Newfoundland and Labrador's rugged charm: a land where the untamed spirit of the Atlantic meets the serene beauty of vast, unspoiled landscapes between sea-cliffs and rolling, forested hills. Around 1,000 years ago, humans of Nordic descent established a settlement on L'Anse aux Meadows. Thousands...
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Boone and Crockett Club's State and Provincial Big Game Records
Whether you’re looking for record-book whitetail deer or the biggest moose to come out of your state, look no further. Here, you can search the Boone and Crockett database for state records for big game from Alaska to Mexico.
Nova Scotia, a stunning coastal province in eastern Canada, boasts a rich hunting heritage and diverse wildlife, offering outdoor enthusiasts the opportunity to pursue a variety of game species amidst breathtaking landscapes, from the rugged coastline to the lush interior forests. There aren’t that...
New Brunswick, a picturesque Maritime province in eastern Canada, offers diverse hunting opportunities amidst its lush forests, rolling hills, and pristine waterways, providing outdoor enthusiasts with the chance to pursue a variety of game species while immersing themselves in the region's...
Quebec offers hunters a vast and diverse landscape, from the rugged boreal forests of the north to the rolling hills and valleys of the south, providing opportunities to pursue a wide range of game species while immersing themselves in the province's unique culture and natural beauty. Quebec is the...
Northwest Territories: a land of raw, majestic nature, with pristine lakes, boreal forests, and the enchanting Aurora Borealis. Here, contrasts thrive, blending tradition with rugged adventure under the midnight sun and ice roads. If you’re into adventure in some of the wildest country in North...
Ontario: a hunter's paradise, where vast wilderness and abundant wildlife meet. This province boasts dense forests and sprawling wetlands, home to majestic deer, moose, and bear, making it a prime destination for big game enthusiasts seeking both challenge and beauty. Ontario is home to roughly 250...
This tiny state and its liberal seasons make it a solid place to fill the freezer — It makes sense that the smallest state in the U.S. would have the fewest record-book entries at just four. And that’s okay. There are a lot of deer here.
Manitoba: a vibrant mosaic of lush prairies, dense forests, and sparkling lakes, interwoven with rich cultural heritage and bustling urban life. This heartland of Canada captivates with its wildlife, northern lights, and warm, welcoming communities. If you like hunting really big black bears, then...
Get far from Atlantic City’s boardwalk, and you’ll find a place full of farms and woodland. It’s a great place to be a bear and grow really, really big. In the far northern tip of New Jersey in Sussex County, you’re sure to run into plenty of bears for the records. A little to the south in Morris County, hunter Jeffrey Melillo killed the state record in 2019. That bear was big enough to sit in the top five of All-time. There are whitetail deer, too, with a couple of whoppers entering the records in 2020.
Yukon's untamed wilderness: a top destination for adventurous big game hunters The vast quiet of the Yukon was shattered in 1897 when the lure of gold brought tens of thousands to the Klondike. Many died, more left, and some even stayed. Today, the Yukon is still a vast wilderness, and the...
Golf courses and white sand beaches abound. A few black bears and whitetail deer are running around, too The Palmetto State has more than 350 golf courses, and it’s estimated to have about twice that number of black bears. The state has two resident black bear populations: one in the mountains and...
Home to Yale and a number of very smart whitetail deer, Connecticut offers liberal seasons Let’s just say that whitetail deer hunting isn’t exactly what Connecticut’s known for. That’s too bad. If more of those bright young brains at Yale took to the hills come fall, they might learn that the state...
In the second-smallest state in the Union, one county rules the whitetail roost With roughly 45,000 whitetail deer, it’s no surprise that Delaware has only a few record-book entries. The largest buck scores 208-4/8. Whatever. But if you want to hunt a potential record-book deer there, you have to...
When they landed at Plymouth Rock, the Pilgrims had no clue how good the hunting was going to be Legend has it that if a deer and a bear were able to mate, you would have a beer. Okay, so that’s not entirely true, but if you are a hunter in Massachusetts, you are able to hunt both whitetail deer...
