We all know there is more to hunting and conservation than the final score of a big game trophy. However, it is important to take a look at the history of records keeping and celebrate those big game trophies that hold the top spot in their respective categories. These records are part of a large data set that measures conservation success.
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World's Records
The new World's Record bighorn sheep was found on Montana's Wild Horse Island and is owned by the state. WORLD'S RECORD! By Clay Brewer, Kevin Hurley, Kurt Alt and Gray Thornton – The Wild Sheep Foundation Three of the top five Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep recorded by the Boone and Crockett Club...
Mike Gallo donated his new World's Record pronghorn to the Boone and Crockett Club's National Collection while attending the Club's 29th Big Game Awards Banquet in Springfield, Missouri. In 2013, I bought the New Mexico enhancement pronghorn tag. I have purchased that tag each of the eight or so...
The world's record woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou ) was shot in Newfoundland, by an unknown hunter, before 1910, and donated to the National Collection of Heads and Horns by the late Casmir de Rham. The hunter who obtained the impressive mahogany-colored antlers probably encountered...
By PJ DelHomme, photos courtesy of Alex Therrien Aron F. Wark and his guide, Sam Kapolak, covered dozens of miles each day over rough terrain near Contwoyto Lake in the Canadian Territory of Nunavut for a shot a the biggest musk ox in the records. On August 1, 2023, Wark took that shot and killed a...
Wildlife biologist and hunting guide Tim Carpenter rarely gets a day to hunt for himself. So when he got a tip about a big bull from a friend who knew he had the tag, Tim wasted no time locating the big Roosevelt’s elk. The elk officially scored 455-2/8 points, smashing the old record of 439-7/8...
The World's Record non-typical whitetail is a "picked up" trophy and is owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation. Missouri produces numerous world-class whitetail deer, but it wasn't until fall 1981 that the state acquired bragging rights to the world's record non-typical whitetail (...
Saskatchewan hunter Milo N. Hanson harvested the World's Record typical whitetail deer in 1992, on his own land. Working long days as a grain and cattle farmer in Biggar , Saskatchewan, Milo N. Hanson doesn't have the time or money to hunt all over the continent. Then again he hasn’t had to travel...
Harry Swank received the Sagamore Hill Award for an epic hunt that earned him the World's Record Dall's sheep. Having gained the experience he needed on earlier hunts for Dall’s sheep ( Ovis dalli dalli ), Harry Swank, Jr., a resident of Anchorage, decided to try for a really outstanding ram in...
The World's Record desert sheep has held the top spot for more than 70 years. Carl M. Scrivens of Jackson, Wyoming, has taken impressive desert sheep ( Ovis canadensis nelsoni ), but this accomplished hunter has not shot a ram that compares to the extraordinary trophy he found in 1941 during a...
L.S. Chadwick's World's Record Stone's sheep is considered to be the greatest North American big-game trophy ever taken. It has stood at the top spot of its respective category for over 80 years. Lee Sherman Chadwick was enterprising enough to hunt Stone’s sheep ( Ovis dalli stonei ) in...
Today the Boone and Crockett Club and Pope and Young Club announced that an elk from Montana taken on public land during the archery season in 2016 is a potential new archery World's Record typical American elk. After the mandatory 60-day drying period, the elk's official entry score was confirmed at an astounding 430 inches. The bull was taken on a solo hunt early in the Montana archery season by a resident hunter, Steve Felix who then brought the bull to the attention of the Boone and Crockett Club, headquartered in Missoula, Montana.
The World's Record non-typical mule deer, taken in Alberta, Canada, is regarded as one of North America's greatest trophy heads, recognition it deserves having held the top spot for more than 90 years. Alberta produces massive mule deer and the greatest example of that reputation is Ed Broder's...
A Special Judges Panel convened by the Boone and Crockett Club confirmed a new World’s Record Rocky Mountain goat. The Club announced the new record at the Wild Sheep Foundation’s 2023 Sheep Show in Reno, Nevada. Justin Kallusky’s British Columbia billy officially scores 60-4/8 points, eclipsing the previous World’s Record by three points. Each horn measures well over 12 inches.
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.
The World's Record bison was shot by the Park's Chief Ranger Sam Woodring in 1926. For years, tourists visiting Yellowstone National Park were awed by a bison skull displayed in the Chief Ranger’s office in Mammoth Hot Springs. The replica was based off the original skull that was stored in the...
Arizona Rancher Alonzo Winters used a Savage Model 99 rifle to kill a massive bull elk in 1968. Later, after Winters' death, the antlers were scored and recorded as the new World's Record typical American elk. Growing up in eastern Arizona's White Mountains, Alan C. Ellsworth has seen some great...
