Fair Chase Winter 2016 by Boone and Crockett Club

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Greatest Hunters Convention on the Planet DSC Annual Convention January 5-8, 2017 Dallas biggame.org

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THE OFFICI A L PUBLICATION OF THE BOONE A ND CROCK ETT CLUB

Volume 32

26. Is 6.5 the New 7?

Number 4

Winter 2016

40. Whiskey and Cigars

TABLE OF CONTENTS 10

FROM THE EDITOR

FROM THE PRESIDENT | Sustaining Our Water Resources

CAPITOL COMMENTS | A Visit to the Hill

ACCURATE HUNTER | Ready, Kneel

IS 6.5 THE NEW 7?

B&C POSITION STATEMENT | Fair Chase

Doug Painter

Morrison Stevens, Sr. Richard A. Engberg and Joan B. Rose

Steven Williams

Craig Boddington

Wayne van Zwoll

CULTURAL TRESPASS: HUNTING

WHISKEY AND CIGARS

B&C HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Theodore Roosevelt IV

45. B&C HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Edward C. Joseph Excerpt from the new book, Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards, 2013-2015

56 SCIENCE BLASTS | Wildlife Governance John F. Organ 58 EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF CONSERVATION LEADERS University of Montana

60. Chronic Wasting Disease PART ONE

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE | PART ONE

MONTANA - HEAVEN ON EARTH

BEYOND THE SCORE | Back in Black: Oklahoma Bruins

TROPHY TALK | Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards Book

GENERATION NEXT | 30th Awards Youth Trophy List

RECENTLY ACCEPTED TROPHIES AND TROPHY PHOTO GALLERY 30 th Awards Program Entries | Sponsored by Realtree Xtra Green

The First Five (or More) Decades of Chronic Wasting Disease: Lessons for the Five Decades to Come Michael W. Miller and John R. Fischer

66. Montana - Heaven on Earth COVER Bull musk ox on the snow

covered tundra of the arctic north slope, Alaska © Patrick J. Endres, AlaskaPhotoGraphics

@BooneAndCrockettClub #BooneAndCrockettClub

Emery D. Tumbleston

Clay Newcomb

Jack Reneau

94 THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE | A Couple of Steps Beyond the Hunt Daniel A. Pedrotti, Jr.

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ABOUT THE BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB

FAIR CHASE PRODUCTION STAFF

THE HISTORY OF THE ANNUAL MEETING The Boone and Crockett Club’s annual black tie dinner the first week of December is a time honored tradition of B&C marking the birth of our Club. You might ask, why do we meet the first week of December every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas during the most demanding of all social seasons? Why do we always have a formal black tie dinner to conclude our annual meeting? How did the Club get started anyway? Who were our founders besides Theodore Roosevelt? The answers to these questions go back to our “founders” first meeting on Thursday, December 8, 1887, in Theodore Roosevelt’s dining room. It all began on November 20, 1887, when Roosevelt sent a letter arranging a dinner party for December 8, with 10 guests—each a close personal friend of Roosevelt’s and each a sportsman-hunter like Roosevelt keenly connected to the natural world from

numerous expeditions afield throughout the North American continent. They joined together in a dining room and dressed in formal attire as Roosevelt himself was. Since that date of the Club’s first dinner was on December 8, 1887, we commemorate it annually by meeting the first week of December and we follow the tradition of formal evening attire as they did in 1887 to properly honor the founding of our historic Club. This December Club members will gather for our 129th black tie dinner.

GUEST LIST AT THE FIRST B&C DINNER: n

Elliott Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s only brother

J. West Roosevelt, a surgeon, and first cousin of Theodore Roosevelt

George Bird Grinnell, founder of the Audubon Society

Rutherford Stuyvesant, prominent builder in New York and major Manhattan land owner

R. Stuyvesant Pierrepont, founder of Stonega Coal and Coke Company, then the largest coal company in America

Archibald Rogers, owner of the Pennsylvania Railroad

J. Coleman Drayton, a prominent New York lawyer

E.P. Rogers, writer

Thomas Paton

Colonel J.E. Jones, warden of the Port of New York

For more information a chapter titled “I Must Have a B. and C. Dinner” from the book Theodore Roosevelt The Naturalist, by Paul Russell Cutright, published in 1956, describes the first meeting and the guests that attended.

BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOUNDED IN 1887 BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT CLUB

Club President – Morrison Stevens, Sr. Secretary – Tom L. Lewis Treasurer – C. Martin Wood III Executive Vice President – Administration Timothy C. Brady Executive Vice President – Conservation James F. Arnold Vice President of Administration Marshall J. Collins, Jr. Vice President of Big Game Records Eldon L. “Buck” Buckner Vice President of Conservation James L. Cummins Vice President of Communications CJ Buck Foundation President – B.B. Hollingsworth, Jr. Class of 2016 Ned S. Holmes Class of 2017 Anthony J. Caligiuri Class of 2018 Mary Webster

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FOUNDATION

Foundation President – B.B. Hollingsworth, Jr. Secretary – Tom L. Lewis Treasurer – C. Martin Wood III Vice President – R. Terrell McCombs Vice President – Paul M. Zelisko Class of 2016 John P. Evans Steve J. Hageman R. Terrell McCombs John P. Schreiner C. Martin Wood III Class of 2017 Remo R. Pizzagalli Edward B. Rasmuson James J. Shinners John A. Tomke Leonard J. Vallender Class of 2018 Gary W. Dietrich B.B. Hollingsworth, Jr. Ned S. Holmes Tom L. Lewis Paul M. Zelisko

Editor-in-Chief – Doug Painter Managing Editor – Karlie Slayer Conservation and History Editor Steven Williams Research and Education Editor John F. Organ Hunting and Ethics Editor Mark Streissguth Assistant Editors Keith Balfourd Jim Bequette CJ Buck Kendall Hoxsey Marc Mondavi Jack Reneau Tony A. Schoonen Julie L. Tripp Editorial Contributors Craig Boddington Richard A. Engberg John R. Fischer Edward C. Joseph Michael W. Miller Clay Newcomb John F. Organ Doug Painter Daniel A. Pedrotti, Jr. Jack Reneau Joan B. Rose Theodore Roosevelt IV Morrison Stevens, Sr. Emery D. Tumbleston Steven Williams Wayne van Zwoll Photographic Contributors L. Victor Clark Patrick J. Endres Donald M. Jones Mark Mesenko Fair Chase is published quarterly by the Boone and Crockett Club and distributed to its Members and Associates. Material in this magazine may be freely quoted and/or reprinted in other publications and media, so long as proper credit is given to Fair Chase. The only exception applies to articles that are reprinted in Fair Chase from other magazines, in which case, the Club does not hold the reprint rights. The opinions expressed by the contributors of articles are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Boone and Crockett Club. Fair Chase (ISSN 1077-3274) is published for $35 per year by the Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801. Periodical postage is paid in Missoula, Montana, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Fair Chase, Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801 Phone: (406) 542-1888 Fax: (406) 542-0784

NATIONAL ADVERTISING Tom Perrier TPerrier@boone-crockett.org Phone: (605)348-4652

B&C STAFF

Chief of Staff – Tony A. Schoonen Director of Big Game Records – Justin Spring Director of Publications – Julie L. Tripp Director of Marketing – Keith Balfourd Director of Sales – Tom Perrier Director Emeritus – Jack Reneau Office Manager – Sandy Poston Controller – Abra Loran TRM Ranch Manager – Mike Briggs Assistant Controller – Debbie Kochel Development Program Manager – Jodi Bishop Digital Strategies Manager – Mark Mesenko Creative Services Manager – Karlie Slayer Conservation Education Programs Manager – Luke Coccoli Customer Service/Receptionist – TJ Gould Shipping and Administrative Support Specialist – Amy Hutchison Records Dept. Data Specialist – Kyle M. Lehr

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FROM THE EDITOR In one of his recent op-ed columns in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman noted that Robert Macfarlane, in his 2015 book, Landmarks, made the point that a recent edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary (aimed at 7-year-olds) no longer includes words such as “fern,” “otter,” “dandelion,” “pasture,” and “willow.” It’s not that these words have somehow acquired improper or politically incorrect connotations. Not at all. Instead, as Macfarlane reveals, the editors of the dictionary deemed that such “nature words” were simply less relevant to the lives of modern children. So, what words or terms took their place? How about, “broadband,” “blog,” “cut and paste,” “MP3 player,” and “voice mail.” I suppose you could call this an example of editorial Darwinism, a system where only the fittest of the vocabulary survive. In books as in nature, I guess there’s room for only so many to make the cut. Remember when Mom used to tell us, “Now, go

outside and play”? Sure, she wanted us out from underfoot, but she also knew that’s exactly where we wanted to be. Outdoors is where we could build a fort, dam up a small creek, and skip rocks across the pond. It was fun, but we also learned that moss-covered rocks in a stream are slippery as all heck, and shiny, three-leaved plants can give you an awful itch. As we got older, we came to understand the care and responsibility involved in carrying a rifle in the field, of knowing both the written and unwritten rules of the hunt and how to determine when to take—or not take—a shot. And, over time, we came to appreciate the value of an honest effort in the field, even when we came home empty-handed. Nature is a great teacher, and I feel sorry for youngsters who were never given the opportunity to hunt or fish or, for that matter, to strap on a backpack or canoe down a river for a few days. A recent column by James Campbell of the Los Angeles Times is a stark reminder of how little time

B&C offers outdoor education programs for children and adults at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch located in Dupuyer, Montana. One of the Club’s objectives is to develop conservation education materials that are implemented into rural and urban schools throughout the country.

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many of today’s kids and, indeed, many of today’s adults spend outdoors. “As a boy,” Campbell writes, “I wandered the woods and fields unsupervised from morning until dark. Today, many children spend less than 30 minutes per week playing outside and as many as seven hours a day glued to TV screens, iPads, and video games. Their parents are no better: Adults pass 93 percent of their lives inside buildings or vehicles.” Researchers, Campbell points out, say a growing number of Americans suffer from biophobia, a fear of the natural world. In children especially, a mere “flock of birds or a strong wind” can provoke surges of anxiety, triggering the same fight-or-flight response that evolved to protect us from deadly threats. Not surprisingly, Campbell reaffirms that evidence suggests that time spent outdoors boosts kids’ self-esteem, problem-solving skills, cooperation, focus, and self-discipline. Another threat to our future is the growing concern about chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a number of states

Doug Painter EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

across America. Beginning with this issue, Fair Chase will kick off an ongoing and indepth look at many aspects of this deadly disease. Scientists at the University of Wyoming, for example, studied deer in the southeastern part of the state from 2003 to 2010 asking the question, “Could CWD alone account for the decline of an entire free-ranging population?” The researchers found that CWD, where present, led to a 10 percent decrease in a herd’s size per year, which could cause extirpations—extinctions in certain areas—within 50 years. That’s a scary and sobering thought. Here’s another: In 50 years will many of today’s 7-year-olds care? It’s up to us to help them understand why they should. Hope to see you down the trail. n

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SUSTAINING OUR WATER RESOURCES

FROM THE PRESIDENT

AN IMPENDING WATER CRISIS?

I want to thank Richard Engberg and Joan Rose for their insightful article, which thoroughly covers legality of water rights and their evolution in this country. In particular, Richard and Joan nicely discuss our nation’s attempt to control water quality throughout the country. In an effort to add to their message, I will discuss the priority of utilization of water, a declining resource, in this article. It is imperative that our members participate in this discussion, for water, along with oxygen, represents the core of life itself. We tend to focus on short-term challenges out of necessity—we need to overcome them first to get to the lasting, long-term solutions. An example of this is the process of corporate and institutional planning where we tend to focus on a three- or fiveyear plan instead of considering further into the future. Thinking in the short term is not adequate when it comes to addressing our national water issue. I speculate that, during this century, water could become the single most critical issue our country and our world faces. We need to start thinking now, for the long term, in order to prevent a total water crisis.

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To set the background for this article I want to include a few measures or statistics from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) to provide some perspective about the growing water issue both locally and globally (see fao.org/water/en for more information): n

The daily drinking water requirements per person are two to four liters; however, it takes 2,000 to 5,000 liters of water to produce a person’s daily food supply in developed countries.

n UN FAO estimates the world’s

growing population will require about 50 percent more food by 2030 compared to 1998; in the last 30 years, for instance, food production has increased by more than 100 percent.

n UN FAO estimates irrigated

land in developed countries will increase by 34 percent by 2030, but the amount of water used by agriculture will only increase by about 14 percent, thanks to improved irrigation practices.

Human population growth, urbanization and expansion, and greater agricultural use, among other factors, will not only reduce water availability per person

but will most likely adversely affect biodiversity. Other major factors that limit water availability include rainfall, temperature, evaporation rates, soil quality, vegetation type, and water runoff. In the U.S., we are fortunate that we have substantial water per capita, as indicated in Table 1 compared to some of the African and Middle-Eastern countries. In fact, a handful of U.S. states (i.e., 17 western states) have water rights, which allow these states to deal with the allocation of water, a valuable resource, in a more structured and organized way. Water allocation does not imply implicit use or best practice. If water resources continue to diminish, however, there could be a time in the next century during which water plans and laws may be highly regulated. In the eastern part of our country, for the extremely large population centers, we have already outgrown natural water supplies and have had to build reservoirs to supplement normal fresh water resources.

Morrison Stevens, Sr. PRESIDENT

SOURCES AND USES OF WATER

In the U.S. currently, water utilization differs greatly based on the sector. For instance, industry utilizes 48 percent of the water, agriculture utilizes 38.7 percent of the water, and domestic use accounts for 13.34 percent. These percentages vary dramatically around the world, but Europe’s level of water utilization is the closest to our nation’s use. The sources of water for these sectors merit further discussion. We tap into aquifers through wells, for instance, as a primary water source. Aquifers provide approximately 23 percent of our water in the U.S. However, when we withdraw water from aquifers, we withdraw it at such a rate that replenishment via groundwater sources often

TABLE 1. Annual water availability per capita for seven regions with water problems (annual water availability per capita of less than 1 million liters per year) and for the U.S. (adapted from Pimentel et al., 2004). REGION

WATER AVAILABILITY PER CAPITA (thousands of liters per year)

Egypt

West Bank

126

Jordan

255

Saudi Arabia

300

Israel

376

Syria

440

Kenya

610

U.S.

1862

occurs too slowly. Some of the major examples of aquifers in the U.S. is the Ogallala Aquifer and parts of Arizona. The Ogallala Aquifer, which underlies parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico has decreased 30 percent in size since 1950, which has resulted in lower water production and, thus, utilization. In fact, water removal from the Ogallala Aquifer is three times faster than its recharge or replenishment rate. Many aquifers throughout the U.S. are being withdrawn far too often—more than 10 times faster than their recharge rate. THE COMPACT— A MODEL OF EFFECTIVE WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE GREAT LAKES

One example of effective water resource management on a regional scale has been formulated in the last 10 years—the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (the Compact), a regional agreement shared by the U.S. governors from eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces, (Ontario and Québec). This agreement outlines a shared responsibility to protect and conserve Great Lakes water resources. In the fall of 2008, this agreement was finally ratified by all eight Great Lakes states and the Canadian provinces, approved by the U.S. Senate, and signed into law. The Compact is unique in that it provides the most

comprehensive water use protection for the Great Lakes in perpetuity. This agreement closes the door on exporting our Great Lakes water outside the region and establishes protections against unsustainable water use in their region. The Compact is important because it allows people who reside in the Great Lakes basin to maintain control of the water resources. The Compact: n

Considers the Great Lakes, their tributaries, and groundwater to be one ecosystem subject to the same environmental standard;

n Establishes protection of the

ecosystem and economies that depend on the Great Lakes, which is a priority everywhere in the basin; and,

Ensures that every Great Lakes state and territory will have the same set of rational protections in regard to water resources in the basin.

The Compact protects the Great Lakes from future harm regarding competing interests and demands for water resources by implementing a stable, effective management program. The Compact is also heavily enforced, which sets this agreement apart from other agreements. Simply, the Compact guarantees long-term management, protection, and sustainability of Great Lakes water resources, thereby ensuring that they are protected for generations to come.

THE FUTURE OF WATER RESOURCES

The diminishing water resources and sources of water, particularly in the Western U.S. and other arid parts of North America, if not properly maintained, will negatively impact many sectors, such as agriculture, wildlife, forestry, fisheries, and the human environment, just to name a few. For example, the drastic drainage of more than half of U.S. wetlands, which contained 45 percent of federally listed endangered or threatened species, has severely disrupted ecosystems and the populations of organisms they support. In a paper I recently read on the topic of water resources, the authors recommend the following priorities for utilizing water more wisely in an effort to protect these resources and their sources for the future. These priorities include: n

Targeting the farming or agriculture industry with incentives to conserve water (agriculture consumes 70 percent of the world’s freshwater); Implementing water-conserving irrigation practices, such as drip irrigation, to improve water utilization efficiency; Reducing or eliminating water subsidies that encourage the wasteful use of water by farmers, industry, and the public;

Implementing World Bank policies for the fair pricing of fresh water;

n Protecting forests, wetlands,

aquatic, and other natural ecosystems to enhance the conservation of water; and,

n Controlling water pollution

to protect public health, agriculture, and the environment.

WATER AND WILDLIFE

I hope this article has presented some factual information in regard to our world’s water issues including the significance of increased water consumption and challenges associated with water allocation among multiple, and competing, sectors. In preparation for this article, I enjoyed sifting through the primary literature for papers on this topic. However, in my search, I came across few, if any, papers on water and wildlife. Though I understand that there are powerful and conflicting water needs, it is important to remember that wildlife needs are important as well, and that they should be seriously considered in decisions about water use and allocation. For instance, how do we make sure there is enough water left to support wildlife and their habitats? In my opinion, long-term planning is the answer, in addition to the inclusion of all sectors and their needs at the decision-making table. n

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HISTORY OF POLICY AND MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE UNITED STATES RICHARD A. ENGBERG TECHNICAL DIRECTOR EMERITUS, AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION JOAN B. ROSE NOWLIN CHAIR IN WATER RESEARCH, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

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Water policy in the United States is closely linked with the history and management of water resources. This history in what is now the U.S. likely began with the earliest migration of people from Asia some 15 to 18 million years ago. Though these Native Americans were stewards of both land and water, that is not to say that water pollution did not occur from natural or faunal sources during these times and earlier. For example, when three million bison gathered in the spring in the Upper Republican River Basin in what is now Nebraska, the amount of fecal pollution coupled with grazing likely led to significant water quality problems of low dissolved ox y gen w it h exces s nutrients and bacteria running off into segments of the river. In 1607, when the first English settlers landed on the James River in what is now Virginia, they brought with them English common law. As it relates to water, it is now called the Riparian Doctrine, which essentially became the first water policy. In simplest terms, the Riparian Doctrine states that landowners whose land borders water have a right to that water. This policy worked quite well starting in the 1800s, and for more than 200 years it functioned to govern water use and quantity in the eastern U.S. because there was abundant rainfall and, essentially, water for all. However, in the 19th century, as settlement moved into the arid West, it became clear that the Riparian Doctrine was no longer appropriate because water was less available. Consequently in the states west of the Mississippi River, the prior appropriation doctrine based on Spanish common law became the basis

or policy for the allocation of water resources. Simply put, the prior appropriation doctrine states, â&#x20AC;&#x153;first in time is first in right.â&#x20AC;? This means that when water is scarce, the earliest or senior holders of water rights have the first right to water, possibly at the expense of holders of junior water rights. With few exceptions and modifications by federal and state laws, prior appropriation still is policy in the 17 western states. Much of the western U.S. averages less than 15 inches of precipitation annually. Thus, water is over-allocated and storage in large lakes, reservoirs, and mountain snow pack is essential in supplying water to communities. But this has also meant that rivers and streams that used to flow no longer carry water and no longer meet the sea. In the late 19th century, development was restricted to areas adjoining rivers and streams, but it was postulated that water could be impounded and directed to areas where adequate water could make the desert bloom. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Reclamation Act of 1902 was passed and signed into law. This law created the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which, from shortly after inception through the late 1980s, constructed about 600 projects in the 17 western states to bring water to arid areas. Two of the most celebrated projects were Boulder (Hoover) Dam on the Colorado River and Grand Coulee Dam in eastern Washington. This influenced the flow in the rivers dramatically and the Colorado no longer flows to the Gulf of Mexico. For the most part, the Reclamation Act of 1902 has been successful in economic development; the desert has bloomed, cities have flourished, and production agriculture grew to one of the

largest in the U.S. Still, there were unintended or unanticipated consequences. To name a few, the construction of so many dams significantly altered the hydrology of, and biology within, many western states. Spawning areas of native fish, both freshwater and anadromous, were and still are adversely impacted. While the irrigation projects provided additional areas of open water essential for waterfowl migration, in some areas, natural constituents such as selenium that are toxic to fish and waterfowl were released by infiltrating irrigation water. Water resource problems were not confined to the Western states. In the East, as cities grew larger, industries developed along rivers and streams as did sewage plants. Rivers and streams became convenient dumping grounds for raw sewage and industrial waste. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, epidemics of typhoid and cholera occurred with some regularity. Industrial waste in the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland actually caught fire in 1952 and 1969. Laws addressing wildlife began with protection of birds (and their feathers) with the Lacey Act in 1900. But it was the Pittman-Robertson Act (1947) and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (1958) that provided a tax for conservation efforts of waterfowl and required that there be some type of discussion on the impacts on wildlife regarding water projects, respectively. Thus was some of the beginnings of habitat protection. An environmental movement finally coalesced in the 1960s that determined our water resources needed more adequate protection. The Clean Water Act (1972), the Endangered Species Act (1973), and the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974) were passed and became law in the early 1970s.

