By Craig Boddington — It takes a lot of shooting to validate all the data and to gain confidence, skill, and speed. And guess what: all that hard-earned data is valid for only one load, and realistically, one set of atmospheric conditions! Change the load and you need to start over! But the tools we have today are amazing.

SCIENCE BLASTS

Wildlife conservation in the United States has progressed through many phases while adhering to some core principles.

There are three sub-species of North American moose—Alaska-Yukon, Canada, and Shiras’. Fewer measurements are taken for moose than for the other antlered categories. Despite this, moose can be one of the most complex trophies to measure. The largest in both body and antler size is the Alaska-Yukon moose found in Alaska, Northwest Territories and the Yukon. A prime Alaska-Yukon bull can weigh…

Big Game Profiles® presented by the Boone and Crockett Club is a one-of-a-kind documentary series celebrating individual species of North American big game. From ancient history to present day science and conservation, from biology and habitats to action-packed hunting excitement, these insightful videos provide hours of entertainment covering big game recognized by the Boone and Crockett…

The four wild sheep categories recognized by B&C offer some of the most fascinating variety of life styles and living conditions of any species of North American big game. There are two types of sheep, bighorn, which include bighorn and desert bighorn, and thinhorn, which include Dall’s and Stone’s sheep. Growth rings on a sheep’s horns help tell its age, just like tree rings.…

Although there are domesticated, private herds in many states, only pure strain, wild bison are recognized by the Boone and Crockett Club’s records program. States and provinces that currently have wild bison are Alaska, Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and Yukon Territories. A mature bison bull can weigh well over a ton, and cow…

The Alaska brown bear is an extremely large grizzly sub-species—these animals rival polar bears as the largest bears on earth—that ranges throughout coastal Alaska. The brown bear’s immense size is fueled by Alaska’s summer and fall salmon runs. 

There are five sub-species of caribou in North America—mountain, woodland, barren ground, Central Canada barren ground, and Quebec-Labrador caribou. They range from Alaska and western Canada, and then across eastern Canada including Quebec, Labrador, and Newfoundland. In recent years their populations have experienced a sharp decline due in large part to exploding herd populations…

Carbon emissions are causing rapid warming and altering wildlife habitat and their wildlife populations at a sizeable scale. Understanding about climate change is accelerating.  Data in the United States shows that sea level is rising, heat waves and storm events are growing in severity, and various timing cues or ranges for vegetation and wildlife are shifting. Hunters are attuned to…

The term “sport hunting,” emerged at a time in history when our society had awoken to the plight of wildlife, and commercial market hunting was rightfully being rejected.