Conservation

Where Hunting Happens, Conservation Happens™

A Snapshot of the Boone and Crockett Club

The Boone and Crockett Club was founded by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell in 1887 making it the first organization to address wildlife population declines—especially in big game—on a national scale. To a large extent, the history of conservation in North America is the history of the Boone and Crockett Club.

A 130-year snapshot of Club accomplishments 

  • Oldest wildlife conservation organization in North America—founding in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell.
  • Initiator and champion of the first national parks, including Yellowstone, Glacier, Denali, and Grand Canyon.
  • Initiator and champion of the first legislation for wildlife, including the Timberland Reserve Bill, Yellowstone Protection Act, Lacey Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Alaskan game laws.
  • Champion of the earliest science-based wildlife management efforts and legislation, including the National Wildlife Refuge System Act, and the creation of the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units program. 
  • Champion of the first legislation for funding wildlife conservation, including the Wildlife Restoration Act (known as the Pittman-Robertson Act), and the Federal Duck Stamp Act. 
  • Pioneered and established the principles of responsible, ethical, and sustainable use hunting known as "Fair Chase."
  • Created the first scoring and data collection system to objectively measure and evaluate the health and habitat quality of North American big-game populations, and improve state and federal wildlife polices and management for those animals.
  • Initiator and champion of all of the principle federal land management agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 
  • Spawned and supported key wildlife conservation organizations, including the New York Zoological Society (1895), National Audubon Society (1905), Wildlife Management Institute (1911), National Wildlife Federation (1937), Ducks Unlimited (1937), and American Wildlife Conservation Partners (2000).

    View our timeline

History of the Boone and Crockett Club

The Boone and Crockett Club’s history is a 134-year long tale of measured and thoughtful commitment to wild land and wildlife conservation. This commitment balances human and wildlife needs and sees deep value in preserving the hunting tradition. It’s a commitment shaped by visionaries and a common-sense, science-based approach to natural resource management. It’s an effort that has saved many wildlife species from extinction and it’s considered one of our nation’s greatest accomplishments. Read More

 

Mission

It is the mission of the Boone and Crockett Club to promote the conservation and management of wildlife, especially big game, and its habitat, to preserve and encourage hunting and to maintain the highest ethical standards of fair chase and sportsmanship in North America.

 

 


Join us today! 
You don't have to have a trophy in the records book to belong to the Boone and Crockett Club, just a passion for big game and the desire to keep hunting them.

Support Conservation

Support Hunting

Support Conservation

Support Education

"The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So we must and we will."

-Theodore Roosevelt