These laws have had at least some positive impact for protecting our water resources by recognizing that wastewater, pesticides, and other industrial wastes were problems for the health of humans, animals, and the environment. Water quantity and quality are highly linked to what is happening on the land, intertwined with climate. Thus, the land is the source of the contaminants, and the climate—in particular, precipitation followed by runoff—is the driver. We now reside squarely in the Anthropocene period, where humans have changed the landscape dramatically and thus have impacted the further degradation of water resources. There are more people, animals, and wastes (i.e., excreta and wastewater) entering the global waters than ever before in the history of the planet. In addition to human-made legacy contaminants such DDT and PCBs, we are now dealing with pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and other personal care products, which are found to be widespread in the environment albeit at low

concentrations. Both point sources (e.g., discharges from wastewater or sewage treatment plants) and non-point sources (e.g., nutrients and pesticides from agricultural areas) of pollution are impacting ecosystem services (drinkable, fishable, swimmable waters) as seen via algal blooms due to excess nutrients as well as pathogens, which cause disease in both animals (domestic and wildlife) and humans. Historically the Federal Water Pollution Control Act controlled interstate pollution, and the discharge of untreated sewage in the early 1900s led to many waterborne disease outbreaks primarily of typhoid and dysentery. Several large water projects developed because of water quality problems including New York City’s water resources associated with the Croton (1842), the Catskill (1915), and the Delaware (1945) watersheds as opposed to use of the Hudson River, which was known to be quite polluted at the time. In addition, the City of Chicago began reversing the river system to move sewage from Lake Michigan

down the Mississippi River, which, while proposed in 1885 by the civil engineer Lyman Edgar Cooley, “the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal” was not completed until 1920. Under the Clean Water Act however, wastewater treatment to achieve “swimmable” and “fishable” goals were enacted, and each state is responsible for any discharges that affect the navigable waters of the U.S. One of the tools for assessment is the “total maximum daily load” rule, which looks at waters that are impaired for their designated uses including as a water supply, recreational venues, and fishing. There are over 43,000 impaired waters with over 73,000 impairments (single waters may have multiple impairments). Many of these impairments are due to the presence of fecal bacteria with little information on the source of the pollution. In Michigan, in fact, the state has begun to address water quality issues across the entire Lower Peninsula by examining the source of the fecal pollution at the watershed scale. New technology that allows greater precision,

droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) was used for microbial source tracking (MST) for bovine and human markers along with data on E. coli. Results identified some non-point sources of fecal pollution including septic tanks and animal manure during different flow regimes. Animal and human contamination were not correlated with E. coli. Different mechanisms were shown to be associated with the various fecal pollution sources including groundwater and overland runoff impacts on surface waters in Michigan and key watersheds were identified for further assessment and restoration. Our nation is still confronted by serious water contamination problems like the 2014 chemical spill in West Virginia’s Elk River, which is associated with 10,000 gallons of coal-washing chemicals impacting the drinking water of 300,000 people, creating illnesses and fear. While there were no fish kills, the effects on mammals may not be known for years. Massive toxic algal blooms affected the city of Toledo’s water supply

The construction of so many dams significantly altered the hydrology of, and biology within, many western states. Spawning areas of native fish, both freshwater and anadromous, were and still are adversely impacted. While the irrigation projects provided additional areas of open water essential for waterfowl migration, in some areas, natural constituents such as selenium that are toxic to fish and waterfowl were released by infiltrating irrigation water. FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 15

HISTORY OF POLICY AND MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE UNITED STATES

Water quantity and quality are highly linked to what is happening on the land, intertwined with climate. Thus, the land is the source of the contaminants, and the climate—in particular, precipitation followed by runoff— is the driver. We now reside squarely in the Anthropocene period, where humans have changed the landscape dramatically and thus have impacted the further degradation of water resources. There are more people, animals, and wastes (i.e., excreta and wastewater) entering the global waters than ever before in the history of the planet. 16 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

(2015) and fresh and marine water resources in Florida (2016). Indeed even lead in our tap water along with Legionella pneumonia-causing bacteria, which occurred in Flint Michigan (2014-2015) recently grabbed national attention. A combination of change to a more contaminated river supply (Flint River from Lake Huron), poor attention to treatment, inadequate infrastructure, and improper water quality testing and response were some of the issues uncovered in Flint, many of which are also affecting other communities. New technologies allow us to detect contaminants that may adversely impact both humans and fauna in concentrations of parts per trillion. New molecular tools provide the needed diagnostics to trace the source of the pollution as well as the pathogen risks. This means that our knowledge of what is “safe” is changing. Conta m ination problems are expensive and time-consuming to solve. The following suggestions are offered to help alleviate these problems. First, attempt to deal with contamination problems on watershed levels. Streams do not respect political boundaries, and we can now use major advanced diagnosis and models to address water quality and quantity; thus, problems can be addressed based on hydrodynamic

systems. Second, we need much better cooperation between federal, state, and local organizations that have water resource responsibilities. There are more than 25 federal agencies that have water resource responsibilities whether their mission is development, management, protection, or assessment. We certainly need to start by gaining a more thorough understanding of each sector’s water uses and water-management priorities; thus, better knowledge sharing and integration around water is going to be essential. Better coordination leads to less overlap and duplication of water-resource responsibilities. Third, consider stricter enforcement of environmental laws already on the books. In developing regions of the world that are implementing the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), we must ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all SDG6 regions. By focusing on ecosystems, biodiversity, water quality, and quantity, it will help other countries to create good environmental laws (see sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg6). Fourth, provide more public education about water resources beginning in elementary schools. Finally, consider market-based incentives to users who accept responsibility for problems they may cause. Thus some form of a system for “polluter pays”, where those who have caused the contamination contribute to the costs of the needed restoration. If some of these

suggestions are adopted, we may be able to sometime in the future congratulate ourselves on a job well done. n Richard A. Engberg retired in July 2015 after serving 15 years as technical director of the American Water Resources Association. One of his specialties was national water policy. Previously, he spent 9.5 years dealing primarily with selenium contamination from agricultural sources as manager of the National Irrigation Water Quality Program for the U.S. Department of the Interior. Prior to that, he spent 26 years with the U.S. Geological Survey, where his last position was district chief, Water Resources Division, Iowa District. Currently he is chairman of the board of directors of the Renewable Natural Resource Foundation, an environmental policy organization headquartered in North Bethesda, Md.; science writer for the Middleburg (Va.) Eccentric newspaper; archivist for the U.S. Geological Survey Retirees Organization; and member of the Alumni Advisory Board, Geosciences Department, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Joan B. Rose is the Homer Nowlin chair in water research at Michigan State University and leads the Global Water Pathogens Project in partnership with UNESCO (waterpathogens. org; rose.canr.msu.edu). She is the winner of the 2016 Stockholm Water Prize and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Joan is the distinguished fellow for the International Water Association (IWA) and is vice chair of the U.S. National Committee for the IWA. Dr. Rose earned her doctorate in microbiology from the University of Arizona and is an international expert in water microbiology, water quality, and public health safety. She has published more than 300 manuscripts. Her work addresses the use of new molecular tools for surveying and mapping water pollution for recreational and drinking water, irrigation water, coastal and ballast waters, and use of quantitative microbial risk assessment.

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 17

A VISIT TO THE HILL Wildlife management has long been described as a three-legged stool supported by wildlife, habitat, and people. Our profession has an incredible understanding of species and their habitats, the processes and dynamics that drive them through annual cycles, the biology, genetics, ecology, and interrelationships between plant and animal. Hundreds of thousands of scientific articles have been written in professional journals to inform decisions about habitat management, population control, diseases, and the natural world. Where we come up short is an in-depth understanding of the “people” leg of the stool. Some of us have had the privilege and responsibility of acting as stewards of public resources. The public trust doctrine establishes that government agencies conserve natural resources for the benefit of those resources and for the public. In my career, I have worked with many knowledgeable wildlife and habitat biologists. At one time I actually knew quite a bit about biology and ecology. Unfortunately, years of administrative, policy, and legislative work have seriously dulled that knowledge. However, I have developed a keen appreciation of the importance of understanding the people-part of the conservation equation. I believe that a wildlife manager must have an understanding of and experience with ecology, sociology, economics, and politics to be a well-rounded wildlife professional. Because this column is titled “Capitol Comments”, I 18 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

CAPITOL COMMENTS

thought I would relay a short story about my most recent political trip to Capitol Hill. I was there to talk to congressional staff about amendments to the Appropriations and Defense bills currently in Congress. These amendments would derail current efforts to conserve sage grouse across portions of 11 states—an unprecedented conservation plan with partners from federal and state agencies, industry, and private landowners. The implementation of this plan just reached its first-year milestone. We have an opportunity to conserve not just sage grouse but the sagebrush landscape necessary for more than 350 species of wildlife, including mule deer and pronghorn. However, the amendments in question alleged that this plan would deter military training and readiness and would defer any decision on the sage grouse’s status for years. When I mentioned to a staff member that I had previously published letters from the assistant secretary of defense, and the departments of Army, Navy and Air Force that stated the sage-grouse plan would not interfere with military training and readiness, he replied that they were all written by politically appointed civilians so their statements, presumably, were dishonest. I paused and thought about the military chain of command and the fact that, by design, our Department of Defense is run by civilians. Later in the discussion, I brought up the fact that the Endangered Species Act has a provision (ESA Section 7j) that states that in the event of a national security issue,

the secretary of defense could request and would be issued an exemption under the ESA. The same staffer then informed me that that would require agreement between the president and secretary of defense (both political). Discretion being the better part of valor, I held my tongue and did not point out that if the president and secretary of defense were not authorized or capable of determining if a prairie grouse would threaten national security, then God help us all. I also refrained from sending him my 9th grade civics textbook (do they even make them anymore?). I am happy to say that the rest of our numerous meetings with congressional staff consisted of respectful questions and responses that would help inform future congressional decisions. Meetings on Capitol Hill are an important part of the democratic process. I believe the majority of congressional staffers are hardworking individuals who spend long and late hours working on legislative issues. They are dedicated public servants, well versed in their subject area, and strive to provide the best information to their bosses. However, I have also experienced a few whom I believe place political ideology above sound public policy—some who get caught up in the rarified, political atmosphere of DC and fawn over

Steven Williams, Ph.D. B&C PROFESSIONAL MEMBER PRESIDENT Wildlife Management Institute

their bosses (who, by the way, are political, themselves). True public servants strive to conserve national resources for the benefits of those resources and the people, not to score political points based on lies and innuendos for personal gain. I told you that story to tell you this one. During a past (read “beyond the statute of limitations”) congressional staff meeting, I experienced the personal gain approach by a staffer. At the end of the meeting, I found myself taking matters in to my own hands by applying pressure to the staffer’s throat while I safely held him against a hallway wall. After clarifying my position to the staffer, my actions had the desired intent. They say politics is a rough and tumble world, but there was no tumble involved in that situation. I would like to think that situation did add to the political experience necessary to be a well-rounded wildlife professional. Based on my recent visit to the Hill, I know I am getting older and maybe wiser. n

At the end of the meeting, I found myself taking matters in to my own hands by applying pressure to the staffer’s throat while I safely held him against a hallway wall.

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FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 19

THE WILDLIFE AND ITS HABITAT CANNOT SPEAK, SO WE MUST,

and we will.

Â© L. VICTOR CL ARK

- THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 1905

20 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

Hunters are not used to verbalizing their own stories, to seeing the field and stream in words that convey to the public what is essential in hunting— intimacy with what is wild. Not intimacy of the cuddly cooing sort, but intimacy with nature and wildness on its own terms. As the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset wrote: “One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted.” Telling those stories, following where a hunter’s observation and experience leads, could be an enormous aid in bridging worlds. PG 36. CULTURAL TRESPASS: HUNTING by Theodore Roosevelt IV

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 21

CRAIG BODDINGTON PROFESSIONAL MEMBER Photos Courtesy of Author

ACCURATE HUNTER READY, KNEEL

The farther you get

With practice, you can significantly reduce that wobble, but it’s always going to be there. In field shooting, where “almost” isn’t good enough, this is what limits the range and utility of the kneeling position. Understanding this, and understanding there are no range rules in the field, the kneeling position is ripe for modification, and when modified, may be even more useful than sitting. 22 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

from the ground—and the less solid support you have for your elbows—the less steady you are. So the sitting position isn’t as steady as prone, and kneeling isn’t nearly as steady as sitting. On the other hand, it’s a whole lot steadier than standing unsupported! For that reason, it can be an extremely useful field-shooting position with two primary advantages: First, it gets you a bit higher off the ground than sitting, so you’re able to see and shoot over somewhat higher vegetation. Second, and generally most important, kneeling is fast!

If you have time, there are probably better options, such as using a natural rest or setting up a pack, bipod, or tripod for a rest. Sometimes you don’t have time or can’t risk much movement, but you still need to steady your shooting motion. Kneeling can be a viable option. In 2009, I drew a Shiras’ moose tag in Colorado. On about the second night we caught a glorious snowstorm, which helped my buddy George Taulman and I find fresh tracks up on a snowy ridge early the next morning. We followed them into dark timber, and after a little while, ran straight into a really good bull staring back down the trail from some thick conifers, barely visible between snow-laden branches. The distance was maybe a hundred yards; I had the shot, but I couldn’t move. Wrapping into a hasty sling, I dropped to one knee, found a patch of shoulder, and got the shot off. Quick. Simple. That’s kneeling. Unsupported, it is not a long-range position. Most shooters will have a horizontal wobble, controllable enough for short and perhaps medium-range shots, but hopeless at longer ranges when precision becomes essential. On the other hand, at longer ranges one usually has time to find better options!

The formal kneeling position. Left-handed Boddington demonstrates right-handed; ideally, his shooting-side elbow should be more horizontal. This is the “high” kneeling position, sitting on the supporting-side heel, probably faster and more useful in the field than the “low” kneeling position, sitting on the side of the foot.

Formally there are really two kneeling positions: high and low. In both cases the supporting-side leg is forward, toward the target, knee bent about 90 degrees, foot grounded; the shooting-side leg is out at 90 degrees, knee grounded, lower leg bent back under the body. In the higher position, the toe of the shooting-side foot is grounded, toes 90 degrees away from the target (right for right-handers, left for left-handers), and you sit on the upraised heel. In the lower (sitting) position, you turn your shooting-side foot forward, toward the target, ground the side of your calf, and you sit on the side of your foot. The basic ground rules apply: The closer to the ground you get, the more stable you are, so the low kneeling position is steadier. This is a tradeoff, because the high sitting position is faster and gets you a few inches higher, which can be critical in brush. Either way, kneeling is not a perfectly steady position, and is probably not a position to be chosen if there are other options. It’s for those situations when the shot is too far (or the target too small) for

a standing or offhand shot, but time or circumstances don’t allow a steadier position. You simply drop to your shooting-side knee, rest your supporting-side elbow over your supporting-side knee, and take the shot. As with sitting, you will be steadier if you can get that elbow over the knee rather than on top of it. This is also a position in which a tight hasty sling makes a huge difference! The biggest problem with kneeling, however, is that the shooting-side elbow is unsupported. Ideally you don’t want it “f lapping in the breeze.” Instead, get that elbow more horizontal, using your shooting arm to actually pull the rifle tight into your shoulder. It is lack of support for the shooting-side elbow that creates the almost unavoidable horizontal wobble in the kneeling position. With practice, you can significantly reduce that wobble, but it’s always going to be there. In field shooting, where “almost” isn’t good enough, this is what limits the range and utility of the kneeling position. Understanding this, and understanding there are

TOP: George Taulman and Boddington with a good Shiras’ moose from Colorado, taken from a quick kneeling position during a close encounter in heavy timber. BOTTOM: The “reverse kneeling” position, with the rifle rested and the shooting-side knee used to support the shooting-side elbow, is invaluable if the rifle is solidly rested. This position netted Boddington very nice tahr in Nepal’s Himalayas, taken with one shot at 465 yards. FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 23

no range rules in the field, the kneeling position is ripe for modification, and when modified, may be even more useful than sitting. Time and opportunity allowing, the first thing to do is stabilize the rifle over a solid rest. Whether you use a natural rest such as a rock or log, a makeshift rest such as a pack or pile of packs, or a bipod or tripod you’ve carried with you, the obvious criteria is you must have a clear path to your target. This, not the height of your rest, determines how high you need to be, and thus, the shooting position. There are many times when it’s better to kneel behind a supported rifle than to sit behind it. Obviously you’re going to be steadier supported than unsupported, but that flapping elbow is still a problem. So let’s figure out ways to stabilize it. A daypack usually isn’t high enough, but an upended pack with an internal or external frame is often just right. However, since the rifle is now stabilized, it’s no longer really necessary to rest your supporting-side elbow on your knee. So think about reverse kneeling (my term). The rifle is supported, so you ground your supporting-side knee under the rifle, put your shooting-side leg out, knee bent, and rest your shooting-side elbow on that upraised knee. This is a non-doctrinal position, but I’ve found it extremely stable. Donna and I often carry threelegged shooting sticks that can be shortened for sitting or kneeling behind. This “reverse kneeling” position is perfect for kneeling behind a tripod,

AH and there have been several occasions when I’ve found it an ideal solution for kneeling behind a natural rest. Given time and opportunity, a solid rest is always better than any unsupported position. So, given a clear path to the target, the height of the rest dictates the position. Sometimes you can lie prone over a log, and sometimes you can stand over a tall boulder, but some variation of sitting or kneeling are probably the more frequent options. As with all field shooting, you can throw away the range rules. The point is to get steady! Unsupported kneeling is a very difficult position to master (if in fact it can be mastered), but it’s extremely useful in almost all close-cover hunting. So it’s a good idea to practice it on the range for those fast-breaking situations when you have just two choices: take the shot standing, or drop to one knee. Kneeling is a whole lot steadier than standing! But you can also get creative in your practice. Set up over a variety of rests of different heights, and figure out what works for you. I’m big on the hasty sling, but of all the positions I think it pays the greatest dividends in kneeling. Then, if you can find a way to stabilize that shooting-side elbow, kneeling becomes a whole different ballgame. n

TOP: If a natural rest is available, then the height of the rest determines the position. This is a very unorthodox kneeling position, but it was the only way to get the right height over the boulder. MIDDLE: This is the position Boddington used to take a Shiras’ moose in Colorado. It was a close encounter in heavy timber, but a bit too far for a certain offhand shot. The best solution was to quickly kneel and fire. BOTTOM: Boddington doesn’t have a patent on the “reverse kneeling” position, but he’s used it for a long time. This photo was taken about 35 years ago, just after he took a Coues’ whitetail from this position. 24 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

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FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 25

Is 6.5 the

New 7?

WAYNE C. VAN ZWOLL B&C PROFESSIONAL MEMBER Photos Courtesy of Author

Long ignored, 6.5mm cartridges now rock! Why? The 7mm clan, dear for decades, holds its breath!

Few 6.5mm military rounds made the jump to sporting favorites. The 7x57 did, in Winchester’s M70.

Long-range competition has spurred interest in fast, flat-shooting cartridges that don’t kick hard: 6.5s!

26 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

Autumn used a Howa rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor to take her first Dakota mule deer. Yes, it was cold!

Wet snow followed sleet. Wyoming

wind hammered the cold through my soaked wool. I wiped the slop off my carbine. Mike’s teeth were chattering, too. He was thinking: “Iron sights. What nonsense. We could have been finished….”

Then a buck parted the sagging sage. He wasn’t close enough for my carbine; in a crouch, I raced ahead. Ninety yards. Eighty. My boots squished. The buck’s head swiveled. I pulled up and fired. He fell. European smokeless cartridges are labeled by bullet diameter and case length in millimeters. The 6.5x55 has a 6.5mm (.264) bullet in a 55mm hull. Developed by Sweden and Norway in 1894, it was one of the first smokeless rounds for military rifles and defended Scandinavia for most of a century. Popular among moose hunters there, it has also excelled in 300-meter competition. North American ammo companies ignored the 6.5x55 until 1991, albeit hunters bought up surplus 1894 and 1896 Swedish Mausers at fire-sale prices. The carbine I’d carried in Wyoming followed a Howa in 6.5x55. I took that rifle elk hunting. When a bull crashed away in a ‘pole patch, then paused, I found an alley. My bullet quartered to the off-shoulder. He ran. I dashed after him. My second shot broke his neck. First firing 156-grain bullets at 2,378 fps (29-inch barrel), the Swede joined its contemporaries in a switch to lighter, pointed missiles. A 139-grain spitzer clocked 2,625 fps at a mild 6.5 45,000 psi. In strong, modern rifles, you can Creedmoor

6.5x55 Swedish

6.5/284

.264 Win. Mag.

.26 Nosler

6.5-300 Wby. Mag.

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 27

safely open the throttle and gain 100 fps. Early on, the Swede had stiff competition from the 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer. Developed in 1900 for the 1903 Greek Mannlicher infantry rifle, it sent a 160-grain bullet at 2,223 fps. As Mannlicher-Schoenauer sporting rifles were trim and light, and fed silkily, many hunters came to favor them and their namesake 6.5. Charles Sheldon used his for brown bears and moose as well as Alaska’s sheep. Its military career (which ended in 1941) never blessed the 6.5x54 with a fast light-bullet load; but the high sectional density of its 160-grain roundnose made it lethal on Africa’s big game. Ivory hunters drove solids through elephant skulls. A record unmatched is that of a Uganda ranger named Banks, who reportedly killed three elephants with a single 6.5x54 bullet. It struck one, which fell into the others. All plunged off a precipice! Kenyan Warden Blaney Percival did most of his hunting with

a 6.5x54—though his rifle twice failed after he’d shot lions. Prying the stuck case free with a knife saved him the first time. The second jam occurred as a lion charged— and dashed past Percival to overtake his gun-bearer. Luck was with the boy, as the cat died atop him before inflicting fatal wounds. Between 1890 and the Great War, several countries equipped their armies with 6.5mm cartridges. Holland and Romania chose the 6.5x53R, a rimmed 6.5x54. Italy and Portugal adopted 6.5x52 and 6.5x58 rimless cartridges. Japan developed the 6.5x50 Arisaka for its Model 38 rifle. Germany, however, hung its fortunes on the 8x57. The U.S. committed to 30-caliber loads in the .30-40 Krag, then the .30-06. On the commercial front, New Yorker Charles Newton, who’d abandoned a law career to design rifles and cartridges, fashioned a 6.5mm hunting round. His .256 Newton (.264 bore) on a shortened

.30-06 case kicked 129-grain bullets at 2,760 fps. A veritable rocket in 1913, it can add 150 fps with modern powders. Rifle-maker Buzz Fletcher once loaned me a lovely Mauser he’d barreled to .256 Newton. My handloads would have given the .270 a fright at long range. Sages warming their backsides around campfires in hunting camps have speculated that riflemen shunned 6.5s and 8mms after WW II because Axis powers had used them. Perhaps. While Springfields were less often re-barreled than were Mausers, the availability of hunting loads surely favored the .30-06. Meanwhile, the 7x57 was earning acclaim as a big game round. Its 1892 debut was followed the next year by adoption in the 1893 Spanish Mauser. The 173-grain bullet at 2,296 fps gained traction in Europe’s military circles, then in South America. The Spanish-American War raised its profile. On San Juan Hill, 700 Spaniards firing ‘93

Mausers left a force of 15,000 Americans with 1,400 casualties. Ivory hunter W.D.M. Bell would brain-shoot elephants with his 7x57. Jack O’Connor wrote up the cartridge as perfect for mountain sheep. To legions who would never hunt elephants or sheep, these exploits gave the 7x57 enduring charisma. Not that the 7mm bore (.284) could challenge the .30 (.308) stateside. In my youth even the .270 Winchester (.277) sold better than all 7s combined! Germany’s 7x64 Brenneke was unknown, though it dates to 1917 and all but duplicates, ballistically, the .280 Remington that came 40 years later! The 7x61 Sharpe & Hart and belted 7x61 S&H Super were developed in the U.S. Beginning in 1953, Norma loaded them for 50 years, though Schultz & Larsen built the only rifle of note in 7x61. Roy Weatherby’s 7mm Magnum predated the S&H by a decade; it was offered only in Weatherby rifles. The Canadian .280 Ross also lacked a

LEFT: A few rifles still chamber the 6.5x55 “Swede.” Wayne ranks Germany’s Sauer 101 among the best. RIGHT: Charles Newton abandoned law to study cartridge design. In 1913 his .256 was an early 6.5 stateside.