Hunting for English Sparrow, skunk, and pigeon is open year round in the Mountain State, but that doesn’t mean big game hunters should pack up their gear and go home. Deer hunting is robust with more than 100,000 deer being taken there in 2021 alone. That translates into about 30 percent of hunters filling their tags each year. For the big bone hunter, the past couple of decades have been pretty good. Black bear hunters have been spoiled as well. Numerous bruins have been added to the records in the past 15 years. Still no trophy category for skunks, though.
Saskatchewan's sprawling prairies: a hotspot for abundant and varied game hunting Coming in just a smidge smaller than Texas, Saskatchewan is mighty big. The sport of curling is huge here, not unlike their whitetail deer. In fact, the province is home to the world’s record typical whitetail,...
Thankfully, the state of Georgia’s hunting season runs well past the regular college football season. Die-hard Bulldogs fans can rest easy knowing they won’t miss a game or a chance to hunt some whitetail deer and a few black bears in the Georgia pines. Monroe County had a couple of whopper deer entries, but that was decades ago. Today, Worth and Dooly County are coming into their own. And apparently they have plenty of deer since hunters can take up to a dozen. Interestingly, the last four black bear entries have all been “pick ups” and are owned by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
In the land of Disneyworld, swamps, and retirees, Florida actually has some record entries — Florida actually has millions of acres of public land on which to hunt. The bad news is that those whitetail deer and black bears living there are not going to make the records.
Alberta's open ranges: where the pursuit of majestic game meets unmatched natural beauty In 1926, Ed Broder killed the biggest mule deer ever to grace the records. It remains in the pole position today. As if that wasn’t enough to entice hunters to hunt the “Energy Province,” there is a solid...
Where record-book black bears, Canada moose, and whitetail deer thrive Thanks to the White Mountains, New Hampshire is sometimes called the Switzerland of America. Unlike Switzerland, though, Canada moose have a solid presence here. In fact, Coos County in the far north has been a stronghold for...
How much public land do you think sits in Nevada? The answer is 85 percent. Granted, much of it sawdust dry, but that doesn’t mean big game can’t thrive here. In recent years, pronghorn have made an appearance in the records as well as a number of Rocky Mountain goats. Believe it! Desert sheep make for a challenging hunt if you can get a tag. Plus, bighorn sheep and California bighorns live there, too. And yes, there are elk there, and a number of them are well north of the 400 mark.
When you hear Nebraska, what do you think? If you think cornfield whitetails, then you’d only be partially right. Yes, there are some seriously large whitetail deer from Nebraska in the records, but there are a number of other impressive big game records as well. Take the typical mule deer taken in 2007, which scored more than 200 points. Then there’s the bighorn ram killed there in 2017. Perhaps the cherry on top is the typical American elk killed in 2020 that scores just north of 400 points. Pretty soon those whitetails are going to have to learn how to share all that record-book glory.
How about a side of black bears and whitetail deer with those crab cakes? If you thought western Maryland was the place to kill a record-book whitetail deer, then you’d be wrong. According to B&C’s County Search Tool , the biggest bucks to enter the records are more into the views of Chesapeake...
Bears, bears, and bears. Based on the sheer number of entries in Big Game Records LIVE, North Carolina might just be the best state for a chance at a record-book black bear. And according to the County Search Tool, Hyde County is the hotspot with 58 entries since 1986. On the northeast coast of North Carolina, the Hyde County has few residents (less than 5,000) and looks like it’s mostly made up of water. But big black bears seem to love it here. Yes, there is whitetail hunting here, but you’re more likely to run into a big bear.
British Columbia's mountain majesties: a realm where the grandeur of the wild intertwines with breathtaking landscapes. A glance at British Columbia’s entries in the records makes it seem like a scary place. There’s a world’s record cougar and top 10 grizzlies. There are also plenty of other world...
