Deadline Nearing to Enter Boone and Crockett Club Trophies

Big-game hunters have until December 31, 2018, to enter trophies into the Boone and Crockett Records and to be included in the Club's 30th triennial Big Game Awards book -- the book of North American big game hunting and conservation.

The Boone and Crockett scoring and records-keeping program was the first data collection system designed to measure and evaluate the population health and habitat quality of native North American big-game species. This historic data has been used for decades to improve state and federal wildlife policies and management strategies, and to recognize those sportsmen and women who were fortunate enough to take a record book animal.

"The existence of big game animals large enough to qualify for Boone and Crockett Club are proof that hunter-supported conservation programs are working," said Justin Spring, the Club's director of Big Game Records. "Whether intentionally being selective in hunting for a mature male animal, or just plain lucky, the Club's records data shows what we're doing right and what can be improved upon with regard to managing these great animals in healthy populations."

Trophy entry materials (official score chart, hunter, guide, and hunt information form, entry affidavit, $40 entry fee, and photos) postmarked by December 31, 2018 will be processed for the next Boone and Crockett records book. To be eligible for official scoring, after the mandatory 60-day drying period, a trophy would have had to be been taken before on or before November 1, 2018. The triennial publication will list trophies entered and accepted from 2016, 2017 and 2018, and is slated for release in October 2019.

Of all the trophies entered during those three years, the highest-ranking specimens in each of 36 categories of native North American big game will be invited to be on display at a special trophy exhibit, awards banquet, and other events from May through August 3, 2019. The 30th Big Game Awards exhibit of trophies will be open to the public at the new Bass Pro Shops Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri. An exhibit featuring B&C trophies taken by young hunters 16 years old and younger will also be on public display. More than 150 exceptional animals are expected for public viewing.

To find a B&C official measurer in your area, visit www.boone-crockett.org. For questions regarding entering your trophy call B&C at (406) 542-1888.

More information on the Boone and Crockett Club 30th Big Game Awards is available at www.biggameawards.com.