Jack O’Connor wrote up the cartridge as perfect for mountain sheep. To legions who would never hunt sheep, these exploits gave the 7x57 enduring charisma. 28 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

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Wayne killed this bull at 300 yards with his E.R. Shaw rifle in 6.5/284, a wildcat gone commercial.

Doug Burris, Jr.’s World’s Record typical mule deer scoring 226-4/8 points. Burris was hunting with his .264 in 1972.

30 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

practical rifle. Steep case taper and the shaky reputation of the Ross action doomed it. Still, the post-war boom prospered 7mm wildcats. Field & Stream Shooting Editor Warren Page puffed his 7mm Mashburn Magnum. Short and long variants of this and other rounds with steep shoulders on the .300 H&H hull dominated. In 1962 the 7mm Remington Magnum broke free of the crowd. Billed as a deer/elk cartridge with the flat arc of a .30 magnum but less recoil, it pushed 150-grain bullets over 3,200 fps, from a brand-new Model 700 rifle at $114.95. Waving C-notes, hunters galloped to gun-shops. Remington’s belted 7mm was nearly identical to the .264 Winchester Magnum, introduced three years earlier. The 2.5-inch case with 25-degree shoulder was the same. The difference: .020inch bullet diameter and Winchester’s marketing. Instead of giving it elk-rifle credentials, New Haven hawked the .264 as a deer/varmint round. While a 100-grain bullet at 3,700 fps is indeed fast, it’s no more effective on Br’er Fox than a .243 spitting an 80-grain bullet at 3,500 fps with less blast and recoil. From a 26-inch barrel, the .264’s 140-grain bullet at the claimed 3,200 fps has great reach and power, but in the ‘50s, big-game bullet options for fast-stepping 6.5s were as few as the cartridges. Not even Doug Burris could turn the fortunes of the .264. One fall day in 1972, the Texas hunter eased through oak brush in Dolores County, Colorado, toward a trio of mule deer bucks he’d spotted from afar. Closing, Doug bumped a bedded doe. Her exit put the bucks to flight. Burris got off

one quick shot with his .264, and the biggest deer nosed to earth. Its antlers would score over 225, a new World’s Record! It also won Boone and Crockett’s coveted Sagamore Hill Award. But more hunters were taking up Remington’s 7mm Magnum. Winchester put another nail in the .264’s coffin when listed velocities later dropped to 3,030 fps for the 140-grain Power Point. Remington fared no better selling its 6.5mm magnum. The 6.5mm Remington Magnum appeared (with a .350) in the Models 600 and 660 carbines, produced 1965 to 1971. Its 2.15-inch hull fit the stubby actions. Ballistically, the 6.5 Remington Magnum matches the .270. Few hunters traded off their .270s. The modest success of the .260 Remington after its 2002 start is partly due to the 7mm-08, which preceded it by a decade. I’ve used both these necked-down .308 cartridges on game as big as elk. There’s little practical difference. Once, after elbowing through snow to a canyon rim across from a herd of elk, I fired, prone, from 270 yards. At my .260’s snap, the cow raced off, then tumbled dead in a powder cloud. I had more immediate results later with a 6.5/284. This elk was crossing a stringer meadow on a slope 300 yards below. With no practical approach, I steadied the E.R. Shaw rifle against a rock and sent a Nosler Partition through both lungs. The bull flipped on his back, all four feet swinging above the brush as he rolled twice and lay still. Long-range target shooting brought the 6.5/284 from wildcat obscurity to hunters’ attention. In case capacity and ballistically, it’s essentially a 6.5/06. John Lazzeroni trumped other 6.5s with his enormous 6.71 Blackbird

(2.80-inch case .580 at the base). Capacity of his short 6.71 Phantom (same hull, trimmed) almost matches that of Winchester’s .264. If Europe has a counterpart to these rockets, it’s the 6.5x68, introduced by RWS around 1939. A neckeddown 8x68, it boots 123-grain bullets at 3,450 fps. The only animal I’ve shot with a 6.5x68 was a Spanish ibex, which, at 200 yards, dropped as though struck by lightning. The last two decades have ushered in many short-action cartridges, including 6.5s for bolt rif les and AR-15s. In 2002 the 6.5 Grendel arrived, courtesy Bill Alexander and Arne Brennan. Offspring of the PPC Benchrest, it has a 1.52inch hull. Les Baer’s .264 LBC AR is about the same. Both hurl 129-grain bullets at 2,500 fps—accurately. Brennan fired a 1.2-inch knot at 600 meters with the Grendel! Among the most useful 6.5s, and increasingly popular in hunting circles, is the 6.5 Creedmoor. Its development at Hornady by senior engineer Dave Emary drew ideas from other accomplished shooters. Announced in 2009, the cartridge bears the name of the New York range on Creed’s Farm that as early as the 1870s hosted long-range matches. Emary used the.30 T/C hull to keep the shoulder back far enough to ensure seating of long bullets in short actions. Powder resulting from Hornady’s Superformance project added speed, efficiency. Beyond 400 yards, the 6.5 Creedmoor overtakes the .270! Todd Seyfert and crew at Magnum Research built a 6.5 Creedmoor for me. Its Remington 700 action wears a carbon-fiber barrel with a stainless Kreiger core. A GreyBull/Leupold 4.5-14X tracks the arc of a 129-grain SST at 2,950 fps. “Dial to the yardage and hold center,” said

The 6.5 Creedmoor is so popular now, it’s a charter chambering in many rifles, here Ruger’s RPR.

I had more immediate results later with a 6.5/284. Long-range target shooting brought the 6.5/284 from wildcat obscurity to hunters’ attention. In case capacity and ballistically, it’s essentially a 6.5/06. GreyBull’s Don Ward. On steel plates, then a coyote and a distant elk, the bullets hit where I looked. In a hill-top gale in South Africa, a T/C chambered to 6.5 Creedmoor netted me a vaal rhebok at 250 yards. Even with Hornady’s wind-slippery SST, I held nearly a foot to 3 o’clock—well off the small antelope’s chest. Hornady has since announced a 143-grain ELD-X bullet that will make this and other 6.5s even more deadly at distance. A couple of big 6.5s have popped up recently to serve riflemen bent on spanning townships with bullets. Early in 2014 Nosler trotted out its .26 on the .404 Jeffery case, a 1910-era cartridge whose rim fits bolts sized for the .532 rims of belted rounds. Ahead of the extractor groove, belt-free design yields a larger body, greater case capacity. Nosler’s .26 spews factory-loaded 129-grain AccuBond Long Range bullets at 3,400 fps, 140-grain Partitions at 3,300. Handloading Nosler

Hunters after deer-sized game at long range favor short 6.5s for their efficiency, flat arcs, mild recoil.

A mighty small hole A very big animal will fall to a very small bullet driven through its brain. But other vital organs can still function if only pierced, not destroyed. There, bullet diameter matters—as it does if your intent is to break major bones to stop a beast in front of your boot laces. Long ago a hunter fired at a lion with a 6.5mm rifle. The lion ran off. He followed and soon came upon the dead cat—with no visible wound. At last he found the slender solid had penetrated the kidneys. For most game, expanding bullets that carve big channels and dump most of their energy in vitals make starting diameter less relevant. Still, some bullets are too small to kill some animals quickly. I once bellied through Namibian sand and thorn toward a bedded eland. It rose. The bullet from my short .264 cartridge quartered to the off-shoulder as the 1,600-pound bull thundered off. Deep prints led uphill, into rocks. The trail showed little blood. After an hour of tough tracking, the animal burst from a copse in a canyon below. My offhand poke missed. I hurried a second shot as the eland galloped toward oblivion on the far rim. By great good luck, that bullet caught its spine. It was not the kill I had expected, threading both lungs an hour earlier. A 6.5 can be too small.

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 31

Is 6.5 the

New 7? brass with H1000 and RL-25 and 129-grain AccuBond LRs, I beat listed speeds with .8-minute accuracy from Nosler’s Model 48 rifle. Certainly the 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum was on the drawing board before Nosler announced its .26. Actually, 6.5s on blown-out .300 H&H Magnum brass date to a wildcat developed by Paul Wright of Silver City, New Mexico, for 1,000-yard competition more than 50 years ago. P.O. Ackley wrote of the 6.5/300 Weatherby-Wright Magnum achieving 3,400 fps with Hodgdon 202 and 870 A tide of new bullets is fueling popularity of the 6.5mm bore stateside, where it’s been long ignored.

powders. Riflemen with memories as long as mine may recall the 6.5-300 Wright-Hoyer. Same cartridge. Alex Hoyer ran a gun shop in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, where he built rifles for Wright’s round. Ed Weatherby and son Adam (now Weatherby Executive VP and COO), welcomed me at the 6.5-300’s debut to Paso Robles, with more news. “For 2016,” said Adam, “all Mark Vs have been upgraded.” Their Criterion barrels are lapped. Walnut and hand-laminated synthetic stocks have slimmed down. An LXX trigger adjusts to 2.5 pounds. “We guarantee sub-minute accuracy from every rifle.” I watched a Mark V in 6.5-300 being built—and even participated. I destroyed no CNC machines, set off no ceiling sprinklers, and caused no injury requiring hospitalization. The Weatherby crew sent me off with a charitable “well done.” The 6.5-300 Weatherby is the Usain Bolt of .264-bores. With 127-grain Barnes LRXs, loaded in Paso Robles (not, as most Weatherby Magnums, by Norma), clock 3,537 fps from my rifle. At 500 yards they match the

muzzle speed of the 156-grain load in a 6.5x55! Zero a 6.5300 Mark V at 200 yards, and you’ll hit within 2½ vertical inches of center to 305. The 127 LRX carries more than 1,000 foot-pounds nearly 900 yards! Swift’s 130-grain Sciroccos and 140 A-Frames (3,476 and 3,395 fps) are factory-loaded too. When the .264 Winchester Magnum appeared, critics labeled it a barrel-burner. High pressure and velocity do accelerate throat erosion. But hotrods like the Nosler .26 and Weatherby’s 6.5-300 Magnum are properly used on hunts, which require little shooting. They’re spared the high-volume cartridge counts and sometimes-egg-cooking barrel temps endured by, say, the 6.5x55 and 6.5/284 in competition. Has the stampede of 6.5s cooled our affection for the 7x57 and 7mm-08, the .280 Remington and .280 Ackley, the 7mm Remington and Weatherby Magnums and other quick 7s? Probably not. Six-fives add cartridge options for hunters who say there aren’t enough—and for those who insist even superfluous new rifles need love. n Weatherby’s 6.5-300 (once the wildcat 6.5/300 Wright-Hoyer) is the latest, hottest commercial 6.5.

Out yonder When I was a lad, my elders told me the 7mm Mashburn shot flatter than the .300 H&H “because 7mm bullets have high b’llistic co’fficients.” Not necessarily. Ballistic coefficient (BC) hinges largely on bullet shape and sectional density. Diameter figures in, but a .264, .308 or .338 bullet with a long give can have a higher BC than a given 7mm. The claim once made for 7s is being repeated for 6.5s, primarily because the selection of sleek 6.5 hunting missiles has grown to serve the increasing number and popularity of the cartridges, as once happened for 7s. Predictably, the 6.5 bore has new shine. The toughest target I’ve tackled with a 6.5 was a steel plate, big as the lid of a chest freezer, hung a mile from a breezy spine. On the mat with a GreyBull-barreled Remington 700 in .264 Winchester were boxes of handloads, their VLD bullets long as knitting needles. I leaned into the sling, watched my pulse subside, read the mirage and fired. I missed. Then I missed some more. Sailing a mile, I concluded as the barrel cooled, a bullet could encounter many conditions. Most were undetectable from the mat. I was well into my second box of ammo when my spotter, on the verge of despondency, marveled: “Hey. It moved!”

Both 6.5 and 7 mm bores date to the 1890s. A late bloomer in the U.S., the 6.5 now woos hunters.

32 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

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FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 33

TITLE:

FAIR CHASE REVISED DATE: JUNE 21, 2016

SITUATIONAL OVERVIEW: As a means of separating the actions of commercial market hunters from those of sportsmen, an ethical code of hunter conduct was discussed at the first meeting of the Boone and Crockett Club in 1887. The name given to this code was fair chase, and it is defined by the Club as “the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild, native North American big game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over such animals.” Fair chase is part of an overall hunting ethic. It reflects an ideal to pursue game in the field in a manner that pays respect to the animals hunted and the traditions of hunting as a mechanism

POSITION:

The Boone and Crockett Club supports the definition and practice of conservation as the sustainable use of natural resources, including wildlife. It supports ethical public hunting as the foundation of wildlife conservation and management. The Club also believes that hunting is a privilege that must be earned repeatedly. In modern, developed societies, there exists a general expectation that hunting be conducted under appropriate conditions; i.e., animals are taken for legitimate purposes such as food or to attain wildlife agency management goals. It is also assumed that the hunting will be done sustainably and legally, and that hunters conduct themselves ethically by showing respect for the land and animals they hunt. In the broadest sense, hunters are guided by a conservation ethic, and the most common term used to describe the actual ethical pursuit of a big game animal is fair chase. Fair chase is what separates hunting from simply killing or shooting. It demands restraint and self-reliance, aligns with North American wildlife laws, and is in service to conservation. Fair chase allows for lasting memories 34 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

for conservation. Fair chase is an approach that elevates the quality of the chase, the challenge, and experience above all else. By not overwhelming game species with human capabilities, fair chase helps define a hunter’s engagement in conservation. Fair chase has been embraced by hunters as the proper conduct of a sportsman in the field and taught to new hunters for over a century. As with any guideline that falls within a legal framework, but is also grounded in personal ethics that cannot and should not be legislated, interpretations of fair chase can vary. Laws are largely set by society to protect, conserve and manage wildlife resources that are held in the public trust. Ethical decisions

in hunting, however, ultimately rest with the individual in what feels right or wrong, and what technologies or methods are acceptable or unacceptable for them to be successful. As a leading conservation organization and promoter of fair chase in North America, it is important to the Boone and Crockett Club that the nuances and benefits of fair chase are clearly understood by hunters and non-hunters. The Club is concerned that hunting practices that were once deemed unacceptable are becoming more commonplace. This is not only eroding our overall hunting ethic, but the public’s widespread support for hunting.

hunters can be proud of, provides young hunters with a proper path in hunting and in life, and meets the expectations of our modern societies. The Boone and Crockett Club believes ethical choices in hunting are more important today than at any previous time. Hunters’ values— their motivations and their conduct— shape society’s opinion of hunting. Hunters should be guided by principles whether applying to the activities of hunting in general, or for the qualification of trophies into the Club’s big game records book. The Club will continue to take the steps it believes necessary to ensure that fair chase maintains its prominence among hunters while also reaching out to non-hunters about the relationship between hunting, fair chase, and a

conservation ethic. Sportsmen and sportswomen must also lead by example as primary proponents of fair chase hunting and, by doing so, safeguard the overall welfare of wildlife, especially big game animals and their habitats. The Boone and Crockett Club encourages all hunters to be united behind the banner of a conservation ethic and fair chase and police themselves and others, but to do so in a way that is not divisive or unduly critical unless there is tangible justification. Just because a person may not follow the same customs or standards you have set for yourself, it does not necessarily make them unethical. Knowing the difference begins with a complete understanding of hunting ethics and fair chase.

“Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.” —Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism speech, 1910

BOONE AND CROCKETT: DEFINING FAIR CHASE IN THE PRESS 9/6/2016

During the summer of 2016, the Boone and Crockett Club, the oldest hunter-conservationist organization in North America, released a comprehensive essay on fair chase, the longest-standing honor code in hunting. “Millions of hunters worldwide practice fair chase, many without even knowing this code has a name or that the Club originated it,” said Club President Morrie Stevens. “With public misperceptions about hunting on the rise and increasing questions about hunting practices and new technology, we feel it is time to revisit this fundamental part of the hunter’s conservation ethic.”

LEARN MORE ONLINE:

www.BOONE-CROCKETT.org More information can be found in the Club's 8-page fair chase essay, available online. There are two videos directly related to fair chase on our website, or view our entire library of videos and past episodes of Boone and Crockett Country on our YouTube channel.

The concept of fair chase—the ethical pursuit of a game animal in the field—emerged over 125 years ago at a time of environmental crisis when many formerly abundant wildlife populations in North America were on the brink of extinction. Theodore Roosevelt, after witnessing the bleached bones of thousands of slaughtered bison, was determined to do something about this travesty. The new code of conduct for hunters established by Roosevelt and the Boone and Crockett Club, not only transformed individual behavior and purposes for hunting, but also supported the new conservation principles the Club was promoting. The system of wildlife conservation we have today is still based on the Club’s principles of limiting harvest and wisely managing wildlife to ensure it will never be threatened again, as well as an ethical approach to hunting that meets with the expectations of sportsmen and society. The Club’s essay on fair chase, introduced through the Club’s position statement explores the code’s historical roots and provides a framework for how modern fair chase hunters think about hunting practices and customs. It delves into how hunters evaluate new technological advancements, regional traditions, and why fair chase is more a matter of the “spirit of the hunt” than a set of written rules. The essay also addresses the opportunity for hunters to foster a positive public perception of hunting by conducting themselves in an ethical manner. “Fair chase is rich with benefits,” said Stevens. “Not only to the game we hunt and the traditions of hunting, but to hunters personally. Fair chase is linked to such things as self-reliance, discipline and character development, and caring for something greater than ourselves. Understanding the value and transformative nature of a fair chase ethic is just as important for those who hunt as it is for non-hunters.”

JOIN THE CONVERSATION. TELL US WHY YOU ARE A FAIR CHASE HUNTER!

“Hunting at its most fundamental level is defined by an intimate yet tenuous and unpredictable relationship between predator and prey. This is an intrinsic and irrefutable connection that cannot be compromised if the hunter is to maintain the sanctity of this bond and any credible claim that hunting is respectful of wild creatures and in service to wildlife conservation. This relationship is built upon many complex components that differentiate hunting from simply shooting or commercially harvesting wild game.” —Dan Pedrotti, Jr., Fair Chase Magazine 2013 FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 35

THEODORE ROOSEVELT IV B&C PROFESSIONAL MEMBER Photos Courtesy of Vermont Fish and Wildlife

CULTURAL TRESPASS: HUNTING There are few topics about which I feel simultaneously so enthralled and so vexed as hunting and conservation. On one hand, we have an increasingly urban general population who could not find their way out of most forests and who seem to expect nature to be Disneyland, where the animals only die of old age or fairy dust. But, this is also a population inclined to be concerned about climate change and biodiversity, even as they romanticize the animal world. Their donations, however, tend to go to environmental advocacy groups; their money simply doesn’t support the work of public wildlife and fishing agencies. On the other hand, there is the increasingly small number of hunters among us. About six percent of the American people now hunt, as opposed to approximately 25 percent at the end of World War II. As hunting is also an activity largely passed down from parents to children, one generally needs to have

woods, fields, and fens in the immediate vicinity to learn it, so, it is generally rural Americans who participate. Our rural populations are often largely conservative—the natural constituency of the Republican Party. Thanks to a host of provocations, rural people are also inclined to see climate-change-supporting environmentalists as gun-haters, liberals, and the enemy. They may also see our land agencies as the enemy. The cultural divide these days brooks no trespassers. And while the fees that they pay to hunt and fish do fund our wildlife agencies, this funding is diminishing rapidly. What was once two percent of the national budget for conservation is now one percent. Yet we need conservation and good resource management more than ever. Let me also make this assertion, which you may find startling: The climate-change-denying hunters—as opposed to benighted souls who ask forest rangers “when do you let the animals out?”—are, for me, far and away more

vital to the project of conservation. As with Aldo Leopold, I believe strongly that conservation must rely on those people who understand the resource, at least in their own back-40—the farmers and ranchers, those who hunt and fish; those for whom nature is part of the fabric of their own selves and, for lack of a better word, their soul. True. There are hunters who don’t know what they don’t know. Also true, that there are hunters who don’t understand how much they do know and who may even resist their own skills of observation. Hunters are unused to verbalizing their own stories, to seeing the field and stream in words that convey to the public what is essential in hunting—intimacy with what is wild. Not intimacy of the cuddly cooing sort, but intimacy with nature and wildness on its own terms. As the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset wrote: “One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted.” Telling those stories, following where a hunter’s

Theodore Roosevelt IV (center) and Chris Saunders, Vermont Project Coordinator pose with look-alike Teddy Roosevelt impersonator Joe Wiegand, who portrayed a realistic rendition of our former beloved president throughout the course of the convention. 36 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

CONDENSED VERSION OF A SPEECH GIVEN AT THE INTERNATIONAL HUNTER EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE MAY 24, 2016 observation and experience leads, could be an enormous aid in bridging worlds. Last year, I was pulled into a significant wildlife controversy: Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, ruled today by one of the world’s most simultaneously preening and brutal dictators. But the American public was totally oblivious to the difficult struggle to save wildlife in a country whose people are suffering still from starvation, homelessness, HIV, and the terror of a brutal dictator. Mindlessly, suburban America collectively engaged in one of the most truly counterproductive and ridiculous campaigns, offensive to many on the African continent, and detrimental to the cause that animal rights activists supposedly champion—the well-being of wildlife. Before we knew it, PETA was calling for the dentist to be hanged (yes, hanged), and social media was filled with pictures of Cecil and sentiments like: “Your spirit will always be with us Cecil!” He was a lion, not Gandhi. Rural Africans often live in great fear of lions. This struck them as sheer insanity and offensive. I have hunted in Africa and have several friends who are big game hunters and conservationists. I was once stationed in Africa when I served in the State Department. So, the calls came in. Many were furious and talked about what they saw as an essentially racist stance

being taken by mostly white, middle-class, suburban Americans, largely ignorant of what Africans were up against. As someone said to me: “What is it? Poor black people are too stupid, too greedy, too ignorant to protect our resources? Do the people in your country understand that African countries are sovereign nations, that we make our own game laws, that we voluntarily do so under the auspices of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)?” Now, I will grant you that in countries like Zimbabwe, there will always be questions. So, I was asked again and again to raise my voice. I pissed and moaned. No one in that atmosphere wants to champion . . . trophy hunting. I braced for the hate mail and published an op-ed—a piece of paper thrown into the whirlwind. There were several things that were instructive to me in the reactions, good and bad—mostly bad—to the piece. I’ll list three of these: 1) Visceral reactions, which are based on cultural biases, are difficult to counter. Raising up arguments that include, for instance, the survival of lions in Africa as a species, produce

Theodore Roosevelt IV addressing the crowd at the International Hunter Education Association Conference in Vermont.

