Much of North America is currently in the depths of winter, but that doesn’t mean you have to dwell on it. After sifting through thousands of trail camera photos and videos from the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch from last spring and summer, Boone and Crockett Fellow Chris Hansen pulled the very...
Conservation
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Alaska 1956 One man’s quest for a trophy Dall’s sheep takes him on a classic adventure in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains. His determination ends with a wild story and a World’s Record. During World War II, Frank Cook served in the Navy. He was a radio and radar operator on seaplanes and spent about a...
Congressional action prior to the holidays enacted the Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act as part of the final omnibus spending bill for 2023. The legislation formalizes a 3-year-old program that supports states and tribes in their efforts to control chronic wasting disease (CWD), an always fatal neurological disease affecting cervids like deer, elk, and moose.
MISSOULA, Mont. (May 5, 2022) – In late April, the Judges Panel for the Boone and Crockett Club’s 31st Big Game Awards completed the official scores on 71 of the top trophies in 32 categories from 26 distinct species or subspecies that were taken through fair chase hunting or were picked up and entered into the B&C Record Book over the last three years. The mounts that were panel scored for the 31st Big Game Awards—and those of 25 youth-harvested trophies that were added to the record book—are now on display to the public at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri.
On behalf of the entire team at the Boone and Crockett Club, we want to express our sincerest gratitude for your support. Your dedication to conservation, hunting, and outdoor traditions is a vital part of what makes our organization so special. Here is a delicious recipe for wild game that you can...
NUMBER ONE — Hunter: Milo Hansen Score: 213-5/8 points Location: Saskatchewan Year: 1993 It all started with a school bus driver. On the last day of Saskatchewan’s 1992 deer season, the driver told some locals that a monster whitetail was feeding in Milo Hansen’s alfalfa field. Once word got around...
With racks akin to century-old twisted trees at timberline, these bucks are true monsters. They are hardly the stuff of nightmares, though. Visions of seeing these deer afield give us the energy to hike over just one more ridge. Be careful, though. A buck with headgear like this can come with...
Handsome, pretty, dashing—whichever word you choose—these muleys look downright gentlemanly with their nearly perfect symmetrical racks. “Nets are for fish,” you say. Well, okay, we’ll get you the stories behind the biggest mule deer ever (non-typicals) soon. Until then, we hope you like what you...
Anyone who has ever hunted pronghorn understands the magic that surrounds hunting them. You see a herd on the horizon, plan a stalk, and belly crawl through cactus to get into range. Then the wind shifts, and the herd makes for the next county. You smile, ready to do it all over again at dusk...
Native to California, tule elk are the beach bums of the elk world. In 2021, one North Dakota hunter was able to break a nearly 20-year old record and fill his tag with the largest hunter-killed tule ever recorded. Check out these stories. Only found in California , tule elk are named after the...
This subspecies of whitetail deer make a living in the arid, mountainous regions of the America’s Desert Southwest and south into Mexico. What they lack in size, they more than make up for in sheer toughness and adaptability. And their racks can range from dainty to downright devilish. Coues’ deer...
The echo of their bugles through the aspen is the quintessential sound of fall. When heard on the hunt, those screams trigger a primordial drive. The hunters in the following stories know that drive. They are cowboys, miners, Army medics, and a maintenance guy from the highway department. These are their stories of elk hunting legend.
As you read these tales of hunting mountain caribou, you soon realize these animals don’t come easy. Most hunts require backcountry camps reached only by foot or horseback. According to the B&C scoring manual , their range extends north into southern Yukon Territory, south into British Columbia, and east into Alberta. Find mountain caribou, and you will find adventure.
As the father of wildlife ecology and a driving force behind the creation of a wilderness system, Aldo Leopold left a monumental legacy for conservation.
Seven timber companies and four conservation organizations are joining together to fight the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) among deer, elk, and other species of the deer family (known as “cervids”). The new CWD coalition will promote practices that help discover, manage, and mitigate the...
A revolver belonging to Boone and Crockett Club co-founder and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt sold for more than $750,000 at a recent auction.
Roy Chapman Andrews was a hunter but not necessarily for big game. He hunted the past for bones and adventure. Hollywood rumors claim that he was the inspiration for Harrison Ford’s character in the Indiana Jones saga. Both men were archaeologists, fought bandits, hated snakes, and explored far-off lands. The parallels are uncanny, but there was one big difference. Indiana Jones was never a member of the Boone and Crockett Club.
