In 2020, we published Records of North American Whitetail Deer , Sixth Edition. This 700-page whitetail encyclopedia featured 17,000 trophy listings. In addition, we ranked the top 53 states and provinces according to the number of whitetail records listed. Those stats compiled whitetail trophy entries from 1950-2019. Things have changed in just the past three years. States have fallen behind, while others have gained ground.
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While Dustin Huff sat in his treestand in November 2021, all he was hoping to do was kill a deer big enough to beat his personal record of 134 inches.
Colorado hadn’t seen a state-record ram in more than two decades, and the state has never seen a 200-point ram enter the records. But then, the state saw two number-one rams in two weeks.
Don't miss out on these great deals! A Mule Deer Retrospective Vintage Photos and Memorabilia from the Boone and Crockett Club Archives Sportsmen with an eye for the good ol’ days of big game hunting will delight in B&C’s visually stunning book focusing on the iconic mule deer of the West with...
In the near future, we will be hearing more about record-book whitetails coming out of Indiana. Have hunters and wildlife managers there found a sweet spot for the state’s herd? By PJ DelHomme In case you missed it, a 27-year-old Indiana hunter named Dustin Huff recently shot the second biggest...
Ladies in the Field—When the Boone and Crockett Club was first created, those two dozen men agreed that the first purpose of the Club would be “to promote manly sport with a rifle.” Today, that dog doesn’t hunt as more women take to the field and forest (with or without their husbands). Today, entries into the Boone and Crockett Records by female hunters are commonplace—and they have been for a while. We sifted through the records and Boone and Crockett publications to bring you some of the highlights from more than a century of ladies getting it done out there.
Stylish Stalkers — There was a time when hunters would don a tie and tuck in their shirt to chase big game—and they would look darn good doing it. For that reason, we sifted through the archives to find some of the best-dressed hunters from the good old days. If you like this slideshow, more of these timeless photos can be found in our Vintage Hunting Album , which makes a great gift or book to keep up at the cabin.
Smile, You're Hunting — Too many hunting photos show a hunter, for whatever reason, looking downright mad about filling a tag. Why not smile after a successful hunt? You don’t want your great-grandkids thinking you were a complete jerk. As a friendly reminder to have a good time out there this hunting season, we compiled these vintage photos of hunters who look truly happy. We hope you’re glad to be out there, too. Say cheese.
Eleven Big-game Whoppers Presented by Fiocchi From state-record whitetail pick-ups to nearly World’s Record bison and tule elk, this installment of More to the Score will surely have you wishing hunting season wasn’t coming to a close. The good news? Now is the time to sift through the records to...
https://www.boone-crockett.org/31st-big-game-awards-merchandise-clearance The bison featured in the logo for the 31st Big Game Awards lived more than a century ago in the Peace River Country of northern Alberta. And you will find the story behind how the bison head became part of the National Collection of Heads and Horns is as wild as the country it called home.
By Lester A. Kish 21st Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts To say that hunting is a sport of luck is an understatement. In 1990, I had the good fortune to draw a bighorn sheep permit in Montana’s Unit 213, near Anaconda. With odds exceeding 100 to 1, just drawing the permit was an...
By Ronald N. Franklin 25th Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts I had just received the news I had been drawn for one of the toughest units to get a tag in the Arizona draw. I called everyone I knew to pass on my good fortune. Everyone was so excited and ready to help on the hunt. Then the...
During the fall rut, you will likely hear them before you see them. As two bighorn rams battle for dominance, the crack of their horns will echo through the canyons some call home. If you’re lucky enough to have a tag for one, maybe you’ll see one of these brutes featured below.
There is a place on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front that attracts all that is wild. It just so happens that this place is on the Boone and Crockett Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch . The place is called The Campsite, and it’s truly special. Here, grizzly bears chase moose, mature mule deer bucks plow through snow drifts, mountain lions slink by at night, bull elk literally run into trees, and so much more. And perhaps the most beautiful thing? It’s all caught on video.
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.
In the 1930s, Roosevelt Luckey owned a Ford dealership and garage in western New York’s Allegany County. Every year, he’d drive a Ford across the state to the Adirondacks in the northeast corner to hunt deer at a cabin owned by him and a few friends. He killed his first deer there in 1926. He would make the long drive because there were relatively few places open to hunting in New York until the late 1930s. That’s when state game managers opened a short season in Allegany County.
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...
From Toddlers to Tines—The only thing better than sharing the spoils of the hunt with your kids is having them hunt themselves. Passing down the fun of the hunt is a time-honored tradition for many families—and as you can see from this slideshow, it’s been going on for quite a while.
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?
Sidekicks never get the accolades they deserve. Boone and Crockett member Horace Albright is one of them. As the second director of the National Park Service (NPS) and assistant to the agency’s first director, Stephen Mather, Albright was an honest and devoted employee of the newly created agency...
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.
Giant Bison, Bears, Whitetails…and Everything in Between With some hunting seasons underway and others right around the corner, your head should be in the game by now. If not, then let us help with some of the top trophies of the 31st and upcoming 32nd Awards periods. If this doesn’t get your blood...
From the Desert to the Tundra, We’ve Got It All If you need some last-minute motivation to get out in the woods and fill your tag, we’ve got it right here. There’s a record-breaking Pennsylvania black bear, some wild trophies from the muskeg and tundra of the frozen north, and a great hunt for a...
Alberta 1906 Bert Riggall was Alberta’s first Renaissance Man. He was a mountain guide, outfitter, hunter, trapper, rancher, naturalist, photographer, and writer—all wrapped up in one hell of a mustache. Frederick Herbert (Bert) Riggall was a legendary Alberta outfitter. He guided his clients to...
Nature can be freaky. Because hunters spend plenty of time out in nature, we experience the freak first-hand. The stories and images you are about to encounter are real, fascinating, and a bit on the spooky side.
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.
Although the original intent of the Boone and Crockett Club was “to work for the preservation of the wild animal life of this country,” members have not confined themselves to America. Carl Akeley was an African adventurer, explorer, and conservationist who twice nearly lost his life battling African game.
The stories behind the biggest Alaskan-Yukon moose in the Boone and Crockett Records A mature Alaskan-Yukon bull moose can stand more than six feet tall at the shoulder. Its antlers alone can easily weigh more than 60 pounds. During the fall rut, their lonely call echoes through the boreal forests...
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...
By PJ DelHomme Over the last two decades, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation has become a catch-all term for a conservation system built more than a century ago. The Club and its members were integral in its creation. With a hunting license and elk tag in my pocket, I park at a...
Every October, baseball fans and hunters have reason to rejoice. Between hunting season and the playoffs, what’s not to be excited about? Babe Ruth, the Yankee slugger and Hall of Famer from the 1920s and ‘30s, loved hunting and baseball. Along the way, he killed at least one mighty fine whitetail...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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-Theodore Roosevelt
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