The Boone and Crockett Club publishes position statements to inform and educate people about conservation and hunting issues. Thus, there is no charge for personal and non-commercial use of its position statements, but reprinting or re-use of any portions of a position statement shall credit the Boone and Crockett Club as the source. Any such use shall remain subject to all rights of the Boone and Crockett Club.
Conservation
Where Hunting Happens, Conservation Happens™
B&C Position Statements
Where the Club Stands on Topics Relative to Wildlife, Conservation, and Hunting
Effective Date: August 1, 2019 Revised: October 15, 2024 Situational Overview Baiting is a broad term that refers to the use of natural or unnatural food attractants intentionally placed by hunters to attract wildlife for harvest 1 . Though considered a longstanding and traditional hunting method...
Gray wolves and grizzly bears have become the most controversial species of wildlife in North America. Once considered animals to be eradicated by any means possible, these two species were “listed” under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the 1970s. Since then, they have recolonized remarkably in the lower 48 states of the U.S., advancing under decades of Federal protection and three wolf reintroductions, and supported by abundant prey. Populations of both species are either stable or growing wherever they occur.
Bullets fired from hunting rifles have had the capability of hitting targets at long distances for many decades. Regardless of these capabilities, sportsmen have historically held themselves to an ethical standard of not taking excessively long or risky shots at the big game animals they pursue. New shooting technologies now being developed and promoted for use in hunting are encouraging hunters to shoot at substantially increased distances. These new technologies, while not illegal, are tempting hunters into taking longer and longer shots, which is raising significant ethical questions, including those of Fair Chase and intent.
First Adopted December 6, 2014 - Revised: November 30, 2022 Situational Overview The big game records of the Boone and Crockett Club are a set of wildlife and hunting data the Club began to collect over a century ago. In the late 1950s, the Club began to focus on tracking the recovery and...
Genetic manipulation (also known as genetic enhancement or genetic engineering) is being used to produce big game specimens, especially deer and elk, with unnatural and abnormally large antlers and other physical characteristics. Human-selected, genetically-manipulated, game animals comprise an industry in which breeders produce such animals and their semen for game farms and shooting operations that will buy so-called trophy animals regardless of the animal’s origin or circumstance.
Effective Date: December 7, 2018 Situational Overview The Boone and Crockett Club, the nation’s oldest hunter-conservationist organization, previously released a position statementregarding its concerns with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The Club maintains that CWD poses a significant wildlife...
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a highly contagious, always-fatal disease that affects cervids such as deer, elk, and moose. It is difficult to detect CWD in live animals because it can take more than two years after infection for an animal to exhibit observable behavioral or physical signs of illness. Additionally, the diagnostic tests currently available are not as accurate when samples from live animals are used, when compared to samples collected after the animal has died or been euthanized. There is no treatment or vaccine for CWD.
Breeders of captive, native North American cervids, primarily white-tailed deer and elk, raise these animals to sell as breeding stock, as trophy animals for fee-based shooting operations , or to produce meat, semen, velvet, and other saleable parts. The number of farms, ranches and other facilities engaged in this business has been growing rapidly over the past decade, and breeding captive cervids has become a billion-dollar industry in some states. As this industry grows, so do concerns over regulating this industry and the management of captive deer and elk.
A canned shoot is the practice of pursuing and killing any big game animal kept in or released from captivity to be killed in an escape-proof, fenced, put-and-take shooting operation, often called a “hunting preserve” by this industry. In canned shoots, the game lacks the equivalent chance to escape afforded free-ranging animals, virtually assuring the shooter a kill.
Effective Date: December 3, 2016 Situational Overview There are broad misconceptions that exist among non-hunters and within the hunting community itself about big game trophies and hunting. To compound matters, organized groups whose intention is to end all hunting are attempting to sway the...
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...
First Adopted September 30, 2011 - Revised December 1, 2021 Situational Overview Environmental litigation has become an expensive national policy issue that causes harmful gridlock for the federal agencies managing wildlife and public lands. At the center of the problem is the Equal Access to...
