Roger Atwood measures the right brow tine on Tony Fulton's non-typical whitetail deer. This rack, with 45 scoreable points, was one of the most difficult trophies to measure at the 23rd Awards Program. The final score is 295-6/8 points.

BIG GAME RECORDS PROGRAM

The Boone and Crockett Club maintains the records of native North American big game as a vital conservation record in assessing the success of wildlife management programs.

In response to public interest generated by the Club's National Collection of Heads and Horns in the 1920s, and increased hunting by the general public, the Club established an official measurement and scoring system for trophy big game. The National Collection and the measurement system were initially conceived to record species of North American big game thought to be vanishing. Club Members and others in the scientific community soon recognized that the system was an effective means of tracking the success of new conservation policies.

The first formal recognition of outstanding North American big game trophies by the Boone and Crockett Club was in the 1932 records book. It involved relatively few specimens that were listed by simple criteria of length and spread of horns, antlers or skulls. The 1932 book was followed by the 1939 records book that included informative chapters on a variety of subjects related to big game and hunting.

In 1947, the Club held its first competition for outstanding trophies, ranking them by a series of measurements that were refined in 1950 into the current trophy scoring system. Since 1947 there have been 24 Awards Programs (formerly called competitions).
Trophy entry now occurs during a three-year period, followed by the public display of the finest trophies entered in each category and an awards banquet. Presentation of Boone and Crockett Club big game medals and/or certificates recognizes trophy excellence. Only the top trophies in each category are invited to Final Awards Judging and only invited trophies remeasured by the Judges Panel are eligible to receive awards.