enormous cognitive dissonance and resistance in those who are defending what seems naturally abhorrent to them. 2) There is just a staggering amount of ignorance with regard to hunting in particular, but resource management more broadly. 3) Hunters have done a remarkably poor job as the champions of their own culture and of a vigorous, integrated relationship with the wild. On the first and second points, I was absolutely stunned by the cognitive dissonance produced when you say hunting saves animals. They reply: “How can killing an animal save it?” No species in modern times has been driven to extinction by sport hunting, and with an unsustainable population growth rate of 10 percent for most species in Africa, hunting reduces that number by just two percent. When I pointed this out,

someone said to me: “Well, then there are too many Africans. We have to look at population control.” I asked: “Tell me, which Africans should we get rid of?” The entire lack of knowledge was staggering to me, as well as the bias that accompanied it. For many Africans, hunting is a valued tradition, even aside from its economic and conservation benefits. And, of course, all of us understand the toll that poaching takes on species. Trophy hunting funds anti-poaching patrols; it also brings people into areas that eco-tourists don’t want to go. Additionally, when animals such as lions and elephants come into conflict with local farmers and ranchers—with no compensation for that conflict —they are often poisoned or caught in snares or killed with low-caliber weapons. More suffering, not less. This is when we all take a collective breath, and a look back at history in order

I believe that we are facing a crisis today of equal proportion to that faced by President Theodore Roosevelt and the early founders of the Boone and Crockett Club. There is, however, a notable difference: that crisis was more visible than this one. FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 37

The Boone and Crockett Club asks that you please thank our Trailblazers with your patronage. 38 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

to also address my third point that hunters are doing a bad job of telling their story and talking about their culture— partly because we don’t understand that we have a story and a culture. And it is of value to conservation! When the founders of the Boone and Crockett Club held meetings, the world started to change. Grizzlies, elk, buffalo, and pronghorn were then all on the verge of extinction, and America’s hunters fought game laws then as they might fight gun laws today. Game limits and hunting seasons were considered the oppression of the poor by the rich because this was the legacy of European aristocracy. We had left that behind us. As one writer, Daniel Justin Herman, calls it, “Americans had created what could be called a hunting democracy.” There was an uncomfortable divide between what some considered the elitism of the professional managerial class and the robust claims on autonomy of a frontier people. It was breached by men like Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell, because they also had an affiliation for people. Grinnell had far more experience than TR in wilderness hunting when they met. He had ranged over much of the West. He was even invited by the Pawnee Indians to participate in a bison hunt from horseback with bow and arrow. He accepted! As I am sure you realize, this means riding at flank speed with bison, participating in a hunting event with what may have been the world’s greatest light cavalry,

the plains Indians. Boone and Crockett Club was established by a group of men who were tough, who had done it all, who had tramped everywhere, camped out in some of the harshest conditions imaginable, and knew the comradery of the hunt. They knew guns; they knew courage; they knew untrammeled places. They did not give up easily. In fact, I would venture to say that they did not give up at all. In the Club’s heyday, these men shaped opinions, established hunting ethics and the code of fair chase, helped pass game laws, formulated and achieved conservation goals. But they weren’t just ensuring the future of a sport; they were ensuring the future of a culture, a way of life that was contact with life itself—the health and vigor of the nation’s wildlife, lands, and water. One of the concerns that the Club rightfully identified was the future of large, open tracts of public lands and the key role they play in conservation and the future of hunting. Today, we have a new problem: we are losing 330 family farms a week. As most of you undoubtedly know, 60 percent of threatened species habitat is found on private lands, our working farms, ranches, and timberlands. However, you may not know the following about America’s rangelands: That 100 million acres of prime private home range lands, key to fisheries health and biodiversity abundance, are tied to federal grazing leases and likely to be sold if the leases

are lost. You may not know that scientific studies comparing biodiversity on ranches, wildlife refuges, and subdivisions found that ranches match the species counts of wildlife refuges. We have common cause with rural Americans, and this is something that may be lost on us. The only way that rural communities will feel that they can be on the side of conservationists is for us to begin to stand firmly on their side. I believe that we are facing a crisis today of equal proportion to that faced by President Theodore Roosevelt and the early founders of the Boone and Crockett Club. There is, however, a notable difference: that crisis was more visible than this one. Today, we face a host of challenges that are harder to see than those of the 19th century. There aren’t mounds of bleaching bison bones acting as wind breaks for settlers; instead, there is habitat fragmentation, the introduction of exotic species, the suppression of fire, pressures on water resources from population growth and sprawl. And, this says nothing of climate change. We have been—and can be again—the warriors of change, but we must know our story. We must know what we love; we must know who we are. We are those who stand astride worlds that seem far apart and we tell them that unifying, human story of which we are such an integral part. We speak for nature because we know it so well and love it so much. n

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Whiskey -AN D -

CIGARS By Edward C. Joseph

The story of an award-winning Dall’s sheep from the new book, Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards, 2013-2015

fifth of Jack Daniels and a fistful of Honduran cigars. That’s what

I was trying to sneak past the nose of my guide Hank Flatow and packer Carl Christianson as they looked through my backpack, talking about shaving ounces off my gear for the long hikes ahead. Finally, I broke down and confessed I was hiding whiskey and cigars for the optimistically anticipated campfire celebration after we kill our Dall’s ram, and if they don’t let me pack them in, they may as well just take me back to the airport! Hank looked me dead in the eye and flat out told me I’m packing them in alright, and if I don’t promise to share he’ll indeed run me back to the airport—and right now! I knew right then we were going to hit it off. They met me at the Anchorage airport two days before opening day, August 23, 2015, with firm handshakes and quick smiles. They’re both tall, lean, and tough as nails, so I was glad for all the training I did the last eight months. From the moment we shook hands, I knew I was in for a good time. My hunt started as these special draw hunts often do, with an unexpected call from an excited outfitter with news of my luck. Dan Montgomery of Alaska Trophy Adventures outfits sheep hunters into the Chugach Mountains, the crown jewel of Alaska’s best sheep units out of Anchorage, and has been doing so for many years. He had a particular ram picked out that I would devote my entire hunt to find. He and Hank had a history with this FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 41

ram watching him grow up over the years, as they do with most of the mature rams in the Chugach units. They develop a relationship with the sheep and carefully manage them with the help of the game department. Dan confirmed on his spring flying survey that the ram made it through the winter. This was the year he wanted a hunter to take him, and that lucky hunter was me. Dan also warned me the Chugach has some of the

toward the very back end of the unit. That first day we hiked nine miles with full packs to our spike camp—a long hike, but not terribly difficult as the walk up the river was at most gently rolling. This put us at the base of the mountain we would climb the next day. The second day was a different story altogether. We hiked another nine miles to our second spike camp, but it took all day as most of this was up and over a steep mountain.

time. A mountain is always easier to climb when there is game waiting on the other side, and we finally made it to our second spike camp. The third day, opening day, we started early. Not burdened by a heavy pack, the hiking that day was more pleasure than pain. We climbed the next mountain out of camp, getting to the area where the ram lived. By midmorning we made it to the ridgeline. We noticed the clouds and fog in the valley

eight rams living there, and throughout the day he would spot them one by one, scrutinizing each one through his spotting scope. By early afternoon our count was up to six rams and we hadn’t found our boy yet. But this game was as much about eliminating where the big ram was not, as much as where he may be. We were almost out of spots our ram could be hiding. It was one of the last moraines left to glass, and when Carl and I saw Hank smiling, we

BACK AT SPIKE CAMP, ENJOYING A CIGAR

FINAL DAY ON THE WALK OUT

RAM’S INJURED HOOF

steepest, most rugged sheep country in Alaska, and just getting into the area where the ram spent his days was difficult. This unit is in Chugach State Park. Regulations do not allow planes to transport hunters in. No Super Cub drop-off, Dan said. I would be walking in from the trail head, and the ram Dan had in mind for me was some 20 miles in, 42 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

The first half of this hike was through some of the thickest, nastiest alder and devil’s club imaginable. I did my best to keep up with Hank and Carl, but I couldn’t believe the physical condition these boys were in, and I can’t say enough about their professionalism. The entire hunt they were constantly concerned for my comfort and safety and wanted to be sure I was having a good

were starting their predictable movements, rising with the uphill thermals that all sheep hunters know well and expect. We were where we wanted to be, on top with the wind moving uphill. The day was spent cruising the undulating ridgelines that rimmed the numerous bowls, basins, and moraines that could hold sheep. Hank knew there were

knew he had spotted our ram. I will never forget my first view of this ram through the spotting scope. He was 600 yards downhill, bedded down facing away. I saw the back of his horns with their continued mass, and the flip of his lamb tips stretching impossibly well above the bridge of his nose. He then turned his head and I saw the deep curl go well below his jawline.

Our approach would be in plain sight of the ram, but he was facing away and Hank assured us the noise of shale breaking loose during our stalk would not alarm him as he is used to those sounds daily as the glacier he was living on was in a constant state of creaking and moaning. We eyed a lip on the rim above the ram that would put us 150 yards away. As we began our attack, Hank was confident this was a slam dunk, but something

back. The old ram had picked his bedding spot well, in an area that defies the usually predictable midday upward wind currents. With the swirling winds he was able to detect danger approaching from multiple directions. Carl saw it first; the ram stood and looked at us broadside. He whistled at Hank and me to get our attention, and I then realized that something that can go wrong just had. I have seen this before, a sheep gets your wind

side with his glass on the ram ready to call my shot. While putting down my rifle’s bipod and dropping to a prone position, Carl, in an incredibly lucid moment at a time when panic could overwhelm us, had anticipated this and was already ranging the ram for me. I dialed my turret to 325 yards and with no time for a calm, controlled squeeze, the moment the ram steadied in my cross hairs I quickly pressed the trigger. I don’t

43-2/8-inch length on both symmetrical horns. Two nights later, our final spike camp found three new friends enjoying an Alaskan campfire under the stars while eating sheep backstrap, laughing, and reliving the hunt in the telling and putting the tape on the ram of a lifetime while celebrating and toasting a great ram and a great hunt with Jack Daniels and cigars. I’m glad Hank let me pack them in. n

Whiskey -AN D -

3 DAYS AND 20 MILES INTO THE CHUGACH MOUNTAINS

CIGARS

HANK, CARL AND EDWARD WITH THE RAM

always seems to go wrong when the setup is too perfect. During the entire stalk I kept telling myself to expect something to go wrong, and when it does, be ready. We were making good progress; Carl and I hot on the heels of Hank as we moved down the shale slide. We were about ready to make the final approach when we all felt that horrible feeling of a wind shift hitting us in the

and wastes no time leaving the country. I couldn’t believe a mature, old, wise ram was still standing looking at us, but I knew it wouldn’t be for long. We had to act fast. Not much was said in the next seven seconds as everyone knew the job they had to do. I immediately retreated five yards up the slope to where Carl was to find a flat spot to shoot from. Hank was by my

remember if I felt the recoil, but I do remember watching the ram run 25 yards, then fall over backwards. This was the perfect year to take this ram, as we noticed his front hoof was badly injured. Dan said when this happens a ram rarely makes it through the winter as he can’t paw through the ice and snow for feed. The final numbers on this ram were an amazing

Edward’s ram, scoring 173-6/8 points, received a First Place Award at B&C’s 29th Big Game Awards Banquet. Read more stories like this in the new book, Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards, 2013-2015. Flip to page 50 for more details.

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 43

MEMBERS OF THE WILDERNESS WARRIOR SOCIETY The Wilderness Warrior Society is the Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier major gifts society. It is named after Doug Brinkleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historic book about Theodore Roosevelt and his Crusade for America and was launched in 2011 to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Boone and Crockett Club. With your gift of $125,000 or more, you will be honored by being named a member of the Wilderness Warrior Society. You will be presented with your own numbered limited edition bronze of Theodore Roosevelt on horseback, a custom Hickey Freeman Blazer, as well as other gifts to recognize and honor you for your contribution. Funds raised from Wilderness Warrior contributions are placed in the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation endowment where the principal remains intact, and the annual interest income generated provides permanent funding for vital conservation programs. We added four new members in 2014, bringing our total to twenty-four members of the Society. This translates to more than $3 million for the endowment and has been a major portion of the growth of these funds. It has been a huge success by any measure. Please join us in this grand effort. Contact the Boone and Crockett Club today to find out how you can become a member of the Wilderness Warrior Society.

Trevor L. Ahlberg James F. Arnold Rene R. Barrientos Marshall J. Collins Jr. William A. Demmer Gary W. Dietrich John P. Evans Steve J. Hageman B.B. Hollingsworth Jr. Ned S. Holmes Tom L. Lewis Jimmy John Liautaud R. Terrell McCombs Jack S. Parker* Paul V. Phillips Remo R. Pizzagalli Thomas D. Price Edward B. Rasmuson Morrison Stevens Sr. Ben B. Wallace Mary L. Webster C. Martin Wood III Leonard H. Wurman M.D. Paul M. Zelisko * Deceased

2015 Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas

Contact Ben Hollingsworth at 713/840-1508 for more details. Boone and Crockett Club www.boone-crockett.org 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801 406/542-1888

44 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB

GIFT GUIDE HOLIDAY 2016

GIFT GUIDE FOR THE HUNTERS ON YOUR LIST!

Visit us on-line at www.boone-crockett.org Cover painting “Night of a Thousand Eyes” by John Seerey-Lester from The Legendary Hunts of Theodore Roosevelt See Page 52 for more details on this spectacular limited edition book.

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Boone and Crockett Club 2016 Holiday Gift Guide for Sportsmen

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FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 49 49

BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB’S

29TH BIG GAME AWARDS BOOK, 2013-2015 Every three years, Boone and Crockett Club’s publications and records programs work hand-in-hand to release a new Big Game Awards book. This particular edition is our 12th book since the series began in 1983 with the publication of Boone and Crockett Club’s 18th Big Game Awards. That first book included less than 1,000 trophy entries accepted between 1980 and 1982, along with just 68 trophy stories. This current edition includes more than four times as many trophy big-game entries—4,221—and nearly 100 trophy stories. We’ve come a long way in the last three decades! Only 2,500 copies of this hardcover edition available. Once they are sold out, no more will be printed. Of all of B&C’s records books, this particular series stands out, thanks to the inclusion of the stories behind the top trophies that were recognized at the 29th Big Game Awards Trophy Exhibit and Banquet. After you’ve had a chance to relive the adventures these sportsmen had in the field, take some time to look through and study the trophy data the Club’s Big Game Records Program has gathered from 2013 through 2015. These listings are a testament to the successes achieved by our state and provincial game departments in managing North American wildlife. Plus, this scientific data offers insights into planning your next hunting trip. It’s valuable information for both sportsmen and game managers alike. THIS NEW EDITION INCLUDES: – An in-depth review of the top-scoring trophies displayed at the 29th Awards Program. – Data for over 4,200 big game entries in 37 categories that include key measurements, final B&C score, gross B&C score, locality and year taken, entry period rank, and name(s) of the hunter and owner. – True adventure hunting stories and photos about 98 awardwinning, big-game trophies. – B&C score charts with measurements from the top trophies. – Special full-color section featuring 60 of the best field photos. Hardcover with dust jacket Includes all B&C trophy entries accepted between 2013 and 2015 n Over 500 B&W photographs and 60 color photographs n 7 x 9 inches n 736 pages n n

BR29 | $54.95 ASSOCIATES PAY ONLY $43.95

50 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

Boone and Crockett Club 2016 Holiday Gift Guide for Sportsmen

HOW TO SCORE NORTH AMERICAN BIG GAME B&C’S OFFICIAL MEASURERS MANUAL

Watching the last trickles of daylight slink away over a distant ridge, hoping a mature animal presents itself in time for an ethical shot. Stalking open grassland into a stiff north wind, every sense on high alert, as the cold air stings the cheeks and nose. The heart beating wildly at the sound of a predawn tromp through fallen leaves, foretelling the possibility of approaching game. For those who count the days until their next trip afield, the true measure of a successful hunt will always be the vivid memories of time spent in wild places. While the definition of a successful hunt is left to its participants, the Boone and Crockett Club scoring system remains the benchmark for identifying mature big-game animals and healthy big-game populations. In the Club’s newly revised edition of How to Score North American Big Game, the definitive Boone and Crockett scoring system is explained in detail using simple, straightforward language and more than 100 new color illustrations and diagrams by noted wildlife artist and B&C Official Measurer Chris Lacey. This new edition is spiral bound for durability providing easy, lay-flat reading with a pocket integrated into the back cover for safe keeping of score charts and notes.

This handy reference guide is a must-have for any sportsman’s hunting camp! A must-have addition to the library of any hunter-conservationist, the latest edition of How to Score North American Big Game offers the most up-to-date scoring techniques with easy-to-follow instructions for scoring all 38 categories of North American big-game animals recognized by the Boone and Crockett Club with detailed explanations of the Club’s records-keeping policies and procedures. In addition the book delivers chapters on the Club’s history and its records-keeping program. The new edition also includes an expanded chapter on category boundaries enhanced with detailed, full-color maps from onXmaps. Spiral bound, paperback Over 125 drawings and photographs n 9 x 11.4 inches n 224 pages n n

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FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 51

THE LEGENDARY HUNTS OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT BY JOHN SEEREY-LESTER

Acclaimed wildlife artist John Seerey-Lester takes you on a historic journey in words and paintings that will make you feel as though you were there, sharing the exciting adventures with the former president in the new book, The Legendary Hunts of Theodore Roosevelt. This much anticipated new book features over 50 true stories devoted to Roosevelt’s most spectacular hunts on three continents. Complementing Seerey-Lester’s fascinating text will be some 120 of his paintings and sketches, which altogether provide a fascinating glimpse into the life of the former president and his passion for wildlife and adventure. The book covers TR’s most active years as an outdoorsman from the 1870s until his death in 1919. It begins with TR’s first hunt as a 5 year old, and then tells of his brother Elliot and a thrilling story involving a massive herd of bison on the Western plains. You will share in TR’s excitement and frustration as a rancher in the Badlands of the Dakotas; of hunting grizzlies in buckskin and moccasins; of several harrowing incidents that set the stage for TR’s illustrious life as one of the world’s foremost adventurers.

UNIQUE GIFT IDEA – Signed by the Artist! Only 500 copies of this special limited edition were made... once they are gone, no more will be printed. Boone and Crockett Club has partnered with John Seerey-Lester and Sporting Classics to release this special Boone and Crockett Edition of The Legendary Hunts of Theodore Roosevelt. This special edition includes several pages of exclusive content about Theodore Roosevelt and B&C not found in the regular edition and is only available from the Boone and Crockett Club.

Order Today! Call Toll-Free 888-840-4868 or visit B&C’s webstore at boone-crockett.org

B&C LIMITED EDITION

Includes exclusive Boone and Crockett Club content, not found in the regular edition. n Limited to 500 numbered copies. n Special tipped-in signature page autographed by John Seerey-Lester. n Comes with a signed giclée print, “TR and Skip Headin’ Home” by John Seerey-Lester (pictured at right). n Gilt edges, and a gold foil stamped cover in a matching slipcase. n

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52 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

Boone and Crockett Club 2016 Holiday Gift Guide for Sportsmen

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Â© DONALD M. JONES

54 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) may define the conservation legacy of our generation. The occurrence of CWD and its continuing spread challenges the foundations of wildlife conservation, both in the short term and, perhaps more significantly, in the longer term. In the short term, CWD is causing reallocation of precious financial and staff-time resources within state wildlife agencies and in many states is already disrupting existing programs. In the longer term, CWD poses a threat to the existence of wildlife conservation as we know it today. Sales of deer hunting licenses represent a large proportion of annual revenueâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as much as 50 percent of the entire fish and wildlife budgets of some states. The loss of these revenues means that all conservation programs would be likely to change dramatically. When the Boone and Crockett Club was formed in 1887, a major element of its charter was to take charge of all matters pertaining to the future of big game in North America. The Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accomplishments in this regard are legendary. The reason that the Club has invested in science through its research grants and especially its university programs is to stay in the vanguard and maintain its vigilance in this arena. CWD is rapidly becoming front and center, and we need to marshal all of our talent to meet the challenges posed by this disease. And, it is threats like CWD that give cause to the science reporting of Fair Chase magazine. Every hunter needs to be aware of and actively involved in addressing this problem.

In this issue, we begin to update you and all hunters about the status of CWD and what science can tell us about it today. (pg. 60) - Bill Porter and John Organ, Fair Chase Science and Education Editors

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 55

WILDLIFE GOVERNANCE Steve Williams, in his “Capitol Comments” article titled “Relevancy of Conservation” (Fair Chase spring 2016), stated, “Conservation will remain relevant if we design agency structures and programs with an understanding of the public’s needs and desires.” Steve further stated, “the loss of relevancy is a function of our inability to understand the social impacts of a changing world. There are social sciences to consider.” One of those social sciences is political science, the field of inquiry concerned with understanding politics. Politics is fundamentally about decision-making, power, and governance. It is based on values and results in allocation of resources. Steve’s timely article addresses the issue of relevancy of our wildlife management agencies to broader societal interests that is forefront in North American wildlife conservation today. The issue is a priority of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America’s Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources that Steve is a key member of. This issue of relevancy is not new; for example, in 1996, Shane Mahoney and I, spurred on by colleagues, initiated a series of workshops across North America with conservation professionals, titled “Maintaining Leadership.” These workshops, which

56 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

continued through 2001, were designed to prompt transformative thinking towards new approaches to address future conservation challenges, while building off of our historic successes. As Steve outlined, the issue of relevancy is becoming critical now, as reflected in proximal symptoms such as lack of funding for wildlife conservation at federal, provincial, and state levels, and eroding political support. One approach to taking the issue head-on is to look beyond the symptoms and focus on the core: how agencies and the wildlife conservation institution are governed. This is where political science comes in. Last March at the 82nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a special session titled “Wildlife Governance Principles – Guidance for More Effective Wildlife Management” was held. To underscore the urgency Steve gave in his article, this session—one of four concurrent sessions—was standing-room only. The session was organized by Dr. Dan Decker of Cornell University (recipient of The Wildlife Society’s Aldo Leopold Medal), Ann Forstchen of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Chris Smith of the Wildlife Management Institute.

SCIENCE BLASTS

JOHN F. ORGAN B&C PROFESSIONAL MEMBER Director of the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units

A set of wildlife governance principles was put forth at this session. These principles, outlined below, have their roots firmly attached to a key tenet of wildlife conservation: the public trust in wildlife—the raison d’etre of wildlife conservation agencies. These principles combine elements of public-trust thinking and standards of good governance: 1. Wildlife governance will be adaptable and responsive to citizens’ current needs and interests while also being forward-looking to conserve options of future generations. 2. Wildlife governance will seek and incorporate multiple and diverse perspectives. 3. Wildlife governance will apply social and ecological science, citizens’ knowledge, and trust administrators’ judgment. 4. Wildlife governance will produce multiple, sustainable benefits for all beneficiaries. 5. Wildlife governance will ensure that trust administrators are responsible for maintaining trust resources and allocating benefits from the trust. 6. Wildlife governance will be publicly accessible and transparent. 7. Wildlife governance will ensure that trust administrators are publicly accountable. 8. Wildlife governance will include means for citizens to become informed and engaged in decision-making. 9. Wildlife governance will include opportunities for trust administrators to meet their obligations in partnerships with non-governmental entities. 10. Wildlife governance will facilitate collaboration and coordination across ecological, jurisdictional, and ownership boundaries.