Chances are you will kill a bigger gator than deer here, but that doesn't mean you can’t try In the early 1900s, Ben Lilly was a bear hunter in Louisiana who loved his hounds more than anything, and Lilly personally guided Theodore Roosevelt on a bear hunt in bayou country. Lilly also holds the...
If you’re looking for adventure, head north. If you can find a good weather window after the bugs have turned to skeeter icicles, you will be rewarded. There you’ll find Alaska brown bears, musk ox, Alaska-Yukon moose, barren-ground caribou, and black bears. Don’t forget Dall’s sheep and Rocky Mountain goat on that bucket list. If you’re looking for a more accessible adventure and want to jump in feet first, check out the Sitka blacktail deer hiding on the islands. But do be careful. All those record-book bears think they’re tasty, too.
That’s right, Oklahoma stakes claim to the world’s largest peanut, but a quick look at the record book reveals a variety of big game species there for the chasing. The panhandle features pronghorn hunting with a 2018 entry that scores more than 82 points. Typical and nontypical whitetail deer entries abound. Black bears aren’t shy about making the book, either, but the real curveball is elk. The largest populations are found in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge (established by early Boone and Crockett members). Since the 1960s, the state has held a hunt there to manage elk populations. Only one elk made it to the records so far.
It doesn’t matter if you like the clean lines and picture-perfect symmetry of a typical whitetail or if you’re more into the kickers, stickers, drop-tines and freakish nature of a big non-typical, Ohio has you covered—and the deer are all over the state. The state has seen some real whoppers since 2000, including one non-typical that scored 295-3/8 in 2006. Since then, there have been more than a few entries over the 250 mark. As for typical whitetail deer, only one crosses that 200-point threshold. Even so, the state is crawling with big deer.
Elvis Presley wasn’t a big game hunter, which is too bad. His Graceland estate sits in Shelby County, which according to the Boone and Crockett Club’s County Search Tool , holds a number of the state’s record-book whitetail deer entries. Montgomery County, though, is the big winner with the most book entries of the state’s counties. And the real wild card is Sumner County, home to an insane non-typical taken by Stephen Tucker in 2016. That buck scored 315-1/8 points, and it should stay in the top 10 of all-time for quite a while.
In the far northwest corner of the state sits a hunter’s dream. It’s called Essex County. With roughly 6,000 residents, it’s the least populous county in both Vermont and New England. What it lacks in human residents it more than makes up for in record-book entries for Canada moose. A few whitetail deer entries round out the county. The runner-up for the county with the most entries is Orleans, which is just west of Essex. Orleans must have a robust black bear population if their entries are any indication. The state record was taken there in 2013.
The all-time records overflow with pronghorn entries from New Mexico, and Mike Gallo’s buck from 2013 is the current World’s Record at 96-4/8. Not to be outdone, Coues’ deer have a number of high-scoring entries, and desert sheep are scattered through the top 50. A handful of non-typical elk, cougar, and mule deer round out the state. While there are no Boone and Crockett categories for them, oryx, Barbary sheep, and javelina should catch your eye the next time you travel there.
It’s a little known fact that Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz was a maniacal whitetail hunter. That’s right, folks. You heard it here first. While Kansas’ record-book entries are overwhelmingly of the whitetail variety, the state has managed to throw a few curve balls. There’s the 88-inch pronghorn taken in 2013. Quite a few mule deer have come out of the state, too. And check this out. In 1988, one lucky hunter took a 400-inch plus non-typical elk there. Of course, whitetails still reign supreme and Brian Butcher’s non-typical that scored 321-3/8 is the cherry on top.
If you’re a big game hunter and live in New York, your big game hunting is going to be limited to whitetails and black bears. That’s not a bad thing. In the counties that border Pennsylvania and New Jersey, there are more woods than steel and concrete. And that’s where you’re going to find those big bruins. In 2017, one hunter killed the state record that landed in the top 10 of All-time at 22-15/16 points. This isn’t to say that New York doesn’t have great whitetail deer hunting opportunities, because they do. The bears are just bigger.
