Classic Elk Images Nothing goes better with fall colors than the quaking of aspen leaves and the scream of rut-crazed bull elk in the mountains. We dug through the archives to find classic photos of elk hunts from yesteryear. You’ll notice classic rifles, plenty of plaid, and big smiles on the faces of successful hunters. May the elk gods be just as generous to you this fall.
Conservation
Where Hunting Happens, Conservation Happens™
B&C Instagram Posts
Sidekicks never get the accolades they deserve. Boone and Crockett member Horace Albright is one of them. As the second director of the National Park Service (NPS) and assistant to the agency’s first director, Stephen Mather, Albright was an honest and devoted employee of the newly created agency...
The Rifles They Carried — From family heirlooms to sporterized military surplus rifles, the guns that hunters carry always tell a story. You can see that in the following vintage photos, these men and women pose not just with their winter’s meat, but also with the tool that helped bring home the bacon. Enjoy this trip down memory lane.
Giant Bison, Bears, Whitetails…and Everything in Between With some hunting seasons underway and others right around the corner, your head should be in the game by now. If not, then let us help with some of the top trophies of the 31st and upcoming 32nd Awards periods. If this doesn’t get your blood...
From the Desert to the Tundra, We’ve Got It All If you need some last-minute motivation to get out in the woods and fill your tag, we’ve got it right here. There’s a record-breaking Pennsylvania black bear, some wild trophies from the muskeg and tundra of the frozen north, and a great hunt for a...
Alberta 1906 Bert Riggall was Alberta’s first Renaissance Man. He was a mountain guide, outfitter, hunter, trapper, rancher, naturalist, photographer, and writer—all wrapped up in one hell of a mustache. Frederick Herbert (Bert) Riggall was a legendary Alberta outfitter. He guided his clients to...
Nature can be freaky. Because hunters spend plenty of time out in nature, we experience the freak first-hand. The stories and images you are about to encounter are real, fascinating, and a bit on the spooky side.
Excerpt from Fair Chase Magazine By Wayne Van Zwoll, regular contributor, photos courtesy of author Born Phoebe Ann Moses in 1860, Annie Oakley used .22s in jaw-dropping shooting exhibitions. Ad Topperwein met his wife Elizabeth at Winchester. Both shot for the company, she as “Plinky.” Before the...
Rocky Mountain goats are tough animals, and hunting them is no walk in the park. Their horns are incredibly hard to judge in the field. To make matters worse, hunters need a keen eye to discern nannies from billies. They live in some of the most inaccessible terrain of any North American big game animal. Even if you see a great billy, you must know that you can recover it after the shot. Every year, determined hunters venture into goat country with a coveted tag—and each one of them has the adventure of a lifetime.
Alaska 1955 — Armed with a .30-06 that he took on every hunt, Grancel Fitz was on a quest to find the biggest Alaska brown bear that Kodiak, Alaska, had to offer. Even though Fitz was never a regular member of the Club, his contributions to refining the Club’s scoring system produced serious hunting karma because this bear was an absolute monster.
Although the original intent of the Boone and Crockett Club was “to work for the preservation of the wild animal life of this country,” members have not confined themselves to America. Carl Akeley was an African adventurer, explorer, and conservationist who twice nearly lost his life battling African game.
The stories behind the biggest Alaskan-Yukon moose in the Boone and Crockett Records A mature Alaskan-Yukon bull moose can stand more than six feet tall at the shoulder. Its antlers alone can easily weigh more than 60 pounds. During the fall rut, their lonely call echoes through the boreal forests...
These stories of the biggest elk in the Boone and Crockett records are not what most hunters consider typical hunts. They are, after all, non-typical elk. Terrible puns aside, these are tales of near death, unsolved killings, mistaken identity, lethal mud holes—and one typical story about a lady from Canada.
Why doesn’t the Boone and Crockett scoring system count all those points? A great way to get into an argument around the campfire is to tell a hunter their animal’s antlers or horns aren’t going to score as high as they think. One better, tell them that some of those points are going to be deducted...
By PJ DelHomme Over the last two decades, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation has become a catch-all term for a conservation system built more than a century ago. The Club and its members were integral in its creation. With a hunting license and elk tag in my pocket, I park at a...
Every October, baseball fans and hunters have reason to rejoice. Between hunting season and the playoffs, what’s not to be excited about? Babe Ruth, the Yankee slugger and Hall of Famer from the 1920s and ‘30s, loved hunting and baseball. Along the way, he killed at least one mighty fine whitetail...
