Michael Skvarla of Port Matilda, Pennsylvania, is by anyone’s measure one of this year’s luckiest bowhunters. For his 40th birthday celebration the Penn State research professor had planned a Maryland trip to bowhunt Sitka deer.
But he had a major change of plans when the Pennsylvania Game Commission informed him he’d been successful in its annual elk bowhunting license lottery. Only 15 bull tags were issued to 50,000 lottery applicants, and Skvarla was one of them.
“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Skvarla tells Outdoor Life. “I’ve been bowhunting deer for 20 years, but this was an elk – not a whitetail. Because I don’t know much about them, I decided to hire an outfitter for my hunt, and I’m sure glad I did.”
Skvarla hired Trophy Rack Lodge and started hunting private land in Centre County for the short season, which runs September 12 to 27. He hunted alongside guide Mike Conaway, caller Abner Druckenmiller, and his own sister-in-law Abbi Ottoman for two days. The party called in bulls, but didn’t take an elk.
Then, on the morning of Sept. 15, Skvarla lucked out again.
“We set up in the dark and there were about five different bulls bugling – one was close,” Skvarla says. “But the close bull didn’t come in. I think the farthest away bull was the one that Abner called to us.”
Druckenmiller called from his set up about 75 yards behind yards behind Skvarla and Conaway, who used small pine trees as cover. Ottman stayed well behind the bowhunter, too.
“Abner moved around a lot while he was calling,” Skvarla says. “He was trying to imitate multiple cow elk in the area, thinking that might draw a mature herd bull into bow range.”
And it did.
Conaway spotted a huge bull headed up hill toward them, and Skvarla spotted it at 70 yards. It bugled as it moved closer, as the archer raised crossbow. When the bull was at 42 yards, he squeezed the trigger.
“I knew it was a good shot. He ran just 20 yards and fell. In a few seconds he got up on wobbly legs, then fell again.”
The bowhunter thought the bull was down for good, but incredibly the elk stood up and ran out of sight.
They waited 30 minutes before beginning their search — and found a very faint blood trail.
“My arrow didn’t exit and the trail was tough to follow. I’m glad there were four of us looking. We’d find a little blood and someone would stand by it, while the rest of us looked for the next blood.”
As it turns out, the bull only ran about 100 yards, and the hunters had little trouble finding the massive elk.
“I’ve seen a lot of elk in my work as a researcher for Penn State,” Skvarla says. “But the size of this bull was just incredible. It took all four of us to load it into a pick-up truck.”
The elk was an 8×8 typical with an estimated weight close to 900 pounds. It was green scored at 428 inches and, even after a 60-day drying period, the bull should replace the current state archery record of a 381.1-inch bull taken by Christopher Sebulsky in 2021. (The PGC groups crossbow and vertical bow records within the same category.) It would also be the biggest typical on record in the state, since the No. 1 typical elk in the PGC’s firearms category scored a little over 407 inches.
It’s also possible the Boone and Crockett Club may recognize Skvarla’s bull as a new state record if he submits it to the B&C books. The largest typical elk taken by any method in the state, according to the B&C books, is a 415 2/8 bull taken in 2022 in Clinton County.
That bull was also taken from Centre County on a guided hunt with Conaway.
“I can’t say enough good things about Trophy Rack Lodge. They really did all the scouting work and calling. They really know elk … In fact, Mike told me that the bull I shot isn’t the biggest one in that area. I can’t even imagine what size that elk is.”