While they may be called Canada moose, quite a number of them call the great state of Maine home. Drawing a tag for Canada moose isn’t exactly easy, but neither is hauling out a mature bull. The other name of the game for the Pine Tree State is whitetail deer. The 1980s and ‘90s were good to Maine deer, but record-book entries have dropped off since the new millennium. The good news is that the black bears just seem to get bigger as time goes on. Hunters should look to Aroostook County in the very northern tip of the state for the best shot at record-book game.
A quick look at the state records for North Dakota will have you scratching your head: bull elk just shy of 450 points, a pronghorn over 90, a typical elk over 400. There are also Canada moose (you read that correctly), bighorn sheep, mule deer (of course), cougar—you get the point. While hunting for most of these species is limited, once you actually draw (or buy) the tag, you hunt the animal of your dreams. Many of those top 10 entries are from the past few decades.
California is long, like more than 1,000 miles long. Thanks to that north-south spread and being along the Pacific Coast, it has some truly unique antlered animals that happen to like wet climates—and they can get pretty big, too. Granted it’s the only state with tule elk, so it has a lock on those entries, but Columbia blacktail have a solid showing in the records, as do Roosevelt’s elk. Believe it or not the state boasts a black bear in the top 10 all-time and a desert sheep breaks into the top 20.
For such a massive state, Texas boasts very little public land. Hopefully you know a buddy with a big ranch. If not, plenty of guides and outfitters will be happy to lead you to find some decent whitetail bucks and some even better (scoring) pronghorn. There’s even an elk entry from 1934, but because they are not considered a game animal today, elk can’t be entered into the records. There’s even a jaguar from 1903. Desert sheep are an option here as are book-worthy mule deer of both the typical and non-typical variety.
Like its midwestern neighbors, Iowa is about whitetail deer. Sure, there are other opportunities to hunt turkey, migratory waterfowl and small game, but for big game hunting, it’s going to be whitetails. The highest number of all-time entries in the top 50 goes to the non-typical category. Most of those bucks high on the list have come in the 21st century while the top typical bucks entries seem to have fallen off a cliff by the turn of the millennium. The majority of Iowa’s record-book buck entries have come out of Allamakee County in the far northeastern corner. Close on its heels is Warren County just south of Des Moines.
Pennsylvania is known for huge record-book black bears. The whitetail deer is also the official state animal—and they are huge. Most recently, the state has seen some massive non-typical American elk enter the record book. Elk reintroductions in Pennsylvania started as far back as 1913, and they are descendents of Rocky Mountain elk from Yellowstone National Park. With help from organizations like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to bolster elk habitat, the state held its first elk hunt in the 21st century in 2001.
For more than 70 years, Virginia’s record-book entries have consisted of black bears and whitetail deer. That’s not uncommon for a mid-Atlantic state with as many as one million deer. Annual deer harvest typically totals around 200,000 deer, with a few bears and bucks entered into the records each year. In 2022, Virginia made history with a new record-breaker. Elk were reintroduced in 2012, and the herds are thriving. The state took just a decade to hold its first regulated elk hunt in modern times, and the results were impressive. A 15-year-old hunter entered his non-typical elk that scored 413-7/8, making it Virginia’s first-ever elk entry. Rest assured that it won’t be the last.
Not surprisingly, Arizona is home to a number of desert-dwelling, record-book entries. From pronghorn to desert sheep to Coues’ deer and even a century-old jaguar. This is Grand Canyon country in the north and to the south, you find yourself in true organ pipe cactus territory. Pronghorn have a solid grip on the top 10 entries, but desert sheep reign supreme in Arizona record-book entries. This is Coues’ (pronounced cows) deer country, too, and both typical and non-typical categories show promise. The state is home to the number one typical elk that scores 442-5/8, and two other top 10 entries round out that category.
