Time to stir the pot....I know lots of guys that claim they've killed  200 lb. plus bucks , I figure most are guessing by drag weight more than scale weight....lol In all my years of hunting I can say I've never seen a 200lb. Pa. Whitetail, but I did see an Iowa buck that weighed 225 lbs. dressed out ! It looked like a small horse in the truck bed ...huge deer...never seen any even close to that size.
 
Years ago there was a big deer processer that was down near Pittsburgh somewhere and he ran an add in a bunch of local papers it said...Any deer over 200 lbs. cut and wrapped FREE ! I called the number after deer season and asked him how many deer came in and were eligible for the free processing ?  
He told me none .....not one deer over 200lbs. ever !
 
I know the game commish has a 300lb.live weight one on display in Franklin ...I believe a road kill ...had to be a real freak of nature .
 
 

Cap I'll betcha if them elusive PA White Tailed Deer ate icecream like the Elusive PA Black Bear or high protein dog food like do the Elusive Eastern Coyote, we be seeing some hefty weight numbers.... wudda-ya-think?

There's a lot of doubters out there but my son and I have always scaled our deer. Only one out of many (I'm not putting up the numbers) because no one would believe. Back in the mid 80's a farmer posted his land for 4 years because someone shot his dog and killed it. He let me hunt after the 4 year of no hunting. Plus his land was up against a county park no hunt zone. I shot a very impressive 8pts that scored 145 inches and it was weighed at the taxidermist shop at 202lbs field dressed. He estimated it live weight 265 before the rut. It's still in my game room and dwarfs the other mounts. He had to send away for a over size Canadian deer form. Since the AR we've been killing bigger body deer but truthfully the giants have weighed 165-185 lbs and they truly look huge. My son monster this year was 168 lbs. THAT'S a whole lot of deer to tip the scales at 200lbs.

I actually did see a PA buck, sort of, that dressed out at over 200 pounds. My Dad shot it in 1964 in Clearfield County.

I know it was over 200 because he was the meat manager at a local supermarket and his crew processed store employees’ deer after hours (something that would not happen today due to cross contamination laws) and it got weighed on the meat department scale. How much over 200 it was is debatable because instead of skinning it and hanging it like a quarter of beef, they simply wrapped the drag rope, which was some kind of vinyl covered cord used to string clothes lines, newfangled at the time, over the hook. It snapped when the weight of the deer was let hang — twice. So they triple wrapped it and tried again. When the rope started to stretch again, two people helped hold up the deer to get a reading before it broke again, so the full weight was not actually hanging when the scale read 218.

Rather than try to get a real reading, the deer was allowed to drop and the processing began because such things as weight and age and antler score meant little compared to how much meat the animal would provide. And this one would provide a lot.

The reason, I wrote PA sort of was that right around that time, PA had received (traded for?) some Michigan whitetails to compliment the VA deer and released them and this buck, and the larger one that was running with it, was obviously one of those deer and not the typical mountain deer that might top 110 pounds.

For the record, it was a 10 point with a 21 inch spread and good mass. Although I still have the antlers (mounts were for rich folks), it has never been measured. Never will be. It will simply remain John’s Big 10 Point as it was always referred to around town (even to this day when locals talk about deer season). Dad would like that.

My brother, before his death, had a deer and bear hunt brokering business that had most of their hunts on native ground in Saskatchewan. He and his clients shot many bucks that dressed over 200 with live weights approaching 300. I’ve seen the photos not from super hero angles and when I hear someone talk about a 200 pound buck and shows a photo from a low angle, I just agree and know that it probably goes 140 — 160, at best.

I have shot many off whitetail as well .I will have to say that it takes a very large deer to tip over 200. I killed 2 one a ohio big 8 and it tipped the scale at 198 field dressed largest deer to date. I remember it like it was yesterday. this year I killed a big 11 pt the body was massive this is in pa. only thing is I did not weight it but the butcher said he thinks its real close to 200lb I said to him I think around 175 maybe so that being said it is very hard to just guess at it. we all do it and its just a guess big tuna knows whats going on believe him as well.

This is a photo of that huge Iowa buck that weighed 225 dressed out....I put the sunglasses on because he's a friend and I'm not sure he wants his picture shown. After seeing this deer in his truck bed, I can say I've never seen a 200lb. Pa. whitetail ....ever !  Just a massive chest and body....too bad most deer processers don't have some type of scales ....I think most hunters would get a reality check on real deer weights. ( shot on public land too ! ) This was about 8 years ago and the picture really tells the size....awesome buck no doubt!
 
 

 
 

An odd thing concerning my Dad’s big buck mentioned above; I shot an 8-point in the same area (within 700 yards) in 1982 that obviously still carried my Dad’s deer’s antler genetics because it was just a smaller version. The brow tunes were bent in the same shape; the left G-2 had the same “wiggle” in the middle; and the last point off the main beam on the right side was shorter than the left and was almost flat in shape, just like the buck from the ‘60’s.

It did not, however, have the same body genetics (it was probably 2.5 yo, so had not reached its full size potential), as it was shaped like the typical mountain deer that are prevalent in that area. Apparently antler genes came from one side of the breeding and the body from a different side.

To answer the OP's question, probably never.  I have shot a ton of deer but I doubt any approached 200#. 

Best I ever had weighed on Ct. State scales was 188- don't EVER wanna try and get a 200 out of the woods.
Congrats to your friend big Deer and GREAT rack too.

I don't believe I ever saw a #200 whitetail on the hoof. They are out there but very rare indeed in Pa.