Presented by Leupold Stylish Stalkers There was a time when hunters would don a tie and tuck in their shirt to chase big game—and they would look darn good doing it. For that reason, we sifted through the archives to find some of the best-dressed hunters from the good old days. If you like this...
Conservation
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Because basketball stars making millions of dollars still miss free throws Excerpt from Fair Chase Magazine By Wayne Van Zwoll, regular contributor, photos courtesy of author Approach ready to fire again, from behind the animal, rifle up front. Save congratulations for later. Why is there time to...
It’s been a long winter, and they can be very long on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front where the Boone and Crockett Club owns and manages the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial (TRM) Ranch . The mission of the ranch is to research, teach, and demonstrate integrated livestock/wildlife conservation, which is...
The U.S. Forest Service oversees management of 193 million acres of land—an area the size of Spain. Without early members of the Boone and Crockett Club, our forests—and the agency that manages them—would look vastly different. Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot were instrumental in the...
Spring 2022 Edition – What’s better than record-book antlers, horns, and skulls? The stories behind them, of course. This slideshow certainly has plenty of big bone at which to gawk. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll find so much more. There’s the coal miner from Virginia who drove to Newfoundland with two chest freezers to hunt woodland caribou. There is the hunter who killed the world’s record musk ox, and then he packed it out on his back. And did you hear the one about the Rocky Mountain goat in South Dakota? We’ve got them all right here.
With an official score of 455, this is the biggest elk ever recorded in Pennsylvania. Duane Kramer lives in Bellingham, Washington, and he bought a few raffle tickets last year (okay, a lot of raffle tickets) for the 2020 Keystone Elk Country Alliance (KECA) Raffle. The lucky winner would get the chance to hunt one of Pennsylvania’s monster bulls. And you guessed it, his name was drawn.
Family, friends, persistence, and do-it-yourself public land: The story behind what could be the new Colorado state record moose and number six All-time Shiras’ moose.
Boone and Crockett Club Member William T. Hornaday was the brainchild of the National Collection of Head and Horns. In a letter dated March 20, 1907, Hornaday appeals to “The Sportsmen of America” to donate their best specimens to be considered for display with the “Nucleus Collection” that he, along with Madison Grant and John M. Phillips had already pulled together. Six of the big game animals currently on display in the National Collection exhibit at Johnny Morris' Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium are from that original Nucleus Collection formed over 100 years earlier. They include:
Adding packrafting has catapulted MOHAB into the highest category of BSA high adventure programs. Excerpt from Fair Chase Magazine By Luke Coccoli, B&C Conservation Program Manager Photos Courtesy of MOHAB/BSA contributors When I was filling out the application to work for Boone and Crockett,...
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George Bird Grinnell, co-founder of the Boone and Crockett Club, worked for decades to protect a chunk of northwest Montana we now call Glacier National Park.
How one member of the Boone and Crockett Club (almost) single-handedly established Denali National Park.
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.
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...
Bison are symbols of the American West, and market hunting nearly wiped them from the planet. The story of their near-extinction and then of their restoration thanks to members of the Boone and Crockett Club is the story of the first animal reintroduction in North America. Left, a photograph from...
Conservation’s Most Unsung Hero By PJ DelHomme In a speech promoting passage of the Lacey Act of 1900, Lacey told Congress that, “I have always been a lover of the birds, and I have always been a hunter as well, for today there is no friend that the birds have like the true sportsman—the man who...
In 1887, Theodore Roosevelt returned from his Elkhorn Ranch in the Dakota Territory with an idea. He would assemble a group of like-minded, influential men to turn the tide in favor of conserving our nation’s resources, which, at the time, was vanishing quickly. This is how he did it. Roosevelt...
Handsome, pretty, dashing—whichever word you choose—these muleys look downright gentlemanly with their nearly perfect symmetrical racks. “Nets are for fish,” you say. Well, okay, we’ll get you the stories behind the biggest mule deer ever (non-typicals) soon. Until then, we hope you like what you...
NUMBER ONE — Hunter: Milo Hansen Score: 213-5/8 points Location: Saskatchewan Year: 1993 It all started with a school bus driver. On the last day of Saskatchewan’s 1992 deer season, the driver told some locals that a monster whitetail was feeding in Milo Hansen’s alfalfa field. Once word got around...
