Boone and Crockett Club

The Boone and Crockett Club is a hunter-conservationist organization founded in the United States in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt. The club was named in honor of hunter-heroes of the day, Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, whom the club's founders viewed as pioneering men who hunted extensively while opening the American frontier, but realized the consequences of overharvesting game. In addition to authoring a famous "fair chase" statement of hunter ethics,^[1] the club worked for the expansion and protection of Yellowstone National Park and the establishment of American conservation in general. The Club and its members were also responsible for the elimination of commercial market hunting, creation of the National Park and National Forest Services, National Wildlife Refuge system, wildlife reserves, and funding for conservation, all under the umbrella of what is known today as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.^[2]

Key members of the club have included Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, Madison Grant, Charles Alexander Sheldon, William Tecumseh Sherman, Gifford Pinchot, Frederick Russell Burnham, Charles Deering and Aldo Leopold.^[3]

Today the club is known largely for maintaining a scoring and data collection system by which native North American big game animals may be measured and tracked as a gauge of successful wildlife management.

The Club is headquartered in Missoula, Montana, which is also the home of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Timeline

Key dates in the history of the organization include:

• 1887: Founded by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell. Theodore Roosevelt was elected President.
• 1887: Championed passage of the Timberland Reserves Bill - birthing the National Forest system
• 1894: Championed passage of the Yellowstone Protection Act
• 1895: Established the New York Zoological Society
• 1900: Championed passage of the Lacey Act which brought an end to commercial market hunting
• 1903: Championed passage of the National Wildlife Refuge System Act
• 1905: Championed passage of the Forest Reserves Transfer Act
• 1913: Championed passage of the Migratory Bird Act
• 1922: National Collection of Heads and Horns established at the Bronx Zoo in New York City.
• 1930: American Committee for International Wild Life Protection is founded by the Boone and Crockett Club for the purpose of representing American sympathy and interest in international wild life protection. John Charles Phillips (1876-1938) was made the chair. This committee is later incorporated into the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.^[4]
• 1932: First big-game records book published, Records of North American Big Game by Prentiss N. Gray.
• 1934: Championed passage of the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
• 1937: Championeded passage of the Pittman-Robertson Act
• 1947: Big Game Competitions, with the winners being chosen by a Judges' Panel
• 1950: Scoring system for big game records was refined and formally adopted.
• 1960: An American Crusade for Wildlife by James B. Trafethen published. A history of the Boone and Crockett Club that has been accepted as the landmark text for conservation.
• 2004: "Hunt Fair Chase" program launched. This program brings together the hunting and conservation communities to deliver a positive message of hunter ethics to all hunters

Education

The Boone and Crockett Club offers many educational camps and workshops through the Boone and Crockett Club Education Programs ^[5] held at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch ^[6] in Dupuyer, Montana. These education programs at the TRM Ranch are not federally funded. They are supported by the Boone and Crockett Club and by private foundations committed to K-12 education.

Books

• Hunting on Three Continents, Grinnell, George Bird, Kermit Roosevelt, W. Redmond Cross, and Prentiss N. Gray (editors). New York: The Derrydale Press (1933) --

The seventh book of the Boone and Crockett Club, this collection includes accounts of Expeditions toward the North Pole and to the south of the Equator, articles relating to wild animals, and other pieces that speak the perils of hunting game to the brink of extinction. Contributions include "The Vanished Game of Yesterday" by Madison Grant, "An Epic of the Polar Air Lanes" by Lincoln Ellsworth, "Aeluropus Melanoleucus" by Kermit Roosevelt, "Taps for the Great Selous" by Frederick R. Burnham, "Volcano Sheep" by G.D. Pope, "Three Days on the Stikine River" by Emory W. Clark, and "Giant Sable Antelope" by Charles P. Curtis.

• Hunting the American West, Rattenbury, Richard C. Missoula, MT: Boone and Crockett Club (2008)--

See also

• James Jordan Buck
• Hole in the Horn Buck

References

1. "Boone and Crockett Club | Fair Chase Statement | Wildlife Conservation | Deer Hunting | Elk Hunting | Big Game Hunting". Boone-crockett.org. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
2. The Wildlife Society - The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and Public Trust Doctrine
3. American Big Game: Members of the Boone and Crockett Club
4. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. "John C. Phillips Memorial Medal for Distinguished Service in International Conservation" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2008. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
5. "Boone and Crockett Club | Education | Wildlife Conservation | Deer Hunting | Elk Hunting | Big Game Hunting". Boone-crockett.org. 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
6. "Boone and Crockett Club | Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch | Wildlife Conservation | Deer Hunting | Elk Hunting | Big Game Hunting". Boone-crockett.org. Retrieved 2014-03-08.

External links

• Official website
• Boone and Crockett Club Records (University of Montana Archives)