The World's Record typical mule deer is one of only a few bucks with main beams measuring at or near 30 inches on each side. Doug Burris, Jr., began hunting Colorado's Dolores County area in 1969. On his first three hunts, he took three nice mule deer bucks ( Odocoileus hemionus hemionus ) that any...
Zack Elbow's World's Record Quebec-Labrador caribou was donated to Boone and Crockett's National Collection of Heads and Horns in 1951. This fine caribou trophy, and the story behind its discovery, makes a person wonder how many potential big-game world’s records were taken by Canada's native Inuit...
Donald J. Hotter III's World's Record central Canada barren ground caribou has a final score of 433-4/8 points. As any experienced caribou hunter might tell you, when you're in the animals it can be difficult to decide on which bull to shoot. Especially if you're seeing lots of antlers and it’s...
Daniel L. Dobbs visited Alaska to shoot a giant Alaska brown bear. The trophy bear eluded him, but he came away from his combo hunt with more than adequate compensation— the new world's record barren ground caribou. For most of his life Dan Dobbs dreamed about shooting a 10-foot Alaskan brown bear...
Paul T. Deuling received B&C's coveted Sagamore Hill Award for his World's Record mountain caribou scoring 459-3/8 points. Note: Following is Paul Deuling ’s story on taking the world's record mountain caribou. It's reprinted with permission from Of Man and Beast , an Amboca publication. A...
The World's Record Shiras' moose has held the top spot for over 60 years. It's currently on display at the Jackson Hole Museum in Wyoming. The world’s record Shiras’ moose ( Alces alces shirasi ) was taken by John M. Oakley of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Shot during the 1952 season near Green River Lake,...
Rex J. Nick harvested the new World's Record Alaska-Yukon moose near Alaska's Lower Yukon River in 2010. Rex J. Nick was hunting near Pilot Station on Native corporation land in Game Management Unit 18, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, along the Lower Yukon River on September 26, 2010, when he harvested the...
Pennsylvanian Michael E. Laub was joined by two close friends on a combo hunt for moose and grizzly bear in British Columbia when he harvested the World's Record Canada moose. In the fall of 1980, Michael E. Laub left the gentle hills of Pennsylvania for the rough terrain of British Columbia in...
This incredible non-typical Coues' whitetail rack has great mass and sports 43-7/8 inches of non-typical growth. TROPHY STATS SCORE: 196 2/8 LOCATION: Graham County, Arizona HUNTER: Native American OWNER: D.J. Hollinger & B. Howard DATE: 1971 View Score Chart This phenomenal non-typical Coues'...
The antler mass on Ed Stockwell's Coues' whitetail deer sets it apart from any other Coues' buck ever taken. At the 1955 Boone and Crockett Awards Competition, held at the Museum of Natural History in New York City, judges were shocked when they measured a Coues' whitetail deer that was unlike any...
William B. Steele, Jr. didn't let bad weather and poor visibility destroy his late-summer hunt for Sitka blacktail deer. His persistence paid off when he took the World's Record non-typical Sitka blacktail near the top of a fog-shrouded mountain on Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. In...
For more than 20 years Peter Bond didn't realize the World's Record typical Sitka blacktail deer was hanging on a wall in his shop. Bob Graham was visiting a shop in British Columbia, Canada, when he spotted an impressive Sitka blacktail deer ( Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis ) mount. Graham offered...
The World's Record non-typical Columbia blacktail deer rack hung on a hunter's garage for several years before someone suggested it should be measured by the Boone & Crockett Club. I started hunting in the Black Rock Mountain area near Valsetz, Oregon when I moved from Washington to the Beaver...
Lester H. Miller harvested the World's Record Columbia blacktail deer after hunting the buck for several seasons. On a dank October morning in 1953, Lester H. Miller found himself face-to-face with an extraordinary Columbia blacktail deer ( Odocoileus hemionus columbianus ). He'd waited for this...
The World's Record tule elk was found on a ranch in California in 2005. Written by Jeff Lopeteguy We live on a ranch in northern California's Mendocino National Forest, between the small communities of Elk Creek and Stonyford. This portion of the ranch has been in the family since 1964 when my in-...
Denny Austad traveled all night to Richfield, Utah, to take the World's Record non-typical American elk, which was certified as a new World's Record by a Special Judges Panel in January 2009. I was the successful bidder for a Utah governor’s elk tag in January 2008. A short time later, I contracted...
