More to the Score — Volume 12

Eleven Big-game Whoppers

Presented by Fiocchi

From state-record whitetail pick-ups to nearly World’s Record bison and tule elk, this installment of More to the Score will surely have you wishing hunting season wasn’t coming to a close. The good news? Now is the time to sift through the records to plan your hunt for next fall, as some states have tag deadlines (like Oregon) coming up soon. Speaking of Oregon, check out below the 408 typical elk a crew of pine cone hunters found.

All data compiled using B&C's Big Game Records LIVE! Click here to learn more about searching our on-line trophy database.

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MINNESOTA NON-TYPICAL WHITETAIL

With a score so high it would please most elk hunters, this junk-laden, downright medieval-looking whitetail is the biggest deer ever to come out of Minnesota. The buck wasn’t a stranger to hunters on farms just southeast of Minneapolis. It had made appearances on trail cams and dropped its sheds for folks like Jesse Schroeder, who was shed hunting on a chunk of land owned by his brother when he came upon the deadhead. In an interview with Field & Stream, Schroeder said, “I spotted the tines and walked toward them, and then I saw stuff sticking everywhere and my walk turned into a quick little sprint, followed by a high-school-girl scream when I kneeled by the buck.”

ALBERTA COUGAR

ALASKA-YUKON MOOSE

BRITISH COLUMBIA BLACK BEAR

MONTANA BISON

TENNESSEE BLACK BEAR

OREGON TYPICAL AMERICAN ELK

NORTH CAROLINA TYPICAL WHITETAIL DEER

Hunters in North Carolina didn’t start entering their deer into the Boone and Crockett records until the 1980s. Since then, there has been a steady trickle into the records over the years. Typical whitetail deer entries outweigh non-typicals by far, but the state’s black bear entries eclipse all, placing it in the top 10 of all “book bear” producing states. Even with so many bruins ambling about, Karen Nielsen managed to knock down this bruiser whitetail with her muzzleloader at 50 yards.

BRITISH COLUMBIA ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT

ALASKA GRIZZLY BEAR

CALIFORNIA TULE ELK

The Importance of Records in Big Game Management

When you enter your trophy into the Boone and Crockett system, you aren’t just honoring the animal and its habitat. You are participating in a data collection system that started in the 1920s and was refined by Club members in 1950.

Today, there are nearly 60,000 trophy records. By establishing a records database more than 70 years ago, the Boone and Crockett Club established a scientific baseline from which researchers can use to study wildlife management. If you’re still on the fence about entering your trophy, we encourage you to read Why Should I Bother to Enter My Trophy. To the best of our ability, we ensure that the trophies entered into the records were taken in accordance with the tenets of fair chase ethics. Despite what some may think, the Boone and Crockett records are not about a name or a score in a book—because in the end, there’s so much more to the score.