Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club has long been at the forefront of conservation in America. We’re best known for our historic big-game records. But today’s B&C members continue to be a Rooseveltian force in the ever-more-complex arena of wildlife and hunting...
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See the complete list of the minimum entry scores for all native North American big game animals recognized by the Boone and Crockett Club.
By Charles J. Hogeland 23rd Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts I am only a young man, but hunting is a family tradition that is already dear to my heart. I went on my first hunting trip with my father, mother, and six-year-old brother when I was three months old. Hunting is bred into me...
The Boone and Crockett Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch (TRMR) is an outdoor classroom on an epic scale. From kid camps to Scout expeditions, the TRMR is a place to slow down and watch as nature goes about her business. And what better way to watch than with strategically placed trail...
Yukon Territory 1950 Outdoor writer and legend Jack O’Connor loved the .270 and hunting North American game. His books and magazine articles singlehandedly launched a thousand hunting trips. This is the tale of his quest for a giant Dall’s ram, which doesn’t go as planned. For those of a certain...
By Jerry J. James 19th Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts My cougar hunt began in the spring of 1979 when I first decided to go on a hunt. I wrote letters to guides, and then eagerly awaited the morning mail for the replies to come. I was able to narrow my guide selection, and after...
Colorado 1899 Few hunting stories last a generation. Even fewer last 120 years. Rest assured, when those stories involve cowboys, Colorado’s backcountry, and a World’s Record elk, the legend sticks around. So it is with John Plute’s giant elk. The few pictures of John Plute that still exist show a...
The first thing you will notice about a large whitetail buck’s rack is the overall height and width, followed by the number of points, and mass. When assessing a potential trophy’s score, we need to look at the lengths of the main beams, lengths of the points, the inside spread of the main beams, and the mass or circumference of the main beams at four locations. Learn more about the different components that contribute to the overall score for a whitetail and other big game animals recognized by B&C.
The reasons why hunters don’t list their trophy in the records are many. Yet there are perhaps just as many reasons why a hunter should enter their animal.
By Holland D. Butler 21st Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts A green island in the middle of rock and sandstone, the Henry Mountains of Utah are as unique as the land surrounding them. Found halfway between the Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks, the Henry’s Mount Ellen reaches...
You won't want to miss the one! SELECTIVE: by filmmaker Jason Matzinger In the Lexicon of hunting and conservation, one word has evolved more than any other, Trophy. The concept of a trophy first emerged through the lens of our innate human appreciation for the grandest and oldest ambassadors of...
My dad and I boarded a plane in Portland, Oregon, on August 27, headed for Dillingham, Alaska. This was the beginning of a 10-day hunting trip for moose and caribou, in the Wood-Tikchik State Park.
By PJ DelHomme “As far as I know, I am the only white man who kills tigres with a spear.” —Sasha Siemel Sasha Siemel was unlike any member of the Boone and Crockett Club. Compared to his fellow members, he did relatively little for conservation. His name does not appear in the records because he...
By Robert B. Nancarrow 23rd Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts I had just been thrown from the sled, when John, my guide, prematurely threw out the anchor before the sled had slowed enough for a safe dismounting. I landed on my chest, with my rifle under me, sliding across the ice in the snow. We had tried to intercept a large boar that had been pursuing a sow, with two year-old cubs. We just weren’t quick enough. The boar had reached the new ice, and was quickly on its way to the rough ice.
Looking into the forest shadows, I could see a form that looked out of place against a backdrop of thick spruce. I shouldered my rifle and peered through the scope. The image observed through the riflescope electrified me as I realized I was only yards from the monster grizzly — and I was clearly the focal point of its attention.
By PJ DelHomme Fred “Papa” Bear’s innovations to bowhunting gear and marketing vaulted the pastime into the mainstream. What is seldom discussed is his passion for conservation and his quest to establish a tax (for conservation) on the very products he sold. What started in the corner of a small...
Hang in there—fall is just around the corner. With a little rain and cooler temps, the wildfire smoke will clear out, the leaves will turn, and the critters will feel amorous again. In the meantime, sharpen your broadheads, sight in your rifle, and take a look at the biggest bucks and bruins to grace our records program in the past few months.
Rams, Bulls, a Billy, and a Cat Presented by Fiocchi Entries have been inundating our records department like a swarm of giant locusts—and we mean that in the most loving way. We like to see hunters bringing home some bacon and a nice memento from time spent afield. For this More to the Score...