See the complete list of the minimum entry scores for all native North American big game animals recognized by the Boone and Crockett Club.
By Charles J. Hogeland 23rd Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts I am only a young man, but hunting is a family tradition that is already dear to my heart. I went on my first hunting trip with my father, mother, and six-year-old brother when I was three months old. Hunting is bred into me...
The Boone and Crockett Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch (TRMR) is an outdoor classroom on an epic scale. From kid camps to Scout expeditions, the TRMR is a place to slow down and watch as nature goes about her business. And what better way to watch than with strategically placed trail...
By Jerry J. James 19th Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts My cougar hunt began in the spring of 1979 when I first decided to go on a hunt. I wrote letters to guides, and then eagerly awaited the morning mail for the replies to come. I was able to narrow my guide selection, and after...
Colorado 1899 Few hunting stories last a generation. Even fewer last 120 years. Rest assured, when those stories involve cowboys, Colorado’s backcountry, and a World’s Record elk, the legend sticks around. So it is with John Plute’s giant elk. The few pictures of John Plute that still exist show a...
The first thing you will notice about a large whitetail buck’s rack is the overall height and width, followed by the number of points, and mass. When assessing a potential trophy’s score, we need to look at the lengths of the main beams, lengths of the points, the inside spread of the main beams, and the mass or circumference of the main beams at four locations. Learn more about the different components that contribute to the overall score for a whitetail and other big game animals recognized by B&C.
The reasons why hunters don’t list their trophy in the records are many. Yet there are perhaps just as many reasons why a hunter should enter their animal.
By Holland D. Butler 21st Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts A green island in the middle of rock and sandstone, the Henry Mountains of Utah are as unique as the land surrounding them. Found halfway between the Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks, the Henry’s Mount Ellen reaches...
You won't want to miss the one! SELECTIVE: by filmmaker Jason Matzinger In the Lexicon of hunting and conservation, one word has evolved more than any other, Trophy. The concept of a trophy first emerged through the lens of our innate human appreciation for the grandest and oldest ambassadors of...
My dad and I boarded a plane in Portland, Oregon, on August 27, headed for Dillingham, Alaska. This was the beginning of a 10-day hunting trip for moose and caribou, in the Wood-Tikchik State Park.
By Robert B. Nancarrow 23rd Big Game Awards Program| From Legendary Hunts I had just been thrown from the sled, when John, my guide, prematurely threw out the anchor before the sled had slowed enough for a safe dismounting. I landed on my chest, with my rifle under me, sliding across the ice in the snow. We had tried to intercept a large boar that had been pursuing a sow, with two year-old cubs. We just weren’t quick enough. The boar had reached the new ice, and was quickly on its way to the rough ice.
Looking into the forest shadows, I could see a form that looked out of place against a backdrop of thick spruce. I shouldered my rifle and peered through the scope. The image observed through the riflescope electrified me as I realized I was only yards from the monster grizzly — and I was clearly the focal point of its attention.
By PJ DelHomme Fred “Papa” Bear’s innovations to bowhunting gear and marketing vaulted the pastime into the mainstream. What is seldom discussed is his passion for conservation and his quest to establish a tax (for conservation) on the very products he sold. What started in the corner of a small...
Hang in there—fall is just around the corner. With a little rain and cooler temps, the wildfire smoke will clear out, the leaves will turn, and the critters will feel amorous again. In the meantime, sharpen your broadheads, sight in your rifle, and take a look at the biggest bucks and bruins to grace our records program in the past few months.
Rams, Bulls, a Billy, and a Cat Presented by Fiocchi Entries have been inundating our records department like a swarm of giant locusts—and we mean that in the most loving way. We like to see hunters bringing home some bacon and a nice memento from time spent afield. For this More to the Score...
Maine 1910 No, that’s not a moose. But at first glance, that’s likely what Maine Guide Hill Gould thought when this buck came crashing out of the alders one fall evening in 1910. When he killed it, Gould had no way of knowing that it would become the state’s biggest whitetail buck for more than a...
Listen Now > > I sensed it was about time to hear from Ross Peck of Fort St. John, British Columbia, about a hunt for Stone’s sheep. We had invited him into the Taylor Ranch in the central Idaho wilderness last winter to show him a bighorn, but time and weather prevented his visit.
By PJ DelHomme His adventures started with chasing Columbia blacktails in California, then they spread north to Alaska and beyond. Thankfully for us, Prentiss Gray kept meticulous journals of his travels—all while compiling and editing the Club’s first records book. Boone and Crockett Club members...
