In recognition of its 124-year commitment to sustainable-use conservation, the Boone and Crockett Club has received the prestigious Sporting Heritage Award of Excellence from Sporting Classics magazine.

Trophy whitetail entries from 2011 hunting seasons are beginning to pour into Boone and Crockett Club headquarters. But while the sporting world waits to see which states are hot--or not--producers of giant bucks, North America's overall robust trend in whitetail entries is a story for all conservationists to celebrate.

In the summer 2011 issue of Fair Chase, I bemoaned the fact that the House of Representatives had offered a fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget that posed draconian cuts in conservation funding. Wiser heads eventually prevailed and federal conservation programs did receive reduced appropriations that limited agency programs; however, the budget did not eliminate programs as submitted by…

By Jim Heffelfinger, Professional Member, Boone & Crockett Club

They may not be the prettiest specimens on the planet, but then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And we’re willing to bet you wouldn’t pass up any of these bucks because they were a tad asymmetrical. Some of these deer were taken by hunters who didn’t mind a lot of junk.

There was a time in North American history when "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:28 ) was interpreted as, "there for the taking." Somewhere along the way the right to take was replaced with a responsibility to conserve.

The Boone and Crockett Club has announced its support for changing the name of Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi to the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in honor of the late director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.