First Adopted May 7, 2015 – Revised and Approved October 15, 2021 Situational Overview Conservation funding is a considerable challenge for the 21st century, especially for wildlife agencies. For these agencies, services and responsibilities have expanded, but operating budgets have not kept pace...
First Adopted July 27, 2011 - Updated September 27, 2011 Situational Overview Traditional uses of wildlife represent deeply rooted ecological and cultural connections in human history and experience. Through these same connections many species in North America have gone from threatened, to thriving...
First Adopted March 12, 2014 - Revised: 8/19/2014 - Reviewed 7/11/2014 Situational Overview Conservation and preservation are two different philosophies. Since the early 20th century, conservation has meant the wise and prudent use of natural resources without waste. Preservation means protection...
TROPHIES AND TROPHY HUNTING What constitutes a trophy is a matter of personal choice and experience, as is choosing to hold out, hunt longer and harder for a mature animal. B&C has long supported selective hunting for mature animals that have already genetically contributed to overall herd...
First Adopted December 7, 2013 - Revised June 21, 2016 - Reviewed April 15, 2016 - Updated May 20, 2021 Situational Overview As a means of separating the actions of commercial market hunters from those of sportsmen, an ethical code of hunter conduct was discussed at the first meeting of the Boone...
Carbon emissions are causing rapid warming and altering wildlife habitat and their wildlife populations at a sizeable scale. Understanding about climate change is accelerating. Data in the United States shows that sea level is rising, heat waves and storm events are growing in severity, and various timing cues or ranges for vegetation and wildlife are shifting. Hunters are attuned to fluctuations in and stresses on big game populations and their habitat, and are seeing firsthand significant, negative impacts to our forests, streams, and coastlines. The Club is concerned that wildlife and its habitat may not have the ability to adapt to these observed rapid changes unless action is taken soon.
The Boone and Crockett Club believes the ESA is a critical tool and supports modernizing the ESA to make it more effective in promoting the active restoration of species. However, there seems to be a reluctance to acknowledge that we can do better (especially by activist organizations that could lose the financial incentives to sue the Act now provides). Since the Act was passed in 1973, the world has witnessed significant technological and scientific advancement in wildlife management. These innovations must be considered and adopted in the implementation of the ESA.
First Adopted December 1, 2012 - Updated September 27, 2016 Situational Overview As the oldest conservation organization in North America, the Boone and Crockett Club is often asked to comment on gun control issues and Second Amendment rights because of the close relationship between gun ownership...
First Adopted August 19, 2014 Situational Overview The North American 1 Model of Wildlife Conservation is a set of principles that represent values toward wildlife and guides how it is to be appropriately used and managed. It provides a systematic way of understanding many of the conventions, laws...
Effective Date: June 12, 2017, Revised June 6, 2019 Situational Overview Lead is a toxic substance that can create health issues in wildlife and people when ingested or inhaled. The use of lead-based hunting ammunition has become the subject of much debate, focusing on the existence, extent, and...
Effective Date: November 29, 2017 Situational Overview Conservation and preservation are the two primary approaches by which natural resources are managed. They are terms everyone has heard of, but for many people they remain loosely defined and not well understood. Conservation and preservation...
First Adopted July 27, 2011 - Updated February 5, 2013 Situational Overview The subject of animal welfare and the proliferation of organizations focused on the subject have prompted much concern and debate within the hunter-conservation community and others. Position The Boone and Crockett Club...
The Boone and Crockett Club, the oldest hunter-conservationist organization in North America, has released a comprehensive essay on fair chase, the first and longest standing honor code in North American hunting. "Millions of hunters worldwide practice fair chase, many without even knowing this...
The ethical issue isn't the 350-yard shot. The real concern, as Boone and Crockett Club sees it, is hunters not trying to get a closer one. Long-range shooting is a hot topic in hunting. Improved and specialized guns, gear, bullets and sniper skills are growing in popularity, stretching the lethal...
All significant human activities, sooner or later, are conducted under a code, or set of guidelines, that direct appropriate behavior. Without this order there would simply be chaos and the activity would become unacceptable. Consequently, ethics apply in everything we do, from our personal...
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"The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So we must and we will."
-Theodore Roosevelt
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