Pilot Ralph Young found the World's Record Pacific walrus tusks in 1997 while beachcombing—"Alaska style"—over the shores of Bristol Bay. In 1997, while searching the shores of Bristol Bay, Alaska, Ralph Young picked up a big-game world’s record—the colossal tusks of a Pacific walrus ( Odobenus...
The world's record Atlantic walrus tusks were generously donated to the National Collection of Heads and Horns. Unfortunately, they were stolen in the 1970s, likely for the ivory's value. The story surrounding this world’s record cannot be traced further back than the early 1950s. At that time Roy...
Douglas E. Schuk shot the World's Record cougar in British Columbia, Canada, in 1979. The World’s Record cougar ( Felis concolor ) has held its spot in the records book for more than three decades. The animal was taken on a wintry February day, in British Columbia, Canada, back in 1979. The skull...
In the dark of night, C.J. McElroy briefly became the hunted before he made a fatal shot on the World's Record jaguar. In 1965, C.J. McElroy returned home from the jungle of Sinaola, Mexico, with a world’s record jaguar ( Felis onca ) that scored 18-7/16 points. Hunting under the cover of night,...
Shelby Longoria (left) and his guide, John Swiss, with the World's Record polar bear, which was taken nearly 100 miles offshore on pack ice. In 1963, on hunt far from his home south of the border in Matamoros, Mexico, Shelby Longoria braved potentially deadly weather and pack ice to take the World'...
The world's record Alaska brown bear was taken during a scientific expedition in 1952, for the benefit of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. Alaska’s Kodiak Island rests about 250 miles south of Anchorage and just below the mouth of Cook Inlet. Kodiak supports some of the largest land-...
A hunter found the World's Record grizzly skull near McGrath, Alaska in 1976. He stored it in his attic for 30 years before having it officially scored. Turns out it's the largest grizzly skull ever recorded. In April 1974 a friend and I flew in a Piper Super Cub to the McGrath, Alaska area for a...
The World's Record black bear skull was found near Ephraim, Utah, and shipped to Boone and Crockett headquarters in Washington, D.C., where it was examined by experts at the Smithsonian to determine its authenticity. On July 1, 1975, the world’s record black bear skull was found along the edge of...
A Rocky Mountain goat taken by a hunter in 2011 in British Columbia is the largest of its species ever recorded, according to the Boone and Crockett Club. Troy Sheldon with his new World's Record Rocky Mountain goat scoring 57-4/8 points. The billy was taken in British Columbia's Stikine River in...
MEMORANDUM TO: BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB BIG GAME RECORDS COMMITTEE FROM: ELDON L. “BUCK” BUCKNER DATE: DECEMBER 23, 2008 SUBJECT: AUSTAD N.T. ELK ENTRY INVESTIGATION As per the committee’s direction, I investigated the circumstances surrounding the harvest of this bull and found no evidence that...
The largest pronghorn ever recorded has been certified by Boone and Crockett Club as a new World's Record. The huge buck, hunted in Socorro County, N.M., in 2013, scores 96-4/8 B&C points.
The Boone and Crockett Club's National Collection of Heads and Horns received a permanent donation of the new World's Record pronghorn from Mike Gallo during the Club's 29th Big Game Awards banquet held in Springfield, MO this past week. "We were there to honor this great animal and Mr. Gallo, and he honored the Club with a gesture that will benefit a lot of people," said Justin Spring, Boone and Crockett's Director of Big Game Records.
A bighorn sheep killed in a highway collision in Alberta has the largest horns ever recorded for the species. Boone and Crockett Club measurers today certified the specimen as a new World’s Record. The horns’ final score of 209-4/8 B&C points edged out the previous World’s Record, a ram taken...
A massive bighorn sheep that died of natural causes and was later found by wildlife officials could be a new World's Record, according to the Boone and Crockett Club. The ram was found in Alberta. The skull now is in possession of provincial officials and will be entered into Boone and Crockett...
A bull moose taken by a hunter in 2013 in Yukon Territory was verified today by the Boone and Crockett Club as a new World’s Record. With a final score of 263-5/8 Boone and Crockett points, the bull has the largest antlers ever recorded for the Alaska-Yukon moose subspecies. The previous record,...
A whitetail deer taken by a hunter in Wisconsin has fallen short of the score needed to become a new World's Record, according to the Boone and Crockett Club. Club officials today confirmed the "Johnny King buck" scores 180 typical points, or 217-5/8 non-typcial points, both of which include...
Paul T. Deuling recieved his Sagamore Hill Award at the 27th Big Game Awards Banquet. Paul T. Deuling of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, has received the Sagamore Hill Award, the highest honor given a hunter by the Boone and Crockett Club. Deuling received the award, named for the New York home of...
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