By PJ DelHomme Boone and Crockett Club members worked passionately to pass legislation in 1906 that would protect sites of cultural and scientific interest, such as Grand Canyon and Olympic National Park. They were called national monuments. Today, members of the Club remain at the forefront of...
Maine 1910 No, that’s not a moose. But at first glance, that’s likely what Maine Guide Hill Gould thought when this buck came crashing out of the alders one fall evening in 1910. When he killed it, Gould had no way of knowing that it would become the state’s biggest whitetail buck for more than a...
After a pair of moose lock their antlers and fight to the death in Idaho, a hunter and his daughter attempt to recover the racks and have a day they will never forget. Oh, and one of the bulls is the fourth largest recorded for Idaho and number 16 of All-time.
Why doesn’t the Boone and Crockett scoring system count all those points? A great way to get into an argument around the campfire is to tell a hunter their animal’s antlers or horns aren’t going to score as high as they think. One better, tell them that some of those points are going to be deducted...
Listen Now > > I sensed it was about time to hear from Ross Peck of Fort St. John, British Columbia, about a hunt for Stone’s sheep. We had invited him into the Taylor Ranch in the central Idaho wilderness last winter to show him a bighorn, but time and weather prevented his visit.
By PJ DelHomme His adventures started with chasing Columbia blacktails in California, then they spread north to Alaska and beyond. Thankfully for us, Prentiss Gray kept meticulous journals of his travels—all while compiling and editing the Club’s first records book. Boone and Crockett Club members...
Listen Now > > For 40 years, I have hunted cougar with hounds; and, hopefully, my 1988 hunt will not be my swan song. The last 30 years, I have hunted in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho each winter, trying to kill a Boone and Crockett lion.
Boone and Crockett Club is seeking a firm, agency or individual for corporate fundraising, including selling corporate sponsorships, licensing, and ala carte advertising for print and digital properties. Proven sales experience and success along with strong industry relationships is a must. If an...
Science and research were cornerstones of the Boone and Crockett Club when it was founded in 1887. Supporting a science-based approach to wildlife research, conservation, and policy remains a focus of the Club today.
Listen Now > > “No closer!” cautioned my Inuit guide Charlie Bolt, raising his rifle just in case. “Shoot now. Shoot the white-horned bull.”
Put your boots on because it’s time to head over to Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. On the Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch , we’re a tad voyeuristic when it comes to wildlife there. From elk to mule deer and badgers to bears, there are plenty of claws, teeth, antlers, and horns to catch on camera.
Listen Now > > Jason, my son, was then 12 years old; this was to be our first “real” hunt. He had hunted since he was seven years old, around our ranch in southern British Columbia. We had decided on grizzly. I had always wanted a trophy grizzly. I had ranched some years before in the Anahim Lake area. We had friends there, and we knew there were large bears in the area.
Listen Now > I hunted bear in the Galiuro Mountains for several years, but September 9, 1982, was to be a day that I will never forget. It began very much like all my previous hunts. After two days of calling without spotting any bears, and two unfruitful stands on the third day of the season, I set my call on the ground and began to light my pipe.
Warning: The following slideshow may evoke mixed emotions. You may smile at first and then scratch your head, wondering how in the world these hunters 16 and younger will ever top these scores that vaulted them into the records. What you shouldn’t feel is jealousy. It’s just not a good look. The...
The Rifles They Carried — From family heirlooms to sporterized military surplus rifles, the guns that hunters carry always tell a story. You can see that in the following vintage photos, these men and women pose not just with their winter’s meat, but also with the tool that helped bring home the bacon. Enjoy this trip down memory lane.
If there ever was a country that could kill you with kindness, it’s Canada. And the hunting? Let’s just say it’s pretty incredible—and it has been for a long time. We dug through our Vintage Hunting Album to bring you some of our favorite vintage photos featuring some of Canada’s finest trophies from a bygone era. So, crack a Molson and enjoy the photo gallery, eh?
If you ask any hunter who spends time hunting in the West, almost all could tell you about the seasonal big game movement patterns they see in the field. We have long recognized that mule deer, elk, and pronghorn take advantage of the vast landscape to seek the best forage and habitat conditions to help them survive the harsh environment. Anecdotally, we have known for years that big game migrate, but the advent of new, real-time GPS tracking collars along with a modeling technique to predict preferred pathways has shed new light on the needs of our western big game animals.