If They Qualify, the Boone and Crockett Club Accepts Archery, Crossbow, Shotgun, Handgun—and the Randomly Deceased Entry. Recent non-typical whitetail deer entries highlight the Boone and Crockett Club’s 100-year record-keeping history
Much of North America is currently in the depths of winter, but that doesn’t mean you have to dwell on it. After sifting through thousands of trail camera photos and videos from the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch from last spring and summer, Boone and Crockett Fellow Chris Hansen pulled the very...
Ladies in the Field—When the Boone and Crockett Club was first created, those two dozen men agreed that the first purpose of the Club would be “to promote manly sport with a rifle.” Today, that dog doesn’t hunt as more women take to the field and forest (with or without their husbands). Today, entries into the Boone and Crockett Records by female hunters are commonplace—and they have been for a while. We sifted through the records and Boone and Crockett publications to bring you some of the highlights from more than a century of ladies getting it done out there.
At the turn of the twentieth century, members of the Boone and Crockett Club changed the way the world looked at animals—literally. They designed a new kind of zoo, which educated visitors, eliminated cramped concrete cages and conserved rare species. We still use that model today. Several B&C...
Its slim bullets killed all out of proportion to their weight, charming hunters and changing an industry. The Jack O’Connor Center in Lewiston, Idaho, commissioned a limited run of Winchester 70s patterned on the Biesen-stocked Featherweights the famous gun writer used on hunts around the world. “...
Winter 2021 Edition - Whether your hunts are in the rearview or you’re layering up for one more try, we have a number of new record entries to keep hunting on your mind. Check out a new Montana state record black bear, a behemoth bighorn ram from North Dakota, and an Appalachian sleeper-state producing some incredible whitetails.
It’s More Faith Than Equipment—It really isn’t about the equipment, you do the best you can with what you have. Rather, it’s knowing where and how to look, and believing that if you look long enough and hard enough you will see the game you seek.
Unless you eat your quarry where it drops, you need to get it out of the woods and into the freezer. Thanks to a wealth of vintage hunting photos in the Boone and Crockett records database and our books— Mule Deer Retrospective , An American Elk Retrospective , and Vintage Hunting Album —we bring you a slideshow dedicated to vintage rides and record-book racks.
In the latest release from the Boone and Crockett Club’s Classics Series, you travel to a far away land of living dinosaurs, lava-spewing volcanoes, and, of course, there’s King Kong.
Uniquely American, it’s otherwise enigmatic, with no brand name. Millions of hunters own one. Winchester’s 94, the archetypal deer rifle, was built from 1894 to 2006 in New Haven. Excerpt from Fair Chase Magazine By Wayne Van Zwoll, regular contributor, photos courtesy of author To some hunters a...
As the poster child of waterfowl market hunting of the 1800s, the punt gun was incredibly effective, sometimes killing up to 100 birds with one blast. So, why can't we use punt guns anymore?
Spend enough time outdoors, and you are bound to find something interesting. For some, those interesting things happen to be world record heads, horns, and antlers. Here are the stories behind the biggest “pick ups” ever found.
PREDATOR EDITION! Snow-covered grizzlies, lions (with kittens), curious coyotes, and more. Welcome to Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. On the Boone and Crockett Club’s 6,500-acre Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch, herds of elk, mule deer, and cattle share the same landscape with North America’s most...
Why do hunters in nearly every vintage hero shot wear plaid? It worked. Anything a predator wears (born with or bought) needs to break up its silhouette. Tiger stripes do that. Plaid does that. Camo does that.
Why deer have non-typical antlers—and why the Boone and Crockett Club keeps track of them. If a big set of typical antlers were human, I’d like to assume they would be concerned about pairing their wines properly with their entree. Then perhaps they would retire to the study for a discussion of geopolitics in Equatorial Guinea. As for their non-typical cousins, I’d like to think they’d most likely settle for the Miller Lite that’s been rolling around the back of the truck all summer, and then they would attempt a backflip dismount off a rope swing. In other words, there might be something a little wild and unsettling about old Uncle Buck. In a way, that’s precisely the case.
