Scot Brun's Westmoreland County non-typical 22-point monster scored 201 2/8 B&C points. Photo courtesy of Scot Brun.

Back in 2001, the introduction of antler restrictions was met with pessimism among Keystone State hunters. Many of the state's "expert" hunters voiced skepticism and some fairly strong criticisms.

Yet during the past few years, Pennsylvania has produced an eye-popping crop of giant bucks, including some of the best in the Northeast.

During the 2007 rifle season, Pennsylvania hunters took 109,200 bucks -- the lowest total buck harvest in 22 years. The overall deer harvest was down by 11 percent.

One stated purpose of the new management program was to limit the harvest of juvenile bucks, allowing those deer more time to grow their antlers. Are the PGC's new practices producing the desired results?

Though we may not be able to answer that question to everyone's satisfaction, we do know that in 2007, Pennsylvania hunters registered another batch of fantastic trophy bucks, including two eye-popping bucks taken during rifle season!

You may quarrel about the overall success of deer management in the state. But you can't argue about the quality of these two bucks!

SCOT BRUN'S 200-CLASS MONSTER
Scot Brun has been hunting since the age of 12. The 30-year-old didn't "get serious" about hunting trophy whitetails until about seven years ago -- but he's been obsessed with them ever since.

Since he started to focus on taking big-racked trophies, Brun has tagged several that scored in the 130s.

Prior to the 2007 season, his best buck was a 148-inch 12-pointer that dressed out at 215 pounds.

In 2005, Brun encountered a great buck and became obsessed with taking him. For three years he hunted that deer, passing on many smaller bucks in the interim.

The area in Westmoreland County that Brun hunts is densely populated, making rifle hunting nearly impossible. So he hunts during bow season and uses his crossbow during the rifle season. For three years the great buck continued to avoid him, but that changed during the second week of the 2007 rifle season. (Continued)

On Monday, Dec. 3, Brun was hunting with his crossbow, hoping that this would be the day the big boy finally showed up. As the morning rolled along, Brun saw a large group of does. He let them pass, hoping that a buck -- or better yet, the buck -- would follow.

Brun counted the does as they passed. As he let the ninth deer pass, his eyes turned to No. 10. This wasn't just any deer -- it was the huge buck he had been waiting for!

Brun gained his composure and prepared for the shot. He raised his crossbow and, as the buck was quartering away from him at 18 yards, let his arrow fly.

The shot was true, but the buck took off, running. Three years of dreaming, scouting and hunting had led to this moment, but it was definitely worth the wait!

Brun held off as long as he could and then took up the trail. When he came upon the great buck, he started counting points and got to 22.

Definitely no "ground shrinkage" on this monster!

His buck was the talk of the town. Local newspapers ran stories, and the buck even showed up on the Internet.

Brun had the buck scored by both the Safari Club and the Northeast Big Buck Club. The huge rack scores 201 2/8 gross Boone and Crockett points and nets 183 3/8.

It has 22 scorable points -- 11 typical and 11 non-typical. The inside spread is just under 18 inches, with beams of 25 2/8 and 28 2/8 inches. The buck has incredible mass, with bases of 7 and 6 2/8 inches.