Modern fish and wildlife conservation is based on the public trust doctrine (PTD), which establishes a trustee relationship whereby the government holds and manages wildlife for the benefit of the public. Fundamentally, it posits that natural resources are universally important, and that the public should have an opportunity to enjoy these resources, including activities such as fishing, hunting, and trapping. Prior to the adoption of this philosophy, wildlife was often treated as an inexhaustible commodity, with little thought or concern for long term sustainability. As a result, many species suffered under this “limitless supply” philosophy, with some becoming extirpated or even driven to extinction.
Explorer, legislator, public servant, duck lover, and businessman, Frederic C. Walcott was an early member of the Boone and Crockett Club who served as Club president. His conservation achievements still resonate today, especially when it comes to waterfowl and wildlife refuges.
Yellowstone’s Rock Star – As a founding member of the Boone and Crockett Club, this quiet geologist wasn’t a hunter, but he was a force for conservation, especially when it came to Yellowstone.
As one of the original members of the Boone and Crockett Club, Albert Bierstadt documented the disappearing landscape of the American West—people and wildlife included. For that reason, he was recruited to help save it. In 1864, the United States had already endured three gruesome years of the...
Henry Fairfield Osborn was admitted in 1899 as an Associate Member (now called Professional Member) and by 1913 had been elected as an Honorary Life Member. As of 2021, only 42 Members have been so honored. Osborn was the preeminent vertebrate paleontologist (one who studies ancient life forms) of...
Even though he suffered from severe mental illness, early Boone and Crockett Club member Stephen Mather led a crusade to create the National Park Service, where he eventually served as the agency's first director. This is the abbreviated story of a most fascinating American. By PJ DelHomme A trip...
A new bighorn state record in Nebraska showcases the state’s ongoing big game restoration efforts. Auction and raffle tags are helping foot the bill. By PJ DelHomme A new bighorn state record in Nebraska showcases the state’s ongoing big game restoration efforts. Auction and raffle tags are helping...
At four in the afternoon, the three men started cutting up the massive musk ox. Six hours later, they had it quartered and stuffed into their packs. After all, this is how these guys pack their Dall’s sheep out of the Northwest Territories every year. They left behind a front shoulder and hindquarter but placed the head and hide on top of the meat so the grizzlies and wolves would get that first. After a three-mile hump across the muskeg, they got back to camp at one in the morning. At dawn, they returned for the rest.
A new state record gets one sheep hunter closer to his first Grand Slam By PJ DelHomme Growing up an Indiana boy, Grant Smith chased the state’s abundant whitetails and turkey. When he was all grown up, Smith took a trip to Colorado with his wife and discovered bighorn sheep. “I was just fascinated...
MISSOULA, Mont. – The Boone and Crockett Club’s 31st Big Game Awards celebration begins tonight with three days of activities at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium and the White River Conference Center in Springfield, Missouri. Since 1947, the triennial Big Game...
MISSOULA, Mont. (July 12, 2022) – Elkhorn Coffee Roasters is the official coffee and beverage sponsor of the Boone and Crockett Club’s upcoming 31st Big Game Awards and will also be supporting the Club’s hunting conservation efforts through sales of a special Boone and Crockett blend. The Bozeman, Montana-based organic coffee producer will be the sole provider of coffee during all events during the Awards program. Elkhorn Coffee Roasters developed this Boone and Crockett blend to help support hunting conservation efforts and is donating $1 for every pound sold.
Reflections on Wildlife and the 2nd Amendment Excerpt from Fair Chase Magazine, Summer 2013 By Valerius Geist Hunting and the right to bear arms has always been a part of North American heritage. In Hunting Trips of a Ranchman , Theodore Roosevelt (loosely depicted above), recounted his hunting...
MISSOULA, Mont. (May 25, 2022) –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 several Boone and Crockett Club members, the Collection was intended to raise visibility for declining wildlife species and was officially dedicated “In Memory of the Vanishing Big Game of the World.” The collection, now housed at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri, will be getting a new addition to the Collection—a bighorn sheep ram that was found by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on Flathead Lake’s Wild Horse Island. The ram scored 206-3/8 during the recent 31st Big Game Awards Judges Panel and now ranks #9 all time.
Federal Ammunition Supports the Boone and Crockett Club’s 31st Big Game Awards as Centennial Sponsor
MISSOULA, Mont. – Federal Ammunition has signed on as the Centennial Sponsor of the Boone and Crockett Club’s 31st Big Game Awards that will be held July 21-23, 2022, in Springfield, Missouri. The event recognizes the biggest heads, horns, and antlers from North America entered into the Boone and...
With an official score of 455, this is the biggest elk ever recorded in Pennsylvania. Duane Kramer lives in Bellingham, Washington, and he bought a few raffle tickets last year (okay, a lot of raffle tickets) for the 2020 Keystone Elk Country Alliance (KECA) Raffle. The lucky winner would get the chance to hunt one of Pennsylvania’s monster bulls. And you guessed it, his name was drawn.
