New Category Coming to Big Game Records

It's been a long time coming. Many say too long.

April 1, 2024

One of the most startling discoveries was a man-cave of sorts, a subterranean trophy room. Photo credit: Don T. Phallforet

The Boone and Crockett Club records committee convened an emergency meeting in March to discuss allowing woolly mammoth entries into the records book. These formerly extinct species inhabited the Americas during the Pleistocene epoch, ending some 12,000 years ago. Yet scores of unearthed complete animals, combined with with the efforts to revive the species using preserved DNA caused the Club to hold a special meeting.

At the end of the two-day determination meeting, Club officials finally voted on scoring criteria along with book and awards minimums. It was also confirmed that all existing Fair Chase rules and ethics are appropriate for this category. Those rules include the following tenets:

1. Obey all applicable laws and regulations.
2. Respect the customs of the locale where the hunting occurs.
3. Exercise a personal code of behavior that reflects favorably on your abilities and sensibilities as a hunter.
4. Attain and maintain the skills necessary to make the kill as certain and quick as possible.
5. Behave in a way that will bring no dishonor to either the hunter, the hunted, or the environment.
6. Recognize that these tenets are intended to enhance the hunter's experience of the relationship between predator and prey, which is one of the most fundamental relationships of humans and their environment.

“This is an effort to get ahead of the curve,” said Kyle Lehr, Boone and Crockett Club's Director of Big Game Records. “This was inevitable, woolly mammoths are being uncovered weekly up north, and in addition we know with all the advances in genetics they're going to be roaming the tundra before we know it, so we want to be sure that we're ready. We already have nine intact skulls with tusks as entries that we've been scoring and entering as picked-up trophies (see below). One of them is extremely impressive and will be added to our National Collection. In addition to new score charts and a new scoring calculator, we will be offering an alternate mammoth version of our popular scoring kit which will feature a 20' tape measure.”

The Mammoths are Coming

Scientists from a Texas-based biotech company have recently experimented using stem cells unearthed from mammoths in Alaska. The cells are preserved in issue from the previously frozen specimens, and scientists hope to merge those cells with an Asian elephant embryo. Then, the embryo would be placed in an elephant surrogate, who would hopefully give birth.  If successful, the team of scientists plans to release the mammoths into the wilds of northern Canada.

“I mean, we got the musk ox, so why not toss in a few of those bruisers out there, too,” said Caleb Nunyabiz, an outfitter based in Yellowknife.

The mammoths are predicted to stand 10-12 feet tall and weigh up to eight tons, providing more than a couple of freezers full of meat and enough wool to weave sweaters for all of Alberta. Not everyone is excited about the recent developments.

“Are you insane?” said Pete Commonsinz of Wasilla, Alaska. “Bringing those overgrown galoots back to life is a recipe for disaster. It’s hard enough for me to grow petunias because of all the moose. Now I have to deal with these things.”

PhD student April Wan, analyzes a measuring device woven from mammoth hair. Photo Credit: Joe Ksongu

Ancient Records

The Club’s decision to include a mammoth category was also influenced by recent archaeological evidence indicating that prehistoric cultures kept records of their trophies.

In a network of caves from an undisclosed location in British Columbia, researchers found drawings of woolly mammoths with what scientists called “ginormous tusks” etched on the walls. Hash marks adjacent to those various drawings seem to indicate what scientists referred to as “likes.” The most hash marks belonged to the mammoth with the largest tusks.

“It wasn’t just the discovery of the of the drawings that got us excited,” said Lehr. “There is additional evidence that these early hunters had established their own measuring and scoring system, which our records committee took into consideration.”

Sheep hunters discovered the caves in 2020 as they crossed a retreating glacier. “At first, we saw some bones just scattered around, and we followed them,” said Tom Foolery. “Those bones led into these caves, and we started poking around.” When the hunters returned to their base camp, they contacted the Jesterville Institute via satellite phone. Researchers have kept the area’s location a secret ever since.

 

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.