Listen Now > > For 40 years, I have hunted cougar with hounds; and, hopefully, my 1988 hunt will not be my swan song. The last 30 years, I have hunted in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho each winter, trying to kill a Boone and Crockett lion.
Science and research were cornerstones of the Boone and Crockett Club when it was founded in 1887. Supporting a science-based approach to wildlife research, conservation, and policy remains a focus of the Club today.
Listen Now > > “No closer!” cautioned my Inuit guide Charlie Bolt, raising his rifle just in case. “Shoot now. Shoot the white-horned bull.”
Put your boots on because it’s time to head over to Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. On the Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch , we’re a tad voyeuristic when it comes to wildlife there. From elk to mule deer and badgers to bears, there are plenty of claws, teeth, antlers, and horns to catch on camera.
Listen Now > > Jason, my son, was then 12 years old; this was to be our first “real” hunt. He had hunted since he was seven years old, around our ranch in southern British Columbia. We had decided on grizzly. I had always wanted a trophy grizzly. I had ranched some years before in the Anahim Lake area. We had friends there, and we knew there were large bears in the area.
Listen Now > I hunted bear in the Galiuro Mountains for several years, but September 9, 1982, was to be a day that I will never forget. It began very much like all my previous hunts. After two days of calling without spotting any bears, and two unfruitful stands on the third day of the season, I set my call on the ground and began to light my pipe.
Warning: The following slideshow may evoke mixed emotions. You may smile at first and then scratch your head, wondering how in the world these hunters 16 and younger will ever top these scores that vaulted them into the records. What you shouldn’t feel is jealousy. It’s just not a good look. The...
If you ask any hunter who spends time hunting in the West, almost all could tell you about the seasonal big game movement patterns they see in the field. We have long recognized that mule deer, elk, and pronghorn take advantage of the vast landscape to seek the best forage and habitat conditions to help them survive the harsh environment. Anecdotally, we have known for years that big game migrate, but the advent of new, real-time GPS tracking collars along with a modeling technique to predict preferred pathways has shed new light on the needs of our western big game animals.
MISSOULA, Mont. (June 27, 2023) – The Boone and Crockett Club welcomed U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Robert Bonnie’s announcement of a new funding commitment to big game migration corridor conservation on private lands in Idaho and Montana. In addition, the Department will be expanding the highly successful Working Lands for Wildlife initiative that targets funding for wildlife habitat conservation on working lands. Following is a statement by James L. Cummins, President of the Boone and Crockett Club.
MISSOULA, Mont. – The Boone and Crockett Club thanks Secretary Deb Haaland for announcing today that the Department of the Interior will be continuing to implement Secretarial Order 3362 (SO 3362) on improving western big game migration corridors and seasonal range. The Order has led to significant...
Celebrating the Centennial of the Boone and Crockett Club’s National Collection of Heads and Horns with the 31st Big Game Awards May 25, 2022 marked the centennial anniversary of the opening of a building housing the National Collection of Heads and Horns at the Bronx Zoo in 1922. Organized by...
Read the entire story of Kullusy's hunt in the summer issue of Fair Chase magazine. Not a member? Join today and receive the Fair Chase 2022 Yearbook with his World's Record Rocky Mountain goat on the cover. A Special Judges Panel convened by the Boone and Crockett Club confirmed a new World’s...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today a coalition of conservation, sportsmen and forest management organizations and companies applauded the introduction of the Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP) Act of 2023. The bipartisan legislation will fill a critical gap and help keep private forestland intact...
Recognizing that the future of hunting and conservation rests with young hunters, the Boone and Crockett Club began noting the trophies taken by hunters aged 16 or younger in 2010. This slideshow celebrates five youth hunters who hold state records nationwide.
Excerpt from Wild Gourmet Recipe Courtesy Chef Michael Chiarello When I consider all the people, throughout centuries, who have used this method to cook, I feel like one small dot in a very long time line. This is a 30-log kind of a fire. To be safe have 3 dozen logs, each about 6 inches in...
Louisiana 1904 — For over a century, Ben Lilly’s Louisiana black bear has remained the state record, but it hardly compares to the stories behind the Lilly legend.
Support Conservation
Support Hunting
Support Conservation
Support Education
"The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So we must and we will."
-Theodore Roosevelt
Headquarters
Boone and Crockett Club250 Station Drive
Missoula, MT 59801
Hours and Phone
Weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
406.542.1888