How do we better inform people about conservation? We engage them in the enterprise. Will traditional programs and pursuits erode as a result? Not if the engagement is designed to foster and develop common ground among all users and interests. ÂŠ MARK MESENKO

Will these principles alone alter the course of conservation? Not likely, but I will argue that without their implementation, society will become further disenfranchised from wildlife conservation, and the agencies mandated with securing the public trust in wildlife will not have adequate resources and political standing to do their jobs. The trends, as Steve outlined, are visible and palpable. Public response to events such as the killing of Cecil the lion, with broadbrush attacks on hunting, is symptomatic of societal disconnect from conservation programs. How do we better inform people about conservation? We engage them in the enterprise. Will traditional programs and pursuits erode as a result? Not if the engagement is designed to foster and develop common ground among all users and interests. The reality is, those who have desires and needs relative to nature and wildlife will seek out sources to fulfill those needs. My preference is that those needs and desires are filled principally by the agencies established by law to manage the trust, in partnership with conservation organizations, which can foster appreciation and respect among all users of the validity and importance of diverse interests. More than ever, we need unity among all those who care about the future of our wildlife heritage if we desire future generations to be able to engage in the pursuits we have enjoyed. n

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 57

EDUCATING THE

NEXT GENERATION OF

B&C UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS

CONSERVATION LEADERS FROM:

University of Montana UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA

Dr. Joshua Millspaugh began his position as the new B&C Professor at the University of Montana this fall. He came to Missoula from the University of Missouri, where he was the William J. Rucker Professor of Wildlife Conservation and interim director of the School of Natural Resources where he provided administrative leadership for four academic departments. He was on faculty at Missouri for nearly 17 years. Dr. Millspaugh has 25 years of experience conducting research on big game species, including elk, bison, mule deer, pronghorn, and whitetail deer, throughout North America. His research has also involved studies of African elephants and lions in South Africa. He has conducted research to address important management questions on a diversity of other species and topics including potential effects of wind energy development on sage grouse in Wyoming, river turtle harvest issues in Missouri, and effects of land management practices on a diversity of birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Dr. Millspaugh is developing his program at the University of Montana and stated, “I want my research to advance science and our understanding of natural systems 58 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

while impacting management and policy.” In addition to continuing his work with big game species, he expects much of his research to address public and private land management issues. He is excited about the connection with the Boone and Crockett Club and building collaborations to pursue relevant management and policy topics. He has a strong commitment to student education and intends to emphasize the role of science in management and policy. “Training our next generation of scientists to integrate science with policy and placing them in key conservation

jobs is a primary goal of our program,” he said. Millspaugh completed his doctorate at the University of Washington in Seattle where he studied elk ecology and management in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He has received numerous awards for teaching and research including the U.S.D.A. National Teacher of the Year and Missouri Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Last year, he received the north-central section of The Wildlife Society Professional Award of Merit for outstanding professional contributions to wildlife management. n

Dr. Joshua Millspaugh visited the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch to take part in the most recent Learn To Hunt Program.

“We are extremely excited for Dr. Millspaugh to join us at the University of Montana,” said Chad Bishop, Director of the Wildlife Biology Program. “His excellence in teaching and research will undoubtedly strengthen the Wildlife Biology Program and at the same time bolster our long-standing partnership with the Boone and Crockett Club.” The Club started its national endowed professorship program at UM in 1992. Millspaugh will become the fourth Boone and Crockett professor, following Hal Salwasser, Jack Ward Thomas, and Paul Krausman.

Do What You Can “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing ... Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” —Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States of America and founder of the Boone and Crockett Club. You can do the right thing by making a year-end charitable gift to the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation. Your generous gift of cash, appreciated securities, mutual funds, real estate, a unitrust or a gift annuity will help insure the vitality of important programs for years to come. Plus, your gift will bypass the increased income tax rates and avoid an unintended “gift” to the government.

For more information, please contact: Winton C. Smith, J.D. 1-800-727-1040 wsmith@wintonsmith.com (560.51 1902-110) AND “THEODORE ROOSEVELT COLLECTION, HOUGHTON LIBRARY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY.”

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 59

PART 1 This series will give our readers a closer look at chronic wasting disease. It will touch on the various challenges posed by this disease and begin to update you and all hunters about the status of CWD and what science can tell us about it today.

ÂŠISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ JUNCE

The first part in this series will outline what CWD is and the tangled history of the disease.

60 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

THE FIRST FIVE (OR MORE) DECADES OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE:

LESSONS FOR THE FIVE

DECADES TO COME MICHAEL W. MILLER SENIOR WILDLIFE VETERINARIAN, COLORADO DIVISION OF PARKS AND WILDLIFE, FORT COLLINS, COLORADO

As of September 2016, CWD had been reported in captive and/or free-ranging cervids in 24 U.S. states, 3 Canadian provinces, South Korea, and Norway. With few exceptions (New York and perhaps Minnesota), the disease has persisted in the wild in the face of widely varied control attempts. Natural and anthropogenic factors have contributed to the geographic spread and persistence of CWD. Natural factors include prolonged incubation, multiple routes of agent shedding, the agentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environmental persistence, and migratory and dispersal movements of wild cervids. Anthropogenic factors include movements of infected live animals (and perhaps infectious tissues and other materials), concentration of normally dispersed

wild cervids, and other artificial wildlife management practices. Many facets of CWD biology and ecology now are well understood, but science-based, effective management and control strategies remain comparatively incomplete. Eradicating CWD appears infeasible given its extensive distribution and other epidemiological attributes. Regardless, adaptive approaches for containing foci and reducing infection and transmission rates have shown some promise and deserve further attention. Such pursuits undoubtedly will be more difficult to champion and garner support for in sociopolitical climates ranging from apathetic to combative, particularly when disease control prescriptions impinge upon or conflict with commercial enclosures or hunting by the general public.. We believe there are two important motivations for making progress toward sustainable containment and control strategies for CWD in the coming decades. First, data from several sources suggest that heavily-infected cervid populations will not thrive in the long term. Second, data on CWD prions and experience with other animal prion diseases suggest minimizing human exposure to these agents is prudent.

ÂŠMARK MESENKO

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), an infectious prion disease of at least five cervid species, has run the gamut from minor scientific curiosity to national crisis since the syndrome was first recognized in the late 1960s.

JOHN R. FISCHER B&C PROFESSIONAL MEMBER DIRECTOR AND PROFESSOR, SOUTHEASTERN COOPERATIVE WILDLIFE DISEASE STUDY, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA ATHENS, GEORGIA

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 61

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIRST FIVE DECADES

Chronic wasting disease, an infectious prion disease of at least five cervid species, has run the gamut from minor scientific curiosity to national crisis since the syndrome’s first recognition in the late 1960s. Moving forward, we believe this wildlife disease merits attention somewhere between those extremes. Collective experiences and observations made over the last five decades can serve— for better or worse—as a solid foundation for wildlife and animal health professionals to build upon in addressing anticipated challenges posed by CWD in the decades to come. Here we overview what we regard as the key lessons learned over the first five or more decades of North America’s experience with CWD.

LONGER THAN YOU THINK: BRIEF HISTORY AND KNOWN DISTRIBUTION OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE

That the duration of an outbreak often is underestimated seems perhaps the most important overarching lesson about CWD. Despite its likely occurrence in multiple locations since the 1960s or earlier, many wildlife and animal health professionals, as well as our lay and media publics, perceive CWD as having emerged and spread rapidly only since the early 2000s. This perception has fostered the broader notion that newly discovered disease foci are truly new (very recent) occurrences. To the contrary; given imperfect surveillance approaches, incomplete or inaccurate knowledge about local exposure risks, and the insidious progression of an outbreak in its early stages, the first case detected in a locale is rarely the first case that has occurred. Consequently, on further investigation new foci tend to have larger spatial dimensions and higher prevalence than expected, thereby perpetuating misconceptions about the speed of spread. This lesson has been illustrated by experiences in Colorado and Wyoming, in Saskatchewan, in Wisconsin, and most

recently in Arkansas where expanded surveillance disclosed 79 additional cases within two months after their first case was diagnosed in February 2016. Chronic wasting disease history remains incompletely documented. The chronic wasting syndrome first was recognized in captive mule deer held for research in Colorado in the 1960s, but unrecognized cases could have occurred in Colorado or elsewhere before that time. Clinical cases also were recognized in captive mule deer in the Denver and Toronto zoos in the 1970s, and in captive Rocky Mountain elk in research and zoological collections in Colorado and Wyoming. Undocumented involvement of other private collections or menageries during the 1960s and 1970s seems likely. Within little more than the first two decades after its characterization as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, CWD cases were diagnosed in wild mule deer, white-tailed deer, and elk in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming (1980s–1990s), in commercial captive elk facilities in Saskatchewan (1996) and in South Dakota (1997), in commercial captive white-tailed deer facilities in several

jurisdictions (2001–2002), and eventually in wild moose. Cases from what have become recognized as large foci in wild deer in Saskatchewan-Alberta and Wisconsin-Illinois also were first detected in the early 2000s. As of October 2016, cases of CWD had been reported in captive and/or free-ranging cervids in 24 states (77 captive herds in 16 states and free-ranging cervids in 21 states), 3 Canadian provinces (including Ontario’s Toronto Zoo in the 1970s), and South Korea. In the spring of 2016, CWD was detected in two free-ranging moose and a single wild reindeer in Norway marking the first detections in Europe. Based on experience to date, the true geographic distribution of CWD likely remains underestimated. TWO GOOD STORIES: THE DRIVERS OF THE SPREAD OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE

A second overarching lesson—a corollary to the first—is that new CWD foci often can be explained by two or more equally plausible (and equally undeniable) origin stories. Distorted temporal perceptions on the likely timing of introduction underlie the plurality of origin stories, as do sociopolitical motivations to deflect or lay blame

Infected cervids likely shed prions for most of the disease course, thus affording ample opportunities for transmission within and among social groups. Migration movements also have potential for contributing to longerdistance jumps in distribution.

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CWD THROUGH THE YEARS YEAR

EVENTS

1967

Wasting syndrome observed in captive mule deer at a Colorado wildlife research facility

1975−81

Wasting syndrome observed in Toronto Zoo mule deer that came from the Denver Zoo

1978

“Chronic wasting disease” (CWD) diagnosed as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)

1979

Recognized in captive mule deer at Wyoming wildlife research facility

1981

Detected in wild elk in Colorado

1985

Detected in wild mule deer in Colorado and Wyoming

1996

Detected in a captive elk farm in Saskatchewan; 38 other linked farms eventually found positive

1997

Detected in captive elk facilities in South Dakota

1998

n n

Detected in captive elk facilities in Montana and Oklahoma Model Program for Surveillance, Control, and Eradication of CWD in Domestic Elk presented at US Animal Health Association to establish monitoring and control standards

1999

World Health Organization indicates no evidence CWD is transmissible to humans, but advises that exposure should be avoided nonetheless

2000

Detected in wild mule deer in Nebraska and Saskatchewan Research: molecular studies compare host ranges for CWD, scrapie, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy prions; environmental contamination and subclinical infection contribute to transmission; prevalence estimates in wild populations in Colorado and Wyoming

2001

n n n n

2002

n n n n n n

2003

n n n n

Detected in captive elk in Kansas Detected in captive elk in South Korea imported from Saskatchewan Detected in wild white-tailed deer in South Dakota USDA declares CWD emergency in captive elk; funds available for disease control Detected in captive elk in Minnesota, captive white-tailed deer in Alberta, and wild and captive white-tailed deer in Wisconsin Detected in wild white-tailed deer in Illinois, mule deer in New Mexico, and elk in South Dakota Joint CWD Task Force of USDA/DOI/States/Universities develops Plan for Assisting States, Federal Agencies, and Tribes in Managing CWD in Wild and Captive Cervids (National CWD Plan) Colorado establishes guidelines to minimize transport of high risk carcass materials 1st International CWD Symposium (Denver, Colorado) Research: tonsil biopsy as a live animal test; improved high-throughput diagnostics Detected in wild mule deer in Utah APHIS funds available for CWD work in captive and wild cervids (through 2011) USDA publishes Proposed Rule for CWD herd certification and interstate shipping program (HCP) to eradicate CWD from captive whitetailed deer and elk Research: horizontal transmission of CWD likely important in CWD epidemiology

Detected in wild elk in New Mexico National CWD Plan progress report published and new priorities discussed Research: environmental sources, decomposed carcasses can contribute to transmission

2005

Detected in captive and wild white-tailed deer in New York, wild mule deer in Alberta, moose in Colorado, and white-tailed deer in West Virginia

2006

n n

Detected in captive white-tailed deer in Minnesota and wild white-tailed deer in Kansas USDA publishes CWD HCP Final Rule – never implemented Research: prions in muscles of infected deer; transmitted in saliva and blood

2007

Research: prions in environment more infective in particular (clay) soil types

2008

Detected in captive white-tailed deer in Michigan, wild elk in Saskatchewan, and moose in Wyoming Research: CWD may be a plausible explanation for local deer population declines in Colorado

2004

n n

2009

APHIS plans to withdraw 2006 CWD Final Rule, issue a new rule based on 2006 rule and 2009 proposed rule Research: prions shed in feces from deer in early stages of CWD; prions in urine and saliva

2010

Detected in captive white-tailed deer in Missouri and wild white-tailed deer in North Dakota and Virginia

2011

Detected in wild white-tailed deer in Maryland and Minnesota Severe reduction of USDA funds for CWD work

2012

Detected in captive white-tailed deer in Iowa and Pennsylvania, wild white-tailed deer in Missouri, and wild mule deer in west Texas APHIS Interim Final Rule for CWD Herd Certification and Interstate Movement and CWD Program Standards published Research: possible link between scrapie and CWD

2013

Detected in wild white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania

2014

Detected in captive white-tailed deer in Ohio CWD Program Standards revised APHIS CWD Final Rule implemented Research: plants may play role in CWD transmission and environmental maintenance; experimental aerosol transmission in white-tailed deer

n n

n n n

2015

n n

2016

n n n

Detected in wild white-tailed deer in Michigan and captive white-tailed deer in Texas Research: plants can bind prions superficially and uptake prions from contaminated soil Detected in wild elk and white-tailed deer in Arkansas Detected in a wild reindeer in Norway CWD found in two wild moose and a free-ranging reindeer in Norway FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 63

elsewhere when “new” cases arise. But perhaps most pervasive is the lack of complete information on contributory events, particularly for outbreaks involving free-ranging cervids. Although the lack of a singular explanation can be dissatisfying, failing to consider plausible alternative timelines and exposure sources may be more problematic when disease prevention and control efforts are misinformed or misled. For example, the widely held belief that all CWD occurrences can be traced back to a single Colorado research facility has precluded wildlife and animal health professionals from considering that some outbreaks may be arising from unrecognized exposure events that occur repeatedly over time. The recent Norwegian reindeer and moose cases may stimulate broader thinking. In fact, natural and anthropogenic factors have contributed to the geographic spread and persistence of CWD over the last five decades. Regardless of the

CWD BY THE MAP

ultimate origin, much of the geographic spread of CWD appears attributable to natural movements in some jurisdictions; Wyoming, for example, has only one private game farm and consequently commercial enterprise is unlikely to have driven the widespread distribution there. Alternatively, the role of commercial elk operations in CWD outbreaks in Saskatchewan and South Korea was well-documented, with inadvertent spillover apparently giving rise to a large free-ranging focus spanning the Saskatchewan-Alberta border. In Colorado, a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors likely contributed in different measures to separate outbreaks along the Front Range and on the Western Slope. Natural factors contributing to persistence and geographic spread include prolonged incubation, multiple routes of agent shedding, the agent’s environmental persistence, and movements of free-ranging cervids. Infected cervids likely shed

prions for most of the disease course, thus affording ample opportunities for transmission within and among social groups. Migration movements also have potential for contributing to longer-distance jumps in distribution. Because infectivity can be harbored in some environments for an extended time, transmission occurs on overlapping ranges even in the absence of direct interactions between infected and uninfected animals. Indirect transmission also increases the likelihood of interspecies transmission. The primary anthropogenic factor identified in the dissemination of CWD is human-facilitated movement of live animals, and to date, this is the only confirmed contributing activity linked to CWD’s spread between distant locations. These animal movements typically are fostered by other highly artificial wildlife management activities, such as captive wildlife propagation and high-fenced shooting enclosures. Translocating free-ranging cervids from an

infected source also would present a similar risk for spreading CWD. Local wildlife may be exposed to CWD if infected captive animals escape, or if there is ingress/ egress of free-ranging cervids with exposure to infected captive animals or to contaminated environments. Fence-line contact offers another opportunity for direct transmission. (Note that these transmission opportunities are a two-way street, i.e., CWD can move in either direction between captive and wild cervids.) Other possible modes for the anthropogenic spread of CWD include transport of infected carcasses, products manufactured or contaminated with prion-laden deer or elk urine, saliva, or feces, and movement of hay or grain crops contaminated with the CWD agent. None of these has been documented in the field, although proof of concept has been demonstrated experimentally. In addition, other anthropogenic factors can substantially increase the likelihood of establishing, maintaining, and disseminating CWD and other diseases in free-ranging wildlife. In particular, artificial management activities, such as wildlife baiting and feeding or other practices that congregate normally dispersed wild animals, enhance pathogen transmission opportunities.

Current known distribution of chronic wasting disease (CWD). In addition to North America, cases have been reported in South Korea (captive only) and Norway (freeranging only). North America map from U.S. Geological Survey (2016).

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THINGS WE NOW KNOW: CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY

Many facets of CWD biology and ecology that were mysteries even into the early 2000s now are well understood. For example, notable advances have been made in diagnostics and in our understanding of transmission routes and host factors modulating disease progression that have application in CWD detection and control. These and other advances have been reviewed thoroughly elsewhere; here we offer a brief synthesis of findings most relevant to CWD detection and control, which we will address in the

second article in this series. Chronic wasting disease appears to be caused by one or more strains of infectious prions. Although the ultimate historical origin never will be known with certainty, we regard exposure of native cervids to the sheep scrapie agent at one or more times and locations as a possible explanation. Regardless of their origin(s), sustained outbreaks now occur as large and small foci in wild cervid populations and in captive wildlife facilities (Fig. 1). Natural cases of CWD have occurred in five host species native to North America: mule deer, white-tailed deer, Rocky Mountain elk, moose, and

Part 2 will be featured in the Spring 2017 issue of Fair Chase.

reindeer/caribou. No immunity, recovery, or absolute resistance to infection has been documented in any of the susceptible species. However, natural variation in the host gene encoding for cellular prion protein does modulate disease progression, thereby extending survival times and perhaps lowering infection probabilities for relatively resistant genotypes. The disease course typically is measured in years. Clinical signs—altered behavior initially, with body condition declining much later—become progressively apparent relatively late in the disease course. Infection can be detected in carcasses, as well as

in live animals, and diagnostic tests become increasingly reliable in individual animals as the disease progresses. Chronic wasting disease is infectious. Infected individuals shed prions from several routes during most of the disease course, exposing others either directly or through contamination of shared resources or environments. Shed prions can persist for years in the environment, and their binding to soil elements (e.g., clay) enhances persistence and infectivity. The uncoupling of transmission from the immediate presence of infected animals greatly complicates CWD control. n

This article is excerpted from the complete paper to be published in the “Transactions of the 81st Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference.” It was presented in the special session “Science-based Management Strategies for Fish and Wildlife Diseases” in March 2016. The complete Transactions paper will be available through the website of the Wildlife Management Institute at wildlifemanagementinstitute.org.

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FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 65

EMERY D. TUMBLESTON B&C/CAMP WOODIE STUDENT Photos Courtesy of Boone and Crockett Club

Heaven on Earth

Cabela’s Outdoor Fund Awards Grant to Boone and Crockett/Camp Woodie Fellowship Program A partnership between the Boone and Crockett Club and the South Carolina Waterfowl Association (SCWA) has been awarded a $64,000 grant by Cabela’s Outdoor Fund to create new learning opportunities for youths interested in wildlife conservation careers. The partnership between the two conservation organizations is called the Boone and Crockett/Camp Woodie Fellowship Program. The grant from Cabela’s Outdoor Fund will cover all travel, room and board expenses 66 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

of fellowship recipients during the two-week program, which will include study and field work in both South Carolina and Montana. In Spring 2016, 30 Camp Woodie alums were selected to receive the fellowship made possible through the grant from Cabela’s. Fellowship recipients attended Level-3 classes at Camp Woodie, located at the SCWA Wildlife Education Center in Pinewood, South Carolina. During this week-long course, fellowship recipients interacted with wildlife professionals

and learned about careers in wildlife/fisheries conservation and education. At the end of the Level-3 Camp Woodie session, students went west to spend a week on Boone and Crockett’s 6,000-acre Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch near Choteau, Montana. There they furthered their study of wildlife conservation and took part in a five-day Outdoor Adventure Camp instructed by western wildlife professionals. “We’re excited to be able to expand conservation education opportunities for

more young people,” Boone and Crockett Club Conservation Programs Manager Luke Coccoli said. “Conservation evolves and the next generation of conservation professionals will benefit from exposure to a wide range of disciplines, not only to find out where the needs will be in the future, but what will suit them and their interests best.” To qualify, applicants must be age 16-17 and have attended all three levels of the SCWA Camp Woodie summer fish and wildlife conservation camp program.

What did you learn during your time at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch?

What did I learn? I learned mountain goats and bighorn sheep live where the mountains are steep and that sometimes when your airplane flies through a thick cloud it feels like King Kong is trying to shake you out of the sky. That and so much more.

In the 2,000 miles I traveled, I saw many faces of this country. I saw the deep green hardwood forests of the South change to a maze of interstates and superhighways around the city of Atlanta. I saw the Great Plains sewn together in a patchwork of shapes in the colors of John Deere green and Land Pride beige, making up the prettiest quilt any man ever made. The many lakes of Minnesota reflected the sunset in a blinding glare of auburn. When I finally saw the grassy plains seamlessly sweep up into the ancient Rocky Mountains, the jagged edges of each mountain peak rising into the clear blue sky of Montana, I realized that this was about as close as I could get to paradise in this life. Many people think of paradise as a white sandy beach on some tropical island where it is summertime all year round. My idea of paradise is a little different. I would want snowcapped mountains with hidden crystal-blue lakes and little streams growing into huge inland waterways that meander all the way to the ocean. I would want all the hopping, flying, and swimming things I could eat, and a white sand beach with a couple of palmetto trees wouldn’t hurt. Most importantly, I would want seasons. Different seasons bring different changes. You get to see the full potential of the land you live on.

