display at the Pope and Young Club's National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, April 15-18, 2015.

The Pope & Young Club is a non-profit North American conservation and bowhunting organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of our bowhunting heritage, hunting ethics and wildlife conservation. The Club also maintains the universally recognized repository for the records and statistics on North American big game animals harvested with a bow and arrow.

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