MISSOULA, Mont. (June 27, 2023) – The Boone and Crockett Club welcomed U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Robert Bonnie’s announcement of a new funding commitment to big game migration corridor conservation on private lands in Idaho and Montana. In addition, the Department will be expanding the highly successful Working Lands for Wildlife initiative that targets funding for wildlife habitat conservation on working lands. Following is a statement by James L. Cummins, President of the Boone and Crockett Club.
MISSOULA, Mont. – The Boone and Crockett Club thanks Secretary Deb Haaland for announcing today that the Department of the Interior will be continuing to implement Secretarial Order 3362 (SO 3362) on improving western big game migration corridors and seasonal range. The Order has led to significant...
MISSOULA, Mont. (June 20, 2023) – The Boone and Crockett Club and the National Rifle Association’s Hunters’ Leadership Forum (HLF) are working together to develop an online education platform to teach hunter ethics. The groups announced today that they have created a partnership for the educational programming to help communicate the importance of Fair Chase ethics when hunters head to the field. The Fair Chase Hunter Ethics curriculum will complement existing NRA hunter education modules to carry a positive message to new and existing hunters, as well as to the general public. The online course is expected to be launched in early 2024.
Big Game Records LIVE is the next generation of Boone and Crockett Club's Trophy Search, a hunting research tool. With Big Game Records LIVE, we give you access to the Club’s massive trophy database of North American big game. Our founders devised the records-keeping system more than a century ago to measure the success of conservation efforts across the country. Now, these records are available to you by subscribing to Big Game Records LIVE.
Excerpt from Fair Chase Magazine By Wayne Van Zwoll, regular contributor, photos courtesy of author Born Phoebe Ann Moses in 1860, Annie Oakley used .22s in jaw-dropping shooting exhibitions. Ad Topperwein met his wife Elizabeth at Winchester. Both shot for the company, she as “Plinky.” Before the...
Alaska 1955 — Armed with a .30-06 that he took on every hunt, Grancel Fitz was on a quest to find the biggest Alaska brown bear that Kodiak, Alaska, had to offer. Even though Fitz was never a regular member of the Club, his contributions to refining the Club’s scoring system produced serious hunting karma because this bear was an absolute monster.
Celebrating the Centennial of the Boone and Crockett Club’s National Collection of Heads and Horns with the 31st Big Game Awards May 25, 2022 marked the centennial anniversary of the opening of a building housing the National Collection of Heads and Horns at the Bronx Zoo in 1922. Organized by...
Read the entire story of Kullusy's hunt in the summer issue of Fair Chase magazine. Not a member? Join today and receive the Fair Chase 2022 Yearbook with his World's Record Rocky Mountain goat on the cover. A Special Judges Panel convened by the Boone and Crockett Club confirmed a new World’s...
Rocky Mountain goats are tough animals, and hunting them is no walk in the park. Their horns are incredibly hard to judge in the field. To make matters worse, hunters need a keen eye to discern nannies from billies. They live in some of the most inaccessible terrain of any North American big game animal. Even if you see a great billy, you must know that you can recover it after the shot. Every year, determined hunters venture into goat country with a coveted tag—and each one of them has the adventure of a lifetime.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today a coalition of conservation, sportsmen and forest management organizations and companies applauded the introduction of the Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP) Act of 2023. The bipartisan legislation will fill a critical gap and help keep private forestland intact...
Recognizing that the future of hunting and conservation rests with young hunters, the Boone and Crockett Club began noting the trophies taken by hunters aged 16 or younger in 2010. This slideshow celebrates five youth hunters who hold state records nationwide.
Excerpt from Wild Gourmet Recipe Courtesy Chef Michael Chiarello When I consider all the people, throughout centuries, who have used this method to cook, I feel like one small dot in a very long time line. This is a 30-log kind of a fire. To be safe have 3 dozen logs, each about 6 inches in...
Louisiana 1904 — For over a century, Ben Lilly’s Louisiana black bear has remained the state record, but it hardly compares to the stories behind the Lilly legend.
By PJ DelHomme Buffalo County, Wisconsin, has produced more Boone and Crockett Club record-book whitetails than anywhere else. It’s the number one county in the number one state, according to Club records. Why? At 78, Tom Indrebo has a memory like a steel trap—at least when it comes to bucks killed...
A Boone and Crockett Club member for 54 years, Lee Merriam Talbot was the primary author of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. That alone is a lifetime achievement, but there is so much more to the man who dedicated his life’s work to conservation—and humbly averted death numerous times.
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"The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So we must and we will."
-Theodore Roosevelt
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