Fall has to be my favorite season. The leaves in the Appalachians show off their brilliant shades of color ranging from a pale yellow all the way to a deep brick red; apples and pumpkins are ready for picking, and every buck in the forest is showing off the biggest set of antlers that they can put on for the ladies. Winter brings (to most of the country) a healthy dusting of blinding white snow (and duck season for the South)! Spring wakes everyone up, sprouts a mosaic of new bright green leaves, and pops out from the ground a rainbow of flowers; it also means there are baby animals everywhere. Summer means no school, farming time, and everyone making a beeline for the water. A Montana summer is a heck of a lot different than a South Carolina summer, where we are used to 80 percent humidity and a heat index in the triple digits every day! It’s also considered a cool-down when the high is 90. When I was in Montana, I clearly saw the need for a summer jacket. With its crisp mornings, warm (but not hot) days, and the Rocky Mountain-shaded evenings that pair well with the crackling and glowing red embers of a campfire, I saw summer through a completely different lens. On the coast of South Carolina, warm rivers and beaches offer sticky, jet-black pluff mud (the best stink in the world). Most of the water around where I live averages close to 90 degrees in the summer time and stays a perpetual muddy brown color. The water is considered “clear” when you can barely see 3 feet under. In Montana, the water looked like a giant blue swimming pool. Swift moving streams swept through the mountains and drained into the prettiest lake I have ever seen. Surrounded by the majestic Rockies there was a body of water edged with rocks that have eroded from the mountainsides over thousands of years. The shallow edges of the lake

In Montana, the water looked like a giant blue swimming pool. Swift moving streams swept through the mountains and drained into the prettiest lake I have ever seen.

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 67

Seeing bear tracks, bighorn sheep and mountain goats, crystal-blue lakes, and a completely different variety of plants for the first time really showed me how diverse this land is and how we need to protect it for everyone to be able to see.

I had caught my first fish while in Montana (it was also my first fish caught with a fly rod), giving me the name “Cutthroat Queen.”

68 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

started as a gorgeous emerald green and blended into a royal blue in the center. And the water is cold! I experienced the coldness firsthand by hurling myself over a 25-foot cliff into frigid water. It was quite a change from the warm Atlantic Ocean I am used to. I got to experience hiking in the wilderness of Montana. The never-ending smell of Christmas trees permeated the air around me as we began the four-mile hike uphill to an alpine lake to go fishing. As I went higher in altitude, I could see the change in plants and wildlife. There were lots of conifers and some wild strawberries at 4,000 feet, and more rocky terrain and patches of wildflowers as we got closer to 7,000 feet. At lower altitudes, there were whitetail deer and also a bighorn sheep ram, standing like he was king of the mountain at the very top of a rocky ridge with the endless blue sky as his backdrop. As we got near the top of the mountain, I looked to the east, and I could again see the patchwork quilt that was the Great Plains. It made me see how truly small God has made me compared to the rest of this world. After a whole lot of huffin’ and puffin’ from the 3,000-foot climb (we are flatland people from South Carolina not used to thin air and giant mountains), I peeked around the corner and saw a scene straight out of a movie—a quaint little lake surrounded by towering mountain peaks with banks of snow (in August!) in the shaded corners, leftover from the cold winter months. Looking closer, clinging to the side of the mountain with their split, suction cup-like hooves, you could see a small group of mountain goats. In a little grassy valley above me, I saw a group of four bighorn sheep rams sitting like the eligible bachelors that they were, resting without a care.

With a fly rod in my hand, I carefully stepped my way across fallen boulders to a spot to start fishing. I moved the rod back-and-forth, similar to that of a bullwhip, until I saw the line long enough to cast into the cobalt blue water. A streak of silver and the bend of my rod told me to start pulling in the line. I had caught my first fish while in Montana (it was also my first fish caught with a fly rod), giving me the name “Cutthroat Queen” (because of the kind of trout it was and because of my very blunt, un-sugar-coated way of talking). But before long, it was time to leave the picturesque views of the lake. I was the last one to leave this little hidden paradise and begin the tiring trek back down the trail. The hike back was easier in the sense that it was downhill, but harder because I had to leave one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The 9 p.m. sunsets were absolutely breathtaking— blue sky blending to gold and then to a deep orange with a blinding ball of fire sinking into the west behind the silhouette of the Rocky Mountains. The last night I was there, a storm began to hover over the mountains, and the evening’s last light showed the cold rain falling thousands of feet to the ground. The bright white lightning lit up the western sky in a light show greater than anything you could pay to see in Las Vegas. I saw the uncontrollable beauty and wonder of a summertime storm and I learned to appreciate it, despite the fact that it carried with it a certain level of danger. Before we piled into the SUVs to leave, I looked up at the Montana night sky for the last time. The storm had passed, and I saw the most brilliant display of any night sky I had ever seen. I saw tiny specks of stars glittering like diamonds, scattered against

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FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 69

MONTANA Heaven on Earth a navy blue canvas and a white dust trail that was the Milky Way. I kept staring, trying to see every inch of the never-ending sky. Orbiting the Earth were little satellites moving in every direction and I remember thinking, “How many countries can see me right now?” As we began the journey back across the country on the various Boeing 7-something-7s, I couldn’t help but hum Dan Seal’s “Meet Me In Montana” in my head, “Won’t you meet me in Montana? I want to see the mountains in your eyes. I’ve had all of this life I can handle. Meet me underneath that big Montana sky.”

Stepping off the plane in Charleston International Airport, I got my luggage, said goodbye to everyone, and met my sister and brother-in-law holding “Welcome Home Emery” and “Bigfoot spotted in Montana” signs (he says I have big feet, just women’s size 1112—he’s just jealous). Walking through the automatic sliding glass doors, I immediately felt the unpleasantly familiar weight of the South’s famous heat and humidity on my shoulders. That night, sitting at a table in Logan’s restaurant, with a tall glass of sweet tea in front of me (the only thing bad about Montana is that they

Applications and more information about SCWA’s Camp Woodie and the Boone and Crockett Club’s Wildlife Conservation Skills Camp can be found at www.wildlifeedcenter.org and www.boone-crockett.org.

have no sweet tea!), my momma asked me if I had missed my family. I did the smart thing—I told her that I did miss them and I wish they could have seen Big Sky Country. Seeing bear tracks, bighorn sheep and mountain goats, crystal-blue lakes, and a completely different variety of plants for the first time really showed me how diverse this land is and how we need to protect it for everyone to be able to see. I feel privileged to have seen what the middle of nowhere (a.k.a. where your phones have no service) looks like. It was amazing to get to see a completely different landscape than what I am

used to. I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take an adventure not many other people get to take. I hope more people get to do what I did and develop as deep a love and respect for this land as I have, and that they admire absolutely everything in it. What I got to see on my trip was what I had only seen in movies, and it makes me wonder, if God made such beautiful things on Earth, I can only imagine what heaven will look like. n

Camp Woodie alums spend a week on Boone and Crockett’s 6,000-acre Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch and took part in a five-day Outdoor Adventure Camp instructed by western wildlife professionals.

The hike back was easier in the sense that it was downhill, but harder because I had to leave one of the most beautiful places on Earth. 70 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

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BACK IN BLACK: OKLAHOMA BRUINS By the turn of the 20th century, the rock cavities and dug-out root-ball dens of black bears were void of their oncenumerous occupants. The subtle feeding chuckle of the infantile, hairless cubs would no longer reverberate from these secret places in the mountains of eastern Oklahoma. It was the first time they hadn’t been heard since the end of the last ice age. The black bears, once kings of this unique geographic region, were gone. What had changed? Whatever caused it must have rushed in like a flash flood. Within a few short generations, stories of black bears were only retold tales heard by the young ears of those that were now old. The icon of American wilderness had disappeared.

BEYOND THE SCORE

Clay Newcomb B&C OFFICIAL MEASURER PUBLISHER, BEAR HUNTING MAGAZINE

When one thinks of Oklahoma, you typically don’t think about it being black bear habitat. Pre-European settlement, however, the Ouachita and Ozark mountains were probably as good of bear habitat as there was on the planet. The oak, hickory, and pine climax forests of these mountains lie in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, with the highest peak just above 2,700 feet. The Ouachitas are the only east-west running mountain range between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. They are an extremely old range of mountains, formed by tectonic uplift, that geologists believe were once as tall as the Rockies, but eroded over a time period that is incomprehensible by the human mind. Eastern Oklahoma marks the western edge of the massive Eastern deciduous forest which is a virtual sea of hardwoods that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean over 1,000 miles inland before it transitions into the great prairies. These were edge bears. And they were special. Unregulated market hunting, landscape-level logging, and habitat fragmentation dealt a blow to the bears that would extirpate them from the region. By 1915, there were no black bears left in Oklahoma. By the 1940s, it’s estimated that in the whole state of Arkansas only 50 bears remained from a population once estimated at over 50,000. However, in the 1950s and 60s the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission traded bass and wild turkey with Minnesota and Manitoba in exchange for 254 black bears transported back to Arkansas in wire cages

Most people don’t think about Oklahoma being mountainous, but eastern Oklahoma shares the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains with western border of Arkansas, prime bear habitat.

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This column is dedicated to the system that supports the public hunting of public wildlife for all fair chase sportsmen, and the stories and trophies that are the result. Theodore Roosevelt strongly believed that self-reliance and pursuing the strenuous activities of hunting and wilderness exploration was the best way to keep man connected to nature. We score trophies, but every hunt is to some extent a way of measuring ourselves.

in pickup trucks. These bears would be relocated into strategic locations in western Arkansas. After 30 years, the relocation would be considered the most successful reintroduction of large carnivores in the world. From this core population, bears would repopulate much of their original range in Oklahoma, and also spread into Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, and northeast Texas. Today biologists estimate that 2,000 black bears reside in Oklahoma. By conservative figures, another 5,000 reside in Arkansas. In 1980, Arkansas reopened the black bear hunting season, and in 2009 Oklahoma reopened theirs. Black bears are thriving, and it’s a massive win for conservation and hunting—the icon of American wilderness is back in black.

OKLAHOMA BLACK BEAR HUNTING

In 2009, the Oklahoma Department of Game and Fish opened its first black bear hunting season in modern times. It started out with an October 1 archery opener and a 20-bear quota in a four-county area. Baiting was allowed on private land. In all, 32 bears were killed on that first day of hunting before they could stop the hunt. They continued with a quota system until 2012 when they dropped it, hoping to entice hunters to wait for older, male bears. Over the last seven years, the highest harvest for one year has been 71, and a total of 284 bears have been legally harvested from 2009 to 2015. Having had bears for decades before the hunting season opened, the Oklahoma bear population holds an

older age class of bears. In other words, the Sooner State has some big bears. Many people don’t realize it, but Bergman’s Rule (body size of a species is larger in colder climates) doesn’t strictly apply to bruins. Canada has some giant bears, but the largest black bears on the planet are in the eastern United States (Pennsylvania and North Carolina). Bears opt out of winter stress by going into a state of torpor (not hibernation), effectively side-stepping the biological law that governs ungulates and most other mammals. Bears in the lower latitudes den in response to food availability, not cold weather. The only obligate “denners” are pregnant females who give birth in the den in January. This means that on years with good fall mast (acorns, hickory nuts,

beechnuts), bears may feed through a good portion of the winter. What does this translate into? Big bears. As I write this, the bear season is open in four counties: Latimer, LeFlore, Pushmatha, and McCurtain. These are Ouachita Mountain counties known for their rugged terrain and are locally called the Kiamichi Range. The fall hunt over bait is truly a challenge because the white oak acorns begin falling during this time. Mature bears will pound the baits all through September, but disappear like black ghosts the weeks leading to the season opener. A bait site that has five or six bears coming to it may only have one by the time October 1 arrives. Often the target bears are the first to leave. Additionally, bears in this part of the world are usually very spooky of humans. Bears in the Canadian wilderness typically offer more tolerance of humans in hunting situations. You have to do a lot of things right to kill a big bear in Oklahoma.

An Oklahoma sow stands in the rugged Kiamachi Range of the Ouachita Mountains in eastern Oklahoma. The reintroduction of bears into this region is considered the most successful reintroduction of larger carnivores in the world. FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 73

MY BIG OKLAHOMA BEAR

In 2015, I had one major hunting goal—to kill a Boone and Crockett bear in Oklahoma. I didn’t proclaim it to many, but I believed it was possible. I’d never killed a Boone and Crockett animal, so the lofty goal wasn’t within the normal parameter of my modis operandi. As the publisher of Bear Hunting Magazine, I’ve had the opportunity to hunt bears in some of the best places in North America. I knew that there were some unhunted giants in the region, and I was committed to do everything I knew to get one. However, enthusiasm and desire usually isn’t enough. With any Boone and Crockett animal there is a third, less tangible, yet oddly paradoxical, variable at play: destiny.

Having hunted brown bear in Alaska just the year before, I can honestly say that I was more excited to hunt Oklahoma. I love the beauty and the challenge of local hunting. To kill a Boone and Crockett bear in Oklahoma with my bow would be hard to top by any far-off, exotic bowhunting destination. My father had a good way of keeping my feet on the ground when I was an impressionable young hunter. He never straight up said it, but he eluded that the guys that had to travel far off to hunt may not have had the skills to be successful close to home (the region we lived in was tough hunting). Now I know that the assumption isn’t always true, however, from this hegemon I’ve built my hunting career. The

principle was that I needed to be as good a hunter as I could be in my home region. The rugged Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas were tough bowhunting for any species, and they became the backdrop of my hunting paradigm. Success forged out of difficulty produced an appreciation for hunting that neither blood nor money can buy. Western Arkansas/eastern Oklahoma isn’t a trophy destination for any big-game animal, but I’ve found the guys who can consistently kill mature animals here are, by my standards, the real deal. Which, I guess in a sense, that’s what I’ve always ascribed to be. I started baiting on a secluded piece of private land on August 28, 2015. I opened

The No Name bear the first day he showed up at the barrel on September 30. He was the lesser of three mature boars coming to the bait site.

74 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

up the bait with a mix of donuts, white bread, grease, frosting and candy. This time of year our bears can’t get enough carbohydrates, and they’ll literally eat as much as you can put out. After the first card pull around September 5, I knew I was in the game as I had two bears coming in that would qualify as shooters. Both the male bears I estimated to be over 450 pounds; by the time October 1 rolled around, I was confident they were both over 500. I’ve learned over the years of monitoring bears in Arkansas that a 500-pound bear isn’t always a 20-inch bear, which would be the assumption. The B&C state record Arkansas bear scored 21-9/16 inches and weighed in the high 400s. A good friend

killed a bear that weighed 508 pounds that scored 19-11/16 inches and later killed a 448-pound bruin that scored 20-5/16 inches. I didn’t know for sure that either of these bruins coming to my bait would make the 20-inch B&C Awards minimum, but I was willing to take a chance. However, getting a picture of big bear is light-years away from actually putting your hands on one. To be honest, I knew it would be a miracle if I could hold bears of this caliber for a full month. Turns out I was right. I estimated that I made 10 trips, two hours one way, to Oklahoma between late August and October 1. I’d also traveled to Wisconsin to get a load of high-quality bait in August. Over the course of the month of baiting, I had eight

adult bears come to the bait. At each baiting session I would stuff two 55-gallon drums, and sometimes three, chock-full of bait. The strategy that I’ve found works best in our region is to give the bears as much as they’ll eat, allotting them no reason to leave for acorns. The second tactic that I employ is adding meat the last five days before the season opener. I primarily use beef scraps and pork fat. I’ve found that bears gradually lose interest in the carbs and sugar, but a new item on the menu will often hold them for a few more days. The key is to not give it to them until the end. Around September 25, I employed my late-is-great meat tactic and the big bears responded until September 29. However, as if they’d read the regulations book, both

bears disappeared two days before the season opener. They’d been there every single day since September 5, but it didn’t matter. They were gone now. What I couldn’t have predicted was that a new bear would show up the very day the two giants left. Some might think it was territorial, but I don’t think it was more than unique coincidence. I’ve often seen multiple alpha males feeding at the same site. The first time I saw him on the card was on September 30, the day before the Oklahoma season opener; I called him No Name. The bear was mature, but he was clearly smaller than the other two bears. I knew he’d be hard to pass up. THE HUNT

On October 1, I arrived

Many people don’t realize it, but Bergman’s Rule (body size of a species is larger in colder climates) doesn’t strictly apply to bruins. Canada has some giant bears, but the largest black bears on the planet are in the eastern United States.

LEFT: Clay and Jeff Ford with the Boone and Crockett Awards skull. At the time of printing Clay’s bear is the number two Boone and Crockett bear from Oklahoma. RIGHT: Oklahoma biologist and B&C Official Measurer, Jeff Ford scores the author’s bear in Hodgen, Oklahoma.

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 75

BACK IN BLACK at the bait site at 11:00 a.m. You can’t hunt these baits in the morning, or you’ll spook off bears that have spent the night eating. As I crept towards my stand location, I was pleased that no bears were at the bait. However, no sooner than I climbed the tree, a sow appeared and began to feed, but only after staring intently at me in the stand. Almost without warning, she came to the base of my tree and proceeded to bluff-charge up the tree. With bark flying and my heart pounding, I watched her get within about two feet of my platform. She stopped just short of getting in the stand, and for the next 45 minutes pr o ce e de d t o h a r a s s

me—woofing, shaking trees and glaring at me in the stand. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the ground with that sow. I saw multiple bears throughout the afternoon, but the action started to heat up after 5 p.m. when a large male came to the bait. He was a nice bear by anyone’s standards, and likely weighed close to 300 pounds. As he approached, I mumbled out loud, “Should I shoot this bear?” After some soul searching, I opted to pass him in hopes that one of the big bears would show up. This time of year, passing any nice bear is a gamble. Rarely can you even hold mature bears through the season opener, and when you do, its usually just for a few days. The baits are usually dead by the third or fourth of October. At 6 p.m., I had three bears at the bait, including the nice male. However, on cue all the bears dispersed from the bait and within minutes I saw a large black head coming

down the trail behind me. One glance to my right, and I knew this bear would qualify as a shooter. His head was huge and blocky, but his belly was tight around his mid-section. I knew it was the No Name bear. Part of me felt like shooting him would be a compromise, but I knew I couldn’t pass on him in Oklahoma. It was on. Surprisingly, No Name paid no attention to me in the stand. All the other bears had looked up and noticed me. He sauntered into the bait without hesitation, dropping his head just 12 yards in front of my tree stand. Quartering slightly away, I drew my Mathews No Cam HTR. The bear was so big and close, that I had difficulty picking a spot because my peep sight was filled with black fur. After a slight hesitation, I centered the pin and released the arrow. Thawwack! The arrow hit the giant bruin right behind the shoulder and he crashed out of sight

down the mountain. The big Oklahoma bear was mine. We recovered the bear the next morning after we couldn’t find a single drop of blood anywhere. A high entry and no exit wound left me guessing through the night, but we found him within minutes the next morning. The bear was beautiful. He had a huge head and neck, huge feet, but the body size wasn’t as big as the other two bears. He weighed 360 pounds. I didn’t think the bear would make the 20-inch Boone and Crockett minimum. However, after a 60-day drying period, Oklahoma Game and Fish biologist and B&C Official Measurer, Jeff Ford measured the bear at 20-8/16 inches. The bear was also tooth-aged at 6 years old. I accomplished my goal and had an extremely rewarding hunt in the Sooner State. Black bears are a tremendous wildlife resource, and I’m proud that we’ve got bears to hunt in Oklahoma. n

Clay Newcomb with his 2015 Oklahoma black bear. The bear scored 20-8/16 inches and weighed 360 pounds.

76 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

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HORNADY.COM FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 77

BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB’S 29TH BIG GAME AWARDS BOOK

TROPHY TALK

JACK RENEAU B&C PROFESSIONAL MEMBER Director Emeritus

The excitement of the 29th Awards Program banquet and related activities in Springfield, Mo., is history and will be relived for decades to come in the minds of those who attended. Since July, B&C’s staff has been working tirelessly to finalize publication of Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards book that will be released to the public in November—just in time for Christmas gift-giving. The highlight of this information-packed records book is the data for 4,221 big game animals accepted in 37 categories during the 20132015 Awards Period that are featured. Trophy owners whose trophies were accepted in B&C’s 29th Big Game Awards Program between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2015, are listed in this book. If you have any doubts about whether your trophy is listed in this book, check the date on your acceptance certificate, or call the Club’s records office. Included in Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards are the exciting hunting stories for the 98 trophies that were recognized and presented with the coveted Boone and Crockett Club Medallions and plaques at the 29th Awards banquet in Springfield, Mo., on July 16, 2016. These stories are packed with invaluable tips and hunting information for planning 78 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

your own big game hunts in the future. Among the unique features that make this a musthave book is a special section highlighting the Club’s Generation Next youth event that includes short stories from dozens of enviable young hunters, ages 16 and under, who have already succeeded in taking a trophy-of-a-lifetime Boone and Crockett animal. Included is a complete, highly informative review of the 29th Awards Program and trophies by Justin Spring, Director of Big Game Records, and copies of 17 score charts with data of top-ranking trophies accepted in the 29th Awards Program. There are also numerous field photographs, both black and white and in color, for your enjoyment. Entries received with acceptance dates beginning January 1, 2016, will be listed in Boone and Crockett Club’s 30th Big Game Awards book that will be released in November 2019. HOW TO SCORE NORTH AMERICAN BIG GAME ERRATA

Official Measurers and readers who have acquired the 4th edition of How to Score North American Big Game since it was released a couple of months ago should note and correct two minor errors that have been detected. The first is the “Woodland Caribou” subheading in the lower

left-hand corner of page 15; it needs to be changed to say “Mountain Caribou.” The boundary description for woodland caribou is on page 17. The second typo, which is in the caption for Figure 3-E on page 27, incorrectly lists the length measurement depicted on the folding carpenter’s ruler as 19-6/8 points when the length is obviously 19-5/8 inches. I also need to point out that there are two illustrations that will be replaced when this manual is updated in the future. The first is Figure 3-A on page 26. This figure inaccurately illustrates the location for taking the length of the main beam, which is correctly depicted in Figure 9-A on page 96. So, please refer to Figure 9-A for the proper location for taking the length of antler measurement on deer. We ran out of time when the error was first detected and didn’t have time to fix it. The second drawing that needs updated is Figure 16-C on page 170 that illustrates the location of the D-1 measurement on sheep. The drawing is correct, but we just need a better drawing, and we also need another drawing from the inside of the horn base to go with it. This figure inaccurately illustrates the location for taking the length of the main beam, which is correctly depicted in Figure 9-A on page 96.