Going afield this fall? Sure you are. Taking a photo with your spoils? Sure you are. Do yourself (and hunting) a favor by considering a few of these tips for better field photos.
More to the Score Why are you here? Is it for stickers and kickers? Claws and capes? Perhaps you’re here to see Oregon’s largest Rocky Mountain goat killed by a young lad who isn’t yet old enough to drive. Or maybe you want to know more about a beastly Indiana non-typical whitetail. No matter. For...
By PJ DelHomme Sure, it’s legal, but is it right? With a high-powered rifle and a pile of optics worth more than my twelve-year-old truck, I assumed filling a couple pronghorn tags in southwestern Montana would be easy. I had two days to get it done. No problem, I thought. In time, though, I would...
Sergei Spitsyn exemplifies the spirit that motivates us. With enormous effort and at considerable personal risk, Sergei spends up to nine months each year roaming these landscapes to survey snow leopards and argali. By James P. Gibbs, Professor in the State University of New York’s Department of...
By Craig Boddington — When hunting alone, the outcome of any approach, opportunity, or shot is altogether between the hunter and his or her reflection in the mirror. When hunting with a guide or buddy, there might be a couple of witnesses, but ours is mostly a solitary pursuit. For many, meat on the table remains a primary and valid motivation to hunt. Today’s hunters are guided more by conscience, sense of ethics, and the drive to perform well.
A Time Before Camo Old hunting photos are a special window into a bygone era. In the following photos, pay close attention to the rifles, the scopes (or not), the haircuts and the lack of camouflage. Just look at all that plaid! In reality, plaid is camo —and it looks good, too, which is why we’ve...
Trail cameras over water sources pose a threat to the animals that rely on that water to survive, and the debate over using cameras for hunting heats up, especially in the Southwest.
Lead, copper, water and time conspire to sabotage accuracy. You can save it. But first….
How do some hunters always seem to find the big ones? Guides and fancy tags are one way, but there’s another, less expensive option thanks to the Boone and Crockett Club. Ohio archery hunter Brandon Clark harvested this record-book typical whitetail during the 2018 season. Ohio is currently one of...
Ever wonder what it takes to hunt the second largest bighorn in Arizona history? What do 184-inch Dall’s sheep horns actually look like? Find those answers and more when you take a look at these 15 amazing entries recently accepted in B&C’s Big Game Records Program. From bears to bison, the trophies in this slideshow either rank near the top of the 31st Big Game Awards Program or are true specimens of their state.
It’s a matter of history that one of the first sporting uses of the .30-06 Springfield cartridge was by Boone and Crockett Club founder, Theodore Roosevelt, on his epic 1909-1910 safari. Except Roosevelt’s famous Springfield wasn’t actually a .30-06! Some time back I actually held that rifle at the Springfield Armory Museum, and the truth is it was chambered to the original 1903 version and never modified; thus, was actually a .30-03!
By Craig Boddington — Despite the current rage for long-range shooting it’s important to remember that close shots can occur almost anywhere. Bowhunters deal with this routinely; despite the challenge, they get close! Primarily a rifle hunter, I’m usually prepared for a longish shot, but I ascribe to the motto, “Get as close as you can, then get ten yards closer!”
MISSOULA, Mont. – The Boone and Crockett Club welcomed today’s release of the Biden Administration’s Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful report guiding implementation of the 30 by 30 vision . The report outlines a broad framework for meeting the goals set forth by President Biden in...
Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS) has been a part of wildlife radio telemetry for over 35 years. Their mission is to provide researchers and managers in ecology and biology with animal tracking and monitoring products of the highest quality and reliability.
It may not be true that if you haven’t hunted with a .30-30 rifle, or a .30-06 or a .300 Winchester Magnum, you’re still learning to tie your shoes. Some souls so deprived reach adulthood, though mothers have long known .30s are good for you. Hunters born before there were .30s have all died.
Building your house doesn’t have to be a large or fancy house, but what this means is use what you have to get as steady as possible—in the time available.
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"The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So we must and we will."
-Theodore Roosevelt
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