The Lord Rendlesham bison is part of the Nucleus Collection. Unfortunately, no additional information is available. The original score chart indicates it was remeasured with the new system by Grancel Fitz on May 23, 1951, with a final B&C score of 124-6/8 points. The mount now resides in the...
Boone and Crockett Club Member William T. Hornaday was the brainchild of the National Collection of Head and Horns. In a letter dated March 20, 1907, Hornaday appeals to “The Sportsmen of America” to donate their best specimens to be considered for display with the “Nucleus Collection” that he, along with Madison Grant and John M. Phillips had already pulled together. Six of the big game animals currently on display in the National Collection exhibit at Johnny Morris' Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium are from that original Nucleus Collection formed over 100 years earlier. They include:
The Reed-McMillan Collection was detailed in the 1908 release of The National Collection of Heads and Horns Part II . Boone and Crockett Club Member William T. Hornaday was the brainchild of the National Collection of Heads and Horns . In a letter dated March 20, 1907, Hornaday appeals to “The...
An early view of the National Collection before the new building was contstructed in 1922. Boone and Crockett Club Member William T. Hornaday was the brainchild of the National Collection of Heads and Horns . In a letter dated March 20, 1907, Hornaday appealed to “The Sportsmen of America” to...
Officially designating the world’s first national park is a milestone achievement. Conserving and protecting its wildlife for future generations is another story altogether. That mission would become the Boone and Crockett Club’s first major success as North America's oldest wildlife conservation organization.
After hanging over a couch for more than 70 years, New Jersey’s biggest whitetail ever recorded finally gets its day in the book. Norman with his 1947 non-typical whitetail, which now proudly sits atop the records for New Jersey after more than 70 years. By PJ DelHomme Back in 1947, Norman Taylor...
Boone and Crockett Club and 44 Other Hunt Fish 30x30 Organizations Submit Formal Recommendations to the Biden Administration Concerning the “America the Beautiful” Initiative’s American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas
Mule Deer Foundation leaders receiving the Boone and Crockett Club’s 2022 Conservation and Stewardship Award (left to right: Emmett Burroughs, MDF Founder; Joel Pedersen, Current MDF President/CEO; Steve Belinda, MDF Director of Conservation; Miles Moretti, retired MDF President/CEO; Jim Arnold, B...
A Maryland state-record non-typical whitetail and a record-book typical elk from Wyoming prove that now is the time to get out in the woods and look for not-so-buried treasure Spring is coming. We promise. It may not seem like it in some places, but it’ll get here. And with it comes your chance to...
In the latest release from the Boone and Crockett Club’s Classics Series, Frederick C. Selous takes you back to early 1900s North America to hunt moose, sheep, caribou, and more. The author “tracking” up the North Fork. Photograph by Charles Sheldon. There was one man Theodore Roosevelt referred to...
Adopted December 1, 2021 Situational Overview For more than a century, Fair Chase has been the accepted expression of ethical and sustainable hunting in North America. As the originator and champion of Fair Chase 1 , the Boone and Crockett Club is often asked to render its opinion, and sometimes...
If They Qualify, the Boone and Crockett Club Accepts Archery, Crossbow, Shotgun, Handgun—and the Randomly Deceased Entry. Recent non-typical whitetail deer entries highlight the Boone and Crockett Club’s 100-year record-keeping history
Join early Boone and Crockett members as they go in search of mysterious dragons in the Far East ( Dragon Lizards of Komodo ), explore uncharted regions of the Sonoran Desert ( Camp-Fires on Desert and Lava ), and hunt for moose, sheep and caribou in Newfoundland and the Yukon ( Recent Hunting...
Hornaday's outfit coming through MacDougal Pass within two miles of MacDougal Crater, looking north. Hornaday Mountains close by on the left. The e-book edition includes seven color plates reproduced from the original edition. In the latest release from the Boone and Crockett Club’s Classics Series...
In the latest release from the Boone and Crockett Club’s Classics Series, you travel to a far away land of living dinosaurs, lava-spewing volcanoes, and, of course, there’s King Kong.
MISSOULA, Mont. (Dec. 20, 2021) – The Boone and Crockett Club’s board approved two position statements earlier this month during its 134th Annual Meeting held in New Orleans, Louisiana. The board approved the new “Technology and Hunting” position statement to reaffirm the importance of maintaining Fair Chase ® principles when considering the use of technological advancements in a hunting situation. In addition, the updated “Environmental Litigation Against Federal Agencies” position outlines recommended legislative changes to the Equal Access to Justice Act that is being misused by nonprofit organizations to fund litigation against the federal government on environmental issues.
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-Theodore Roosevelt
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