Utah is home to the current World’s Record non-typical American elk and black bear. It’s great for mule deer, too. The problem is that everyone knows that. If you apply for a tag to hunt in a trophy unit there, buy a Powerball ticket at the same time—your odds of winning are likely the same. Fear not wishful hunter. There are “average Joe” hunts if you take the time to look. With varied landscapes, Utah’s variety of wildlife is robust. With Rocky Mountain goat, bison, Shiras’ moose, pronghorn, cougar, black bear, and bighorn sheep, you’ll be able to find something you can hunt.
Mississippi’s whitetail entries in the record book are average—except for one. There is one buck that stands alone. That buck was killed by Tony Fulton in 1995 and holds the state record for non-typicals. It also breaks into the top 10 of All-time. No other deer from the state comes close. This buck, though, is a bit of an outlier because it’s the only entry from Winston County. The vast majority of deer entries come from the state’s western half, along the border with Louisiana and Arkansas. There, counties like Coahoma, the state’s top trophy producer, wait for you to take advantage of its Southern charm.
While Wisconsin has plenty of game to hunt like turkey, upland birds—and even elk and wolves—it’s the whitetail deer and black bears that make the record book. In fact, their black bears are consistently in the top 100, and they have been since 2000. To hunt one of the state’s 24,000 estimated bruins, hunters have to apply for roughly 11,500 permits. More than 129,000 hunters applied in 2021. As for deer, Wisconsin is home to the Jordan buck, the number three typical whitetail of all time. The state has plenty of typical deer entries in the 180-inch range, and there are a number of non-typicals over 220 as well.
Arkansas is known for world-class duck hunting, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook its deer and bear hunting opportunities. The state’s biggest whitetail deer to date came out of Prairie County in 1999, and the state record typical scored 211 points. No one county can really stake a claim as the king of whitetail habitat, but thanks to the Boone and Crockett Club’s County Search Tool hunters can see that the southeast corner of the state is where they should focus their time. The same is true for the state’s black bear hunting, which has more than a few respectable entries.
It’s deer, deer, and more deer for Illinois in the Boone and Crockett records. To be fair, the state does offer hunting for turkey, waterfowl, small game, upland birds, and furbearers, but we do not keep records for longest spurs on a turkey or fluffiest squirrel tail. Illinois made waves back in 2018 when Luke Brewster killed a giant non-typical whitetail in Edgar County that scored a mind-boggling 327-7/8. For the moment, it sits at the number three spot for all-time non-typical whitetail.
Michigan is an angler’s paradise. With more freshwater shoreline than any other state, Michigan offers up some of the best fishing for walleye, bass, pike, and muskie. If you like to hunt, then put down the fishing pole and pick up your rifle or bow for big bears and whitetail deer. In the Upper Peninsula, Menominee County has a ridiculous number of black bear record entries. If whitetails are more your thing, Jackson County just west of Detroit is waiting for you. To keep things interesting, Michigan has not one, but two, typical American elk entries.
This may be the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but it doubles as the land of big whitetail bucks, some Canada moose, black bear and even a top five non-typical elk that died of pneumonia after it got its antlers stuck in the mud—true story! The big typical whitetail deer made the records many, many years ago. To be honest, the top black bear entries and that non-typical elk all happened in the 21st century. Nobody is saying the state is living in the past, but according to the records, Minnesota just isn’t producing record bucks these days.
When it comes to hunting big game, the Cowboy State has it all—and we’re not getting paid to say that. Just look at the records. With more than a dozen categories and nearly that many species, Wyoming is hard to beat for bison, elk, pronghorn, Shiras’ moose, mule deer, and even cougars. The state leads the records for top entries of Shiras’ moose and a few typical mule deer break into the top 10 of all-time. While they’re pronghorn may not be the biggest in the country, there are plenty of entries in the high 80-class.
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