Boone and Crockett Club Welcomes Wild Sheep Foundation as Presenting Sponsor of the 32nd Big Game Awards Banquet on July 26

The Boone and Crockett Club announced today that the Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) is the presenting sponsor of the 32nd Triennial Big Game Awards banquet that will be held in the ballroom of the White River Conference Center in Springfield, Missouri on July 26, 2025. The 32nd Big Game Awards recognizes the most impressive heads, horns, and antlers accepted into the Boone and Crockett Club’s record book over the past three years and is a celebration of Fair Chase hunting and conservation of North American big game. WSF is also sponsoring the Wild Sheep display, which showcases the top Rocky Mountain bighorns, desert bighorns, Dall’s, and Stone’s sheep from the Awards period. The 32nd Big Game Awards display will open on May 1st in the Bucks and Bulls Hall of Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium. The Big Game Awards banquet, presented by WSF and emceed by well-known hunter-conservationist Melissa Bachman, is the culmination of this display and Awards period.

“This is the fourth consecutive time that WSF has proudly sponsored the Boone and Crockett Club’s Big Game Awards,” commented Gray N. Thornton, president and CEO of the Wild Sheep Foundation. “We recognize that the existence of mature rams on the mountain is a measure of successful conservation efforts by wildlife agencies and a selective harvest by sportsmen, outfitters, and guides who are supporting these management efforts. The Club’s records program is a living reminder of what excellence in nature looks like and what is possible. These fine specimens, and the Fair Chase hunters who were fortunate enough to have taken them, should be celebrated.”

The Boone and Crockett Club has been measuring the antlers, horns, and skulls of North American big game since 1895 with the original vision of creating a record of what was thought to be the vanishing wildlife in the country. Conservation efforts initiated by sportsmen helped to recover species and records-keeping helps to document these conservation successes. The Boone and Crockett Club’s Records of North American Big Game was first published in 1932 and, now in its 15th edition, serves as a vital record of biological, harvest, and location data on hunter-taken and found big game species based on the principle that the existence of mature, male specimens is an indicator of overall population and habitat health. The Wild Sheep Foundation’s efforts to raise funds and support scientific research and management programs continues to play a critical role in supporting their purpose of “putting and keeping sheep on the mountain.”

We are excited to welcome the Wild Sheep Foundation back as our presenting sponsor for the 32nd Big Game Awards banquet and the Wild Sheep display,” said president of the Boone and Crockett Club Tony Caligiuri. “Wild sheep conservation is a personal passion of mine and it is extremely fulfilling to see how their mantra of putting sheep on the mountain is so instrumental in producing the giant rams that we have in this year’s awards program.”

The top-scoring animals in all 38 categories accepted into the B&C records program between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2024, have been invited to a Judges Panel in April where teams of B&C’s top Official Measurers will verify their score. In addition, all youth hunters who harvested an animal that was accepted in the record book are invited to send in their mounts as well. Over 140 exceptional specimens are expected to be displayed in Wonders of Wildlife’s Bucks and Bulls Hall from May 1 through July 26. For sheep, this includes Louis Breland’s desert sheep from Coahuila, Mexico, that ranks number 10 all time—of particular note, desert sheep entries have been on the rise with nearly three dozen record-book entries in 2022. In addition, the display will also include Gordon Eastman’s Stone’s sheep taken in 1966 that was entered during the scoring period by his son, Mike Eastman. The 32nd Big Game Awards will provide Wonders of Wildlife attendees an unparalleled opportunity to view this collection of wildlife and conservation success that will only ever be seen all together in this display.

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About Wild Sheep Foundation

The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), based in Bozeman, Mont., was founded in 1977 by sportsmen and other wild sheep conservationists. WSF is the premier advocate for wild sheep, having raised and expended more than $145 million, positively impacting these species through population and habitat enhancements, research and education, and conservation advocacy programs in North America, Europe, and Asia to “Put and Keep Wild Sheep On the Mountain”®. In North America, these and other efforts have increased bighorn sheep populations from historic lows in the 1950s-60s of 25,000 to more than 85,000 today. WSF has a membership of more than 11,000 worldwide. www.wildsheepfoundation.org