OFFICIAL MEASURER BELT BUCKLE

B&C held its first ever Field Generals luncheon in 2010 in conjunction with the 27th Awards Program Banquet conducted in Reno, Nevada. The purpose of this luncheon is to recognize B&C’s cadre of Official Measurers for their significant contributions to B&C’s records-keeping program and activities. The third such luncheon, held at the 29th Awards Program on July 15, 2016, in Springfield, Mo., was the most popular event held to date. It was attended by nearly 118 of B&C’s approximately 1,300 Official Measurers from across North America, their families, and guests. Each Official Measurer was presented with a very handsome and unique belt buckle created by Montana Silversmiths to thank

BOOK REVIEW BIG GAME RECORDS OF MINNESOTA Minnesota Official Measurers (MOM) is excited to announce the release of their 1st edition of Big Game Records of Minnesota, which is a compilation of big game trophies recorded from the Land of 10,000 Lakes. This book is a compilation of trophies from the Minnesota Record Book, Minnesota Deer Hunter’s Association, along with new trophy entries from MOM. This is a high quality, 8.5” x 11” hardcover book with over 250 pages containing over 13,000 trophy entries. It also has numerous photos along with several stories of successful hunts. The newly designed book contains big game records organized by county for easier lookup and research. It also contains a complete section for shed antlers. MOM is an enthusiastic group of dedicated men and women trained and certified to accurately measure and score all of Minnesota’s big game animals, including whitetail deer, black bear, moose, elk, and wolves. (The latter category is not recognized by Boone and Crockett Club.) Copies of Big Game Records of Minnesota are for sale through MOM’s website, mnmom.com.

Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards $54.95 per copy, plus S&H. Associate and Official Measurer discounts apply. 29th Awards Program Poster The posters will ship, rolled securely, in a poster tube. $10 each, plus S&H. Associate discounts apply. Official Measurer Belt Buckle $49.95 per buckle, plus S&H.

THE MAINE ANTLER & SKULL TROPHY CLUB, #34/#35

ORDER BY CALLING TOLL FREE, 888-840-4868 OR ORDER ONLINE AT BOONE-CROCKETT.ORG

them for their service and to remember the occasion. A limited number of these unique belt buckles are still available to Official Measurers who were not able to attend but would like one. They are the first-ever Official Measurer belt buckle, and once they are sold, they are sure to become a collector’s item—no more will be produced. 29TH AWARDS PROGRAM POSTER

Associates were pleasantly surprised to find a copy of the 29th Big Game Awards display poster included with their fall 2016 issue of Fair Chase magazine. This poster is double-sided (16.25x21.25 inches) and suitable for framing. It features images and data of all 1st Place Award winners and the two new World’s Records displayed in the 29th Big Game

Awards Program Exhibit at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo., this past summer. The reverse side of the poster highlights photos and data on the other award-winning trophies at the 29th Awards Program. Personally, I think this poster is a very exciting keepsake of the 29th Awards Program. It is the first time the Club has actually produced a poster since the 11th Competition (now called Awards Programs) back in 1964. The Club produced Competition/ Awards Program posters for the 1st (1947) through the 11th Competitions. Beginning with the 12th Competition, the Club discontinued the posters and produced information about the award-winning trophies in a photo brochure. In addition to the 29th Awards Program poster, the Club also released the usual photo brochure.

The latest edition of The Maine Antler & Skull Trophy Club (#34/#35 for 2013/2014) records book, which has been published by the Maine Antler and Skull Trophy Club (MASTC) since 1979, is now available. It includes hundreds of photos; current entry listings; overall records for deer, bear, moose, and turkey; Triple Crown Club and Royal Crown Club information; and Maine sheds. It also includes exciting hunting tales, charts illustrating number of entries for deer for the past 10 years, total entries per county, and features the “Top Ten” listing for each species such as the widest moose antlers; and much more. New to this edition is a complete list of hunters with multiple MASTC entries. This latest edition has massive amounts of information and is the complete encyclopedia of Maine’s hunting tradition! A single copy costs $35; two copies, $63; and three copies are $30 each. These prices include shipping within the United States. You can send your check to MASTC, 150 Ames Rd., DoverFoxcroft, ME 04426. Or you can place your credit card order by calling 207-564-7614. BOOK REVIEW NOTICE

There are many state, provincial, and private organizations publishing local records books that use Boone and Crockett Club’s copyrighted scoring system with permission of the Club. Since there is no single reference source for these books, and because there are many hunters who collect them, we will review them as time and space permit. Only those books that use the Boone and Club’s copyrighted scoring system and terminology will be considered for review. Please note that the Boone and Crockett Club cannot vouch for the accuracy of the data contained in these books. Some of the books may include trophies that were not scored by certified Boone and Crockett Club Official Measurers. If there is a question about the status of a trophy listed in any of these books, the Boone and Crockett Club’s records books/archives are the final reference source to settle any and all discrepancies.

FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 79

TROPHY TALK BEAR & CAT SKULLS

Bear and cat skulls are among the simplest trophies to score since only the length and width of the skull are measured and added together. The techniques for scoring the length and width of skulls with levels and c-clamps, skull scoring boxes, wooden blocks, and calipers are discussed in complete detail on pages 37-47 of the 4th edition of the new scoring manual, How to Score North American Big Game. I am not aware of any serious scoring problems we are having at this time with bears and cats; however, we continue to receive score charts for both bears and cats scored to the nearest eighth of an inch. Official Measurers should remember that skulls are measured to the nearest sixteenth of an inch. When the records office receives a score chart added in eighths, we notify the trophy owner to contact his/her Official Measurer to have the trophy rescored to the nearest sixteenth of an inch. We cannot simply convert eighths to sixteenths because the measurer may have rounded one or both of the measurements up or down and we have no way of knowing that. To avoid delays in processing trophies in the records office, please don’t forget that skulls are measured to the nearest sixteenth of an inch. YOUTH HUNTER EDUCATION CHALLENGE

In my opinion, Boone and Crockett Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch (TRMR), eight miles west of Dupuyer, Mont., on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountain Front, is one of the most beautiful places in North 80 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

America. It’s a four-hour drive to the TRMR from B&C’s headquarters in Missoula through some of the most scenic habitat in North America, to say nothing of the spectacular beauty of the ranch itself once you get there. Any reason to go there is a good excuse for me to do so. The TRMR’s 6,000 acres is home to an incredible array of wildlife, including whitetail and mule deer, elk, moose, cougar, black and grizzly bears, wolves, and even an occasional pronghorn. It is key winter range to as many as 2,000 mule deer and 500 elk migrating each year out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness to the west of the ranch. My wife Susan and I recently accepted an invitation from Luke Coccoli, the Club’s conservation programs manager at the ranch, to serve as volunteers for the first-ever NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) at the TRMR. It is the first such program held in the state of Montana. There were 25 students and 11 volunteers. YHEC is an advanced hunter education program designed to build and further develop skills taught in basic hunter education courses. The challenge is conducted under simulated hunting conditions to provide the best practical environment for reinforcing and testing a young hunter’s skills. This event featured rifle, shotgun, and archery shooting; a hunter safety trail with shoot-don’t-shoot situations; and a wildlife identification test. Phil Ehrlich, an Official Measurer from Alamosa, Colo., and I administered the hunter safety trail, and Susan ran the wildlife identification program. State teams compete nationally every year at NRA’s Whittington Center, Raton, N.M., and at Mill Cove Environmental Center, Mansfield, Pa., (alternating years). n

B&C’s TRMR hosted the first NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge in Montana. There were 25 students and 11 volunteers who participated in the advanced hunter education program. YHEC is designed to build and further develop skills taught in basic hunter education courses. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SUSAN RENEAU

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JACK STEELE PARKER

GENERATION

NEXT FINAL GROSS SCORE SCORE

LOCATION

HUNTER

DATE MEASURER

BLACK BEAR 22 4/16 22 1/16 20 5/16

Orange Co., NY Vincent R. Scancarello 2015 F. Giuliani Beaufort Co., NC John T. Yarbrough 2015 D. Boland Bradford Co., PA Caleb H. Wilson 2015 V. Rosa

The Boone and Crockett Club would like to celebrate young hunters who have embraced the outdoor way of life and embody the spirit of fair chase hunting. The following is a list of the most recent big game trophies accepted into Boone and Crockett Club’s 30th Big Game Awards Program, 2016-2018, that have been taken by a youth hunter (16 years or younger). All of the field photos in this section are from entries that are listed in this issue and are shown in bold orange text. This listing represents only those trophies accepted since the Fall 2016 issue of Fair Chase was published.

TYPICAL MULE DEER 188 3/8 194 1/4 180 6/8 187 2/8

Pennington Colin M. Cahill Co., SD Brewer Creek, BC Landon R. Nichol

2015 K. Fredrickson 2015 G. Markoski

NON-TYPICAL MULE DEER 238 1/8 241 7/8

Power Co., ID

Kaden M. Hagler

2015 T. Peterson

TYPICAL WHITETAIL DEER 170 181 Ross Co., OH 160 7/8 172 5/8 Madison Co., VA 160 4/8 179 Clay Co., KS

Hunter D. Brower Benjamin J. Woodward Gregory R. Shembarger

2015 D. Haynes 2015 B. Neitzel 2015 J. Bogucki

NON-TYPICAL COUES’ WHITETAIL 120 1/8 124 3/8

Hidalgo Co., NM

Clarissa I. Garcia

2015 J. Edwards

Caleb H. Wilson Clarissa I. Garcia

BIGHORN SHEEP 184 2/8 184 5/8 Cadomin, AB Dustin M. Garrett 2015 B. Daudelin 179 6/8 180 7/8 Yavapai Co., AZ Joshua W. Cornelius 2015 M. Golightly

Joshua W. Cornelius

Gregory R. Shembarger 82 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

Colin M. Cahill

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RECENTLY ACCEPTED TROPHIES

30 BIG GAME AWARDS

The following pages list the most recent big game trophies accepted into Boone and Crockett Club’s 30th Big Game Awards Program, 2016-2018, which includes entries received between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2018. All of the field photos in this section are from entries that are listed in this issue and are shown in bold green text.

Elizabeth A. Richter took this Central Canada barren ground caribou, scoring 368-2/8 points, on a hunt near Baralzon Lake, Nunavut, in 2015.

This listing represents only those trophies accepted since the Fall 2016 issue of Fair Chase was published. SPONSORED BY

84 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

LISTING AND PHOTO GALLERY “This was a very exciting experience for me. This was my first time hunting with my father George (pictured). Also, being a widow with two young boys it was so amazing to show them that I can provide for them and that anything is possible if you work hard and don’t give up. I am honored to be entered into the Boone and Crockett Club.”

TOP TO BOTTOM

BEAR & COUGAR FINAL SCORE

LOCATION

BLACK BEAR - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 23-10/16

HUNTER

DATE MEASURER

21 15/16 Fulton Co., PA Garry E. Miller, Jr. 2015 21 14/16 The Narrows, MB Scott H. Luna 2015 21 13/16 Huntingdon Co., PA David A. Susko 2015 21 12/16 Campbell Co., VA Raymond L. Hensley 2015 21 10/16 Letcher Co., KY Picked Up 2010 21 6/16 Monongalia Co., WV Jeremy L. Kucish 2015 21 4/16 Hemmingford, QC Marian Vinet 2015 21 3/16 Mecklenburg Ronald J. Kincaid 2015 Co., VA 21 3/16 Tyrrell Co., NC Christopher W. 2012 Bordeaux 21 2/16 Tyrrell Co., NC Hunter T. Huffines 2010 21 Eagle Co., CO Daniel J. Nelson 2015 21 Gates Co., NC Thomas C. Eure 2013 21 Hyde Co., NC Rhett C. Kaschai 2015 20 14/16 Fayette Co., PA Jason K. Burns 2015 20 13/16 Barron Co., WI Thomas L. Finucan, Jr. 2015 20 12/16 Lycoming Co., PA Darwin R. Crofut 2002 20 11/16 Becker Co., MN Andrew J. Tretbar 2007 20 10/16 Cameron Co., PA Kevin A. Puskarich 1979 20 10/16 Hyde Co., NC Maria B. Kaschai 2015 20 10/16 Nez Perce Co., ID Tamara M. Coleman 2015 20 7/16 Burnett Co., WI Chad L. Robran 2015 20 7/16 Harlan Co., KY Jim McKenzie 2015 20 6/16 Craven Co., NC Anthony L. Clegg 2015 20 5/16 Lincoln Co., WI Nicholas J. Lecher 2015 20 3/16 Gogebic Co., MI Shannon R. Weber 2015 20 3/16 Iosco Co., MI Steve M. Hlinka 2015 20 3/16 Shawano Co., WI Timothy J. Brown 2015 20 2/16 Bladen Co., NC James V. Felts 2015 20 1/16 Koochiching Miles K. Jefferis 2015 Co., MN 20 1/16 Meadow Lake, SK Steven M. Guillot 2015 20 Scott Co., AR Travis A. Beshears 2015

K. Lehr J. Lacefield J. Mock W. Knox R. Crank S. Rauch P. Morin D. Boland

B&C Associate Donn P. Hulin took this non-typical American elk, scoring 386-6/8 points, in 2015 while hunting in Apache County, Arizona. He was shooting a .300 Ultra. This Alaska brown bear, scoring 28-8/16 points, was taken by B&C Associate Craig T. Huff along the Cinder River, Alaska, in 2015. In 2015, B&C Associate William J. McEwen harvested this 191-5/8-point typical mule deer while on a hunt in Garfield County, Colorado.

D. Boland H. Atkinson K. Travnicek D. Boland F. Fanizzi D. Razza A. Crum R. Kingsley C. Kozitka G. Block F. Fanizzi G. McNeill J. Lunde R. Crank D. Boland S. Zirbel J. Ohmer R. Banaszak S. Zirbel R. Norville T. Kalsbeck S. Durham C. Newcomb

GRIZZLY BEAR - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 27-13/16 26 8/16 24 8/16 24 7/16

Noatak River, AK John D. McCollum, Jr. 2015 L. Coccoli Kantishna River, AK Joseph T. Hatton 2015 K. Stockdale Unalakleet River, AK Jeffrey S. Little 2015 F. Noska

ALASKA BROWN BEAR - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 30-12/16 28 8/16 27 9/16 27 9/16

Cinder River, AK Craig T. Huff Nuyakuk River, AK Glenn A. LeMier Port Heiden, AK Anthony J. Caligiuri

2015 D. Hart 2015 D. Eider 2015 L. Coccoli

COUGAR - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 16-4/16 15 15 14 14

4/16 4/16 9/16 9/16

Kittitas Co., WA San Miguel Co., CO Carbon Co., UT Missoula Co., MT

Vincent L. Bergman Riley R. Calaway John M. Blair Bradley D. Tudahl

2015 2015 1996 2016

M. Opitz P. Gauthier R. Spaulding K. Lehr

HUNTER

DATE MEASURER

ELK & MULE DEER FINAL GROSS SCORE SCORE LOCATION

TYPICAL AMERICAN ELK - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 442-5/8 381 4/8 378 4/8 367 3/8 365 6/8 364 3/8 361 6/8 361

403 388 3/8 376 7/8 375 5/8 372 372 2/8 387 1/8

Suffield, AB Jefferson Co., MT Utah Co., UT Park Co., WY Teller Co., CO Mesa Co., CO Fergus Co., MT

Tara M. Sutley Larry L. Koehler Ethan J. Allen Terry J. Lancaster Jack L. Zigler Bradley W. Buth Kenneth L. Stephens

2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015

D. Watson J. Pallister D. Nielsen A. Crum T. Brickel J. Lunde K. Lehr

NON-TYPICAL AMERICAN ELK - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 478-5/8 386 6/8 419 6/8 Apache Co., AZ

Donn P. Hulin

2015 E. Fuchs

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30 BIG GAME AWARDS TH

ROOSEVELT’S ELK - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 404-6/8 331 301 1/8 289 283 4/8 280 2/8 276 7/8

335 4/8 307 7/8 299 1/8 297 316 4/8 283 4/8

Humboldt Co., CA Gold River, BC Douglas Co., OR Douglas Co., OR Douglas Co., OR Douglas Co., OR

Craig M. Lanning Gary J. Filizetti Curtis D. Gagner Christi N. Warren Rob D. Miller Christi N. Warren

2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2014

D. Perrien C. Veasey T. Brown D. Heffner D. Heffner D. Heffner

TYPICAL MULE DEER - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 226-4/8 195 198 2/8 Albany Co., WY Harry C. Benson 1962 W. Hepworth 195 201 4/8 Albany Co., WY Ronald W. Benson 1969 W. Hepworth 191 7/8 205 4/8 Yuma Co., CO Eric L. Johnson 2015 G. Stults 191 5/8 212 6/8 Garfield Co., CO William J. McEwen 2015 M. Duplan 190 6/8 195 3/8 Sonora, MX Monte G. Molina 2016 B. Abele 190 5/8 201 6/8 Lemhi Co., ID Timothy M. Sprink 2015 J. Sumners 186 205 5/8 Lincoln Co., WY D.J. Caulkins 1982 R. Spaulding 184 7/8 189 5/8 Kittitas Co., WA Robert L. Say 2015 R. Spaulding 184 5/8 199 2/8 Modoc Co., CA William J. Borba 2015 D. Perrien 182 3/8 201 4/8 Scott Co., KS Darrin R. Meseke 2015 B. Rueschhoff 182 1/8 221 4/8 Sonora, MX Travis W. Fleetwood 2015 S. Damron 181 6/8 193 5/8 Carbon Co., WY David Woolf 1965 W. Hepworth 181 186 Lewis and Clark Everett L. Young 1940 K. Lehr Co., MT 180 7/8 205 7/8 Routt Co., CO Adam L. Doré 2015 D. Bastow 180 4/8 184 6/8 Vermilion River, AB Glenn E. Moir 2015 D. Bromberger NON-TYPICAL MULE DEER - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 355-2/8 251 2/8 239 232 3/8 230 5/8 218 3/8

255 7/8 245 6/8 236 4/8 236 2/8 223 4/8

Sonora, MX Albany Co., WY Culberson Co., TX Uintah Co., UT Eagle Co., CO

Trent B. Hartley Arnold B. Crow Dan A. Hughes, Jr. Stephen K. Aycock Pat D. Ganje

2016 1943 2015 1969 2015

W. Norton W. Hepworth M. Sumner R. Hall L. Guldman

TYPICAL COLUMBIA BLACKTAIL - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 182-2/8 141 4/8 138 4/8 137 5/8 136 4/8 128 125 2/8 125 1/8

144 2/8 143 140 3/8 138 2/8 129 133 4/8 128 6/8

Humboldt Co., CA Falls River, BC King Co., WA Mendocino Co., CA Lake Co., CA Yamhill Co., OR Lake Co., CA

Michael A. Christie 2015 Larry R. Zilinski 2015 Alex Collecchi 1971 Frank J. Lucchetti 2015 Ronald S. Cipro 2007 Vincent N. Williams 2014 Ronald S. Cipro 2005

H. Wilson R. Berreth G. Childers G. Hooper S. Boero T. Rozewski S. Boero

TYPICAL SITKA BLACKTAIL DEER - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 133 117 1/8 121 1/8 Elbow Mt., AK 107 6/8 110 7/8 Etolin Island, AK

Dustin Prete Davey W. Brown

2015 J. Wiersum 2015 M. Nilsen

WHITETAIL DEER FINAL GROSS SCORE SCORE LOCATION

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Maria B. Kaschai was on a hunt in Hyde County, North Carolina, when she harvested this black bear, scoring 20-10/16 points. She was shooting a 7mm Remington Mag. This typical Sitka blacktail deer, scoring 117-1/8 points, was taken by Dustin Prete near Elbow Mountain, Alaska, in 2015. Craig M. Lanning took this Roosevelt’s elk, scoring 331 points, in 2015 while hunting in Humbolt County, California. He was shooting a .300 Winchester Short Mag.

86 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

HUNTER

DATE MEASURER

TYPICAL WHITETAIL DEER - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 213-5/8 190 4/8 197 2/8 Louisa Co., IA John L. Boardman 2016 D. Pfeiffer 184 2/8 192 7/8 Marshall Co., IL Mitchell T. Kruger 2015 A. Shofner 183 4/8 192 Webb Co., TX Grant E. Adami III 2015 R. Barrientos 182 188 4/8 Warren Co., KY Stephen M. Young 2015 W. Cooper 181 4/8 204 7/8 Logan Co., OH Jeff A. Kempf 2015 M. Heeg 180 7/8 185 Long Creek, SK Jody R. Schmidt 2015 K. Kozij 180 3/8 191 1/8 Swan River, MB Kyle G. Schure 2015 A. Safiniuk 179 186 7/8 Unknown Unknown 1960 D. Boland 178 7/8 185 1/8 Jasper Co., IN Derrick J. Barton 2015 R. Karczewski 178 3/8 183 4/8 Manitou Lake, SK Jessie R. Dieno 2015 J. Lorenz 178 1/8 194 1/8 Sturgeon River, AB Michael D. Dubois 2015 B. Daudelin 178 183 Clayton Co., IA 2015 P. Farni 178 181 2/8 Vermilion, AB Bernard J. Myshak 2015 W. Voogd 177 6/8 181 7/8 Grant Co., SD Bryan A. Berger 2015 S. Rauch 177 3/8 182 4/8 Chippewa Co., WI Cory D. Neeser 2015 J. Lunde 177 2/8 185 5/8 Williamson Co., TN Anthony W. Bledsoe 2015 T. Edwards 175 5/8 190 6/8 Dougherty Co., GA R. Heath Allegood 2015 W. Cooper 175 5/8 181 Henry Co., KY Michael D. Gregory 2015 K. Ison 175 4/8 181 4/8 Delaware Co., IN Timothy J. Holsinger 2015 J. Bogucki

TYPICAL WHITETAIL DEER CONTINUED 175 3/8 180 Fayette Co., IA Brian C. Kaeppel 2015 D. Baumler 174 4/8 177 1/8 Geary Co., KS Leonard Blankenship 1998 R. Krueger 174 4/8 183 Muskingum Co., OH Steven D. Payton 2015 W. Culbertson 174 1/8 186 4/8 Jefferson Co., WI Brian F. Williamson 2015 B. Richards 174 1/8 180 5/8 Webb Co., TX Grant E. Adami IV 2014 R. Barrientos 173 7/8 184 5/8 Dewey Co., OK James W. Landrigan 2015 G. Moore 173 5/8 187 1/8 Letcher Co., KY Michael D. Burton 2015 R. Crank 173 5/8 181 1/8 Oregon Co., MO Taylor R. Britton 2015 J. Harmon 173 4/8 182 4/8 Clay Co., IN J. Tom Carson 2015 J. Hooten 173 3/8 194 4/8 Marathon Co., WI Max J. Muzynoski 2015 T. Heil 172 6/8 188 5/8 Ross Co., OH Bryant C. Blake 2015 D. Haynes 172 6/8 175 4/8 Wayne Co., KY William K. Branscum 2015 D. Weddle 172 5/8 182 5/8 La Crosse Co., WI Jeremiah J. Minton 2015 D. Meger 172 5/8 177 4/8 Blackstrap Antony Nemetchek 2015 D. Pezderic Reservoir, SK 172 4/8 179 3/8 Kit Carson Co., CO Hoyt A. Childs III 2015 K. Ison 172 4/8 181 3/8 Rush Co., KS Daniel J. Mayfield 2015 J. Johnson 172 201 7/8 Anoka Co., MN Justin W. Palmer 2015 J. Lunde 171 7/8 177 2/8 Dunn Co., WI Bradley J. Olson 2015 S. Ashley 171 7/8 177 6/8 Riley Co., KS Roger D. Matheny 2015 D. Boland 171 5/8 184 3/8 Marshall Co., IN Myron L. Slabaugh 2015 R. Graber 171 1/8 188 4/8 Le Sueur Co., MN Thomas R. Becker 2015 D. Boland 171 1/8 178 5/8 Lewis Co., MO Ronnie G. Turner, Jr. 2015 S. Corley 171 1/8 178 2/8 Pearl Creek, SK Walter E. Hauser 2015 K. Somogyi 171 183 4/8 Monona Co., IA David D. Groen 2015 G. Hempey 171 190 6/8 Perry Co., OH Timothy J. Strohl 2015 J. Jordan 170 7/8 181 7/8 Lyon Co., KS Thomas P. Kollross 2015 P. Jensen 170 7/8 174 2/8 Seminole Co., OK Cody F. Goodnight 2015 G. Moore 170 7/8 184 5/8 Winona Co., MN Jordan R. Rasmussen 2015 C. Pierce 170 6/8 178 2/8 Copiah Co., MS Scott B. Tice 2016 R. Dillard 170 5/8 193 Pike Co., OH Larry D. Morgan 2015 D. Weddle 170 5/8 187 3/8 Winneshiek Co., IA Austin S. Ives 2015 K. Fredrickson 170 4/8 178 2/8 Webb Co., TX Jimmy D. Oetken 2015 B. Carroll 170 3/8 179 2/8 La Salle Co., TX Glenn Thurman 2015 J. Stein 170 2/8 188 3/8 Madison Co., MS Mitchell S. Phillips 2015 R. Dillard 170 2/8 175 1/8 Wilbarger Co., TX Mark A. Dovel 2015 L. Holland 170 1/8 174 3/8 Athens Co., OH Alexander M. Nadolski 2015 J. Ohmer 169 4/8 173 6/8 Woodridge, MB Yannick Gosselin 2015 J. Hayduk 169 2/8 172 7/8 Last Mountain Nolan L. Novik 2015 P. Mckenzie Lake, SK 169 187 2/8 Richland Co., ND Gregory A. Rolle, Jr. 2015 J. Zins 168 6/8 173 7/8 Adams Co., WI Aaron L. Maresch 2015 S. Zirbel 168 6/8 175 6/8 Winona Co., MN Randle L. King 2014 C. Pierce 168 2/8 178 2/8 Claiborne Co., MS Donald W. Hynum 1987 G. Wilson 168 183 7/8 Becker Co., MN Gordon O. Brekken 2015 C. Kozitka 167 6/8 178 7/8 Sherburne Co., MN Richard B. Schwartz 2015 K. Fredrickson 167 3/8 170 1/8 Oconto Co., WI Dennis P. O’Connell 2015 P. Gauthier 167 2/8 186 1/8 Jasper Co., IA John C. Lame 2015 K. Freymiller 167 2/8 170 3/8 Pierce Co., WI Josh S. McCabe 2015 L. Zimmerman 166 7/8 175 1/8 Gallia Co., OH Sidney G. Jones 2014 G. Surber 166 7/8 172 3/8 Isanti Co., MN Patrick R. Cahill 2015 K. Fredrickson 166 7/8 169 7/8 North Brett K. Andrusiak 2015 D. Bromberger Saskatchewan River, SK 166 5/8 171 2/8 Muscatine Co., IA Todd R. Stark 2016 D. Pfeiffer 166 4/8 171 4/8 Noble Co., IN Andrew J. Dove 2014 J. Bogucki 166 3/8 173 7/8 Lesser Slave Taylor M. Schneider 2015 B. Daudelin River, AB 166 1/8 170 5/8 Carter Co., MO K. Brian Mack 2015 J. Harmon 166 187 7/8 Cass Co., ND John C. Fercho 2015 J. Zins 165 6/8 182 1/8 Lucas Co., OH Picked Up 2015 B. Nash 165 5/8 176 2/8 Porter Co., IN Ralph G. Levi 2015 J. Bogucki 165 4/8 181 Berrien Co., MI William B. Long 2015 D. Merritt 165 2/8 173 5/8 Hocking Co., OH Matthew R. Carter 2015 L. Loranzan 165 1/8 173 3/8 Hemphill Co., TX Trent S. Fluitt 2015 O. Carpenter 165 1/8 169 5/8 Goodsoil, SK Richard L. Service 2015 B. Nash 165 179 Berrien Co., MI Jason M. York 2015 D. Merritt 164 7/8 175 4/8 Giles Co., VA Mike A. Bostic 2015 W. Knox 164 6/8 167 6/8 Ben Hill Co., GA Wendell A. Davis, Jr. 2015 W. Cooper

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This typical mule deer, scoring 182-1/8 points, was taken by B&C Associate Travis W. Fleetwood, in Sonora, Mexico, in 2015. B&C Associate Georgia Maniatis-Erck was on an hunt in Kimble County, Texas, when he took this non-typical whitetail deer, scoring 189-4/8 points, in 2015. She was shooting a .270 Winchester. While on a hunt in Jackson County, Colorado, B&C Associate Steven S. Bruggeman took this Shiras’ moose, scoring 172-4/8 points, in 2012. He was shooting a .50 Cal. Muzzleloader.

Share your field photos with us! Follow: @BooneandCrockettClub Tag: #booneandcrockettclub FAIR CHASE | WI N T E R 2 0 1 6 87

30 BIG GAME AWARDS TH

TYPICAL WHITETAIL DEER CONTINUED 164 6/8 170 7/8 Goodhue Co., MN Leon R. Bullerman 2015 J. Olson 164 6/8 176 5/8 Hendricks Co., IN Ryan D. Ridner 2015 J. Bogucki 164 3/8 168 1/8 Clark Co., KS Stephen M. Sargis 2015 K. Ison 164 1/8 181 5/8 Fort Assiniboine, AB Bonnie L. Huff 2015 B. Daudelin 163 7/8 169 Hilda Lake, AB Garry Sutton 2013 D. Harrison 163 7/8 181 5/8 Richland Co., WI James D. Cunningham 2014 J. Ramsey 163 5/8 178 St. Louis Co., MN Daniel E. Hough 2015 T. Kalsbeck 163 4/8 176 3/8 Pottawattamie Vanessa G. Hoover 2015 D. Pfeiffer Co., IA 163 2/8 172 Saline Co., NE Joshua R. Borzekofski 2015 S. Woitaszewski 163 195 6/8 Phillips Co., KS William A. Molzahn 2015 L. Kramer 163 191 2/8 Stark Co., OH Daniel J. Rainville 2015 M. Cooper 162 4/8 174 7/8 Jackson Co., OH Richard A. Johnson 2015 D. Haynes 162 4/8 172 7/8 Lake Co., IN Cory T. Wietbrock 2011 S. Petkovich 162 170 Waushara Co., WI Steven P. Weber 2015 M. Miller 161 7/8 178 2/8 Nodaway Co., MO Stephen R. Sybert 2015 C. Pierce 161 5/8 190 7/8 Jasper Co., IN Timothy J. Howard 2015 J. Bogucki 161 3/8 164 5/8 Atoka Co., OK William R. Scott 2015 M. Poteet 161 2/8 169 3/8 Taylor Co., WI Wayne J. Fuchs 2012 P. Jensen 161 1/8 173 2/8 Lincoln Co., WI Clayton W. Plautz 2015 T. Heil 161 182 5/8 Battle River, AB Jerome P. McCauley 2015 D. Bromberger 160 6/8 170 7/8 Coshocton Co., OH Gary L. Fischer 2015 E. Robinson 160 5/8 173 Hamilton Co., OH Randy D. Siler 2015 L. Loranzan 160 4/8 185 2/8 Oklahoma Co., OK Christopher C. 2015 G. Moore McMiller 160 4/8 163 3/8 Trego Co., KS Sean F. Fisher 2015 J. Wagner 160 3/8 167 1/8 Douglas Co., WI George C. Russell 2015 P. Ostrum 160 2/8 165 1/8 Hennepin Co., MN Scott C. Welsh 2015 J. Lunde 160 2/8 165 5/8 Polk Co., WI Jeremy L. Appel 2015 J. Lunde

Benjamin J. Zuk took this non-typical whitetail deer, scoring 223-1/8 points, on an archery hunt in Republic County, Kansas, in 2015.

TOP TO BOTTOM:

Brian C. Hansen took this non-typical Coues’ whitetail deer, scoring 132-7/8 points, in 2016 while hunting in Sonora, Mexico. He was shooting a 7mm Winchester Short Mag. This typical whitetail deer, scoring 167-6/8 points, was taken by B&C Associate Richard B. Schwartz, in Sherburne County, Minnesota, in 2015. He was shooting a 12-gauge shotgun. Andrew J. Fierro was on a hunt in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, in 2015, when he harvested this typical Coues’ whitetail, scoring 100-2/8 points. He was shooting a .300 Winchester Mag. 88 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

660 S. LOCHSA ST. | POST FALLS, ID 83854 | 800-326-2825 www.Facebook.com/BuckKnives

www.Twitter.com/EdgeOfALegend

www.Instagram.com/BuckKnives

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TYPICAL WHITETAIL DEER CONTINUED 160 2/8 191 2/8 Rawlins Co., KS 160 185 DeKalb Co., IN 160 162 5/8 Harrison Co., KY

John D. Vandergriffe 1982 L. Redel Ryan D. Voirol 2015 W. Novy Amanda W. Denniston 2015 W. Cooper

NON-TYPICAL WHITETAIL DEER - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 333-7/8

TOP TO BOTTOM:

Tyson J. Kelley took this Rocky Mountain goat, scoring 50-2/8 points, in 2015 while hunting in Wallowa County, Oregon. He was shooting a .270 Winchester Mag. This bison, scoring 119-4/8 points, was taken by B&C Associate Tom Steinle, in Park County, Montana, in 2015. He was shooting a .300 Winchester Mag. B&C Associate Wesley G. D’Andrea was on a hunt in Rio Grande County, Colorado, when he harvested this pronghorn, scoring 82-2/8 points. He was shooting a .270 Winchester Mag. 90 FA I R CH A S E | WI N T E R 20 1 6

239 5/8 245 2/8 Logan Co., OK David Wolf 2014 G. Moore 233 241 4/8 Houston Co., MN Ryan J. Weibel 2015 C. Rotering 230 4/8 237 6/8 Hutchinson Co., SD Robert J. Schoenfish 2015 R. Pesek 223 1/8 232 4/8 Republic Co., KS Benjamin J. Zuk 2015 D. Hollingsworth 218 4/8 223 5/8 Gage Co., NE Adam J. Stohs 2015 S. Cowan 218 4/8 224 6/8 Last Mountain Devin L. Patterson 2015 P. Mckenzie Lake, SK 212 4/8 219 4/8 Linn Co., KS Chad E. Carney 2015 T. Mosher 211 2/8 217 2/8 Ringgold Co., IA Jason E. Weiland 2016 W. Bowman 208 5/8 224 5/8 Darke Co., OH Gary D. Douglas 2015 L. Loranzan 207 7/8 218 5/8 Busby, AB Richard D. Edwards 2015 B. Daudelin 206 7/8 212 7/8 Hardin Co., OH Ray L. Davis, Jr. 2015 S. Swihart 202 6/8 209 2/8 Webster Co., IA John H. Anderson 2015 K. Herring 202 4/8 212 7/8 Fulton Co., IN Joshua J. Durkes 2015 S. Petkovich 202 4/8 205 6/8 Houston Co., MN Daniel E. Michalowski 2015 C. Pierce 202 3/8 206 6/8 Kingsbury Co., SD James Bjorkman 2015 S. Rauch 201 4/8 210 3/8 Lonoke Co., AR Heath A. Campbell 2015 B. Sanford 200 5/8 206 7/8 Decatur Co., IA David A. Lindsey 2015 T. Kalsbeck 200 2/8 211 5/8 St. Louis Co., MN Ronnie H. Lillo 2006 J. Lunde 199 5/8 203 2/8 Anderson Co., TX Courtney K. Gehrmann 2015 S. Cook 199 3/8 210 5/8 Gage Co., NE Zackary T. Taylor 2015 S. Cowan 198 7/8 208 5/8 Brown Co., MN Trey A. Strei 2015 D. Boland 198 7/8 202 5/8 Lewis Co., MO Jimmy W. Shanks, Jr. 2015 A. Crum 197 7/8 206 Ferry Co., WA Gary A. Lydin 2014 S. Wilkins 197 6/8 202 6/8 Trimble Co., KY D. Christopher 2015 W. Cooper Dickerson 197 2/8 203 2/8 Douglas Co., MO Bradley R. Stanifer 2015 B. Johnston 196 7/8 211 3/8 Tallahatchie Co., MS Robert B. Mosley 2015 R. Dillard 196 1/8 206 2/8 Lorain Co., OH Timothy L. Divoll 2015 W. Rodd 195 6/8 208 1/8 Sheboygan Co., WI Chad D. Kienbaum 2015 S. Zirbel 195 5/8 200 1/8 Gallia Co., OH Steven D. Hammond 2015 D. Haynes 195 200 3/8 Lincoln Co., NE Robin M. Davis 2014 D. Boland 194 2/8 201 3/8 Putnam Co., IN Barry R. Grimes 2015 S. Petkovich 194 2/8 203 4/8 Ripley Co., IN Charles F. Schmidt 2014 L. Loranzan 194 200 4/8 Hocking Co., OH Amanda E. Davis 2015 A. Cramer 193 5/8 201 7/8 Clark Co., SD Marlyn D. Kannegieter 2015 S. Rauch 193 3/8 198 5/8 Jefferson Co., IN Curtis R. Blaylock 2015 S. Smith 192 3/8 198 5/8 Becker Co., MN Thomas M. Graham 2015 C. Kozitka 192 3/8 196 3/8 Gage Co., NE Dexter R. Spitsnogle 2015 M. Heeg 192 2/8 199 2/8 Dooly Co., GA Thomas R. Kent 2015 W. Cooper 192 2/8 196 5/8 Laurel Co., KY Michael L. Howell 2015 W. Cooper 192 2/8 202 2/8 Metcalfe Co., KY Donald W. Bartley 2015 D. Weddle 192 1/8 200 6/8 Logan Co., OH Kerry G. Schoenleben 2015 W. Ogden 192 205 6/8 Jasper Co., IN Timothy F. Nowak 2015 R. Karczewski 192 195 1/8 Sherburne Co., MN Lyle C. Hartfiel 2014 K. Fredrickson 189 6/8 195 7/8 Benton Co., MO John W. Rice 2015 T. Donnelly 189 6/8 196 1/8 Osage Co., KS Philip W. Davis 2015 J. Folta 189 5/8 192 1/8 Monroe Co., WI Jaden M. Havlik 2015 R. Case 189 4/8 193 2/8 Kimble Co., TX Georgia 2015 G. Maniatis-Erck Homerstad 189 2/8 194 2/8 Edmunds Co., SD Jeremiah J. Horst 2015 T. Norwick 186 7/8 194 3/8 Todd Co., KY Alvin Z. Hoover 2015 K. Morphew 186 3/8 191 5/8 Cherokee Co., IA Lucas E. Edwards 2015 J. Gordon 186 2/8 197 Ohio Co., KY Darrel R. Smith 2015 K. Morphew 185 6/8 190 Monroe Co., AR Randall D. Lee 2015 D. Doughty 185 2/8 188 Becker Co., MN Tyler K. Larson 2015 C. Kozitka 185 2/8 193 6/8 Dunn Co., WI Gary L. Bjork 2015 J. Lunde 185 189 2/8 Todd Co., MN Myron J. Bogucki 2015 J. Lunde

TYPICAL COUES’ WHITETAIL - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 144-1/8 123 7/8 123 119 2/8 103 5/8 100 2/8

125 1/8 124 121 5/8 106 3/8 102 4/8

Sonora, MX Cochise Co., AZ Pima Co., AZ Sonora, MX Hidalgo Co., NM

William L. Larson 2016 Arthur B. Mead 2015 Mark Hardy 2015 Frank M. Hernandez, Jr. 2016 Andrew J. Fierro 2015

R. Addison A. Moors P. Dalrymple D. Perrien J. Edwards

NON-TYPICAL COUES’ WHITETAIL - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 196-2/8 132 7/8 134 7/8 Sonora, MX 122 1/8 128 2/8 Pima Co., AZ 113 1/8 117 6/8 Pima Co., AZ

Brian C. Hansen Jeffrey K. Volk Brian L. Bonetto

2016 C. Goldman 2015 M. Cupell 2015 M. Zieser

HUNTER

DATE MEASURER

CANADA MOOSE - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 242 199 202 5/8 186 5/8 194 2/8 186 3/8 192 4/8 185 7/8 188 6/8

North Seal River, MB Seine River, ON Killdevil Mountain, NL Jackfish Lake, ON

Chad Lenz took this desert sheep, scoring 175-5/8 points, in 2015 while hunting in Baja California, Mexico. He was shooting a .338 Ultra Mag. This Canada moose, scoring 199 points, was taken by Brian M. Babb, near the North Seal River, Manitoba, in 2015. He was shooting a .30-06 Springfield.

MOOSE AND CARIBOU FINAL GROSS SCORE SCORE LOCATION

TOP TO BOTTOM:

Brian M. Babb

2015 M. Serio

Randy A. Shobe Andy E. Budden

2015 P. Hawkins 2015 J. Anstey

Andrew J. Larsen

2015 T. Rogers

B&C Associate Mark Wayne Smith was on an archery hunt near White Mountain, Alaska, when he harvested this musk ox scoring 107-2/8 points.

ALASKA-YUKON MOOSE - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 266-4/8 227 4/8 228 210 7/8 212

Paxson Lake, AK Bert L. Gordon 2015 C. Brent Lower Yukon Hugh H. Sieck III 2014 S. River, AK Woitaszewski

SHIRAS’ MOOSE - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 205-4/8 172 4/8 169 6/8 160 7/8 157 4/8 155 151 4/8 149 7/8 149 5/8 141 1/8

177 1/8 172 2/8 163 4/8 159 6/8 155 6/8 154 7/8 156 5/8 155 3/8 145 3/8

Jackson Co., CO Flathead Co., MT Carbon Co., WY Flathead Co., MT Ferry Co., WA Latah Co., ID Latah Co., ID Stevens Co., WA Duchesne Co., UT

Steven S. Bruggeman 2012 Edward G. Stout 2015 Philip W. Long 2015 Melvin M. Muender 2015 Kari A. Hirschberger 2014 Patrick T. Tully 2015 Steven J. Adams 2015 Barry L. DeZeeuw 2015 Gary L. Dye 2015

S. Ashley O. Opre W. Hepworth J. Williams J. Wiggs S. Wilkins S. Wilkins R. Spaulding K. Leo

MOUNTAIN CARIBOU - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 458-3/8 421 5/8 430 5/8 Flood Creek, NT Wayne Bowd 2015 D. Bromberger 373 1/8 382 6/8 June Lake, NT Raymond F. Randall 2015 E. Buckner

WOODLAND CARIBOU - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 419-5/8 328 3/8 313 2/8 312 2/8 288 4/8

363 6/8 328 6/8 322 5/8 298

Big Brook, NL Sam’s Pond, NL Gander, NL Mount Peyton, NL

Brent W. Hedderson John E. Kupiec Joseph T. Mangold Robert M. Jirousek

2015 2015 2015 2015

J. Anstey M. Heeg M. Schlegel R. Pepper

BARREN GROUND CARIBOU - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 477 399 404 5/8 Mount Robert Service, YT

Jeffrey D. Schuchard 2015 D. Eider

CENTRAL CANADA BARREN GROUND CARIBOU - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 433-4/8 368 2/8 383 7/8 Baralzon Lake, NU Elizabeth A. Richter

2015 D. Meger

HORNED GAME FINAL GROSS SCORE SCORE LOCATION

HUNTER

DATE MEASURER

PRONGHORN - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 96-4/8 87 87 3/8 Scotts Bluff Co., NE Robert J. Bentley 2015 M. Dowse 82 6/8 83 3/8 Harding Co., NM Charles Glenn 2015 C. Newcomb 82 2/8 82 6/8 Hughes Co., SD Brandon J. Haag 2015 N. Lawson 82 2/8 83 1/8 Rio Grande Co., CO Wesley G. D’Andrea 2015 J. Legnard 81 6/8 82 4/8 Natrona Co., WY Craig T. Ostermayer 2015 D. Loosemore 81 6/8 82 5/8 Navajo Co., AZ Michael J. Drake 2015 M. Cupell 81 2/8 82 5/8 Twin Falls Co., ID Kelly L. Chapman 2015 K. Hatch 81 81 4/8 Washoe Co., NV Brady J. Neugebauer 2015 L. Clark 80 4/8 82 1/8 Colfax Co., NM Heath R. Burchinal 2006 I. Mcarthur

BISON - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 136-4/8 119 4/8 120 2/8 Park Co., MT

Thomas J. Steinle

2015 F. King

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 57-4/8 51 2/8 51 4/8 50 2/8 51 4/8 50 50 2/8 48 49 47 47 3/8

Slocan Valley, BC Wallowa Co., OR Williston Lake, BC Duktoth Mountain, AK Mount Rainey, BC

Elwood B. Petrick Tyson J. Kelley Mike G. Haviaras Dennis C. Schemmel

2015 2015 2015 2015

L. Hill T. Brown L. Buck R. Hanson

Mike J. Coelho

2015 D. Perrien

MUSK OX - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 129 123 124 3/8 Unknown Unknown 107 2/8 108 3/8 White Mountain, AK Mark Wayne Smith

2003 G. Villnow 2015 C. Brent

BIGHORN SHEEP - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 209-4/8 191 3/8 192 4/8 Fergus Co., MT John N. Dalke 2013 F. King 191 2/8 192 2/8 Phillips Co., MT Jason D. Ellis 2015 F. King 185 6/8 186 Pennington Co., SD Picked Up 1999 R. Rippentrop 184 6/8 185 1/8 Wasco Co., OR Joshua D. Kalama 2015 B. Piper 183 2/8 183 6/8 Ravalli Co., MT Kris S. Anderson 2015 K. Lehr 180 5/8 182 2/8 Granite Co., MT Nena C. Williams 2015 K. Lehr 180 1/8 180 2/8 Greenlee Co., AZ James M. Kavanaugh 2015 H. Grounds 177 177 3/8 Mount Allan, AB Chad Lenz 2015 C. Dillabough

DESERT SHEEP - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 205-1/8 180 5/8 181 Socorro Co., NM Gary L. Guerrieri 2015 D. Hart 178 7/8 179 7/8 Yuma Co., AZ Patrick C. Allen 2015 G. Schoonveld 175 7/8 176 6/8 Mohave Co., AZ Edward R. Frey 2015 H. DeCray 175 5/8 176 Baja Calif. Sur, MX Chad Lenz 2015 C. Dillabough 173 2/8 174 1/8 Nye Co., NV Carl M. Erquiaga 2015 L. Clark 173 2/8 173 4/8 San Benito Co., CA Richard J. Retterath 2016 T. Humes 166 166 3/8 Churchill Co., NV John L. O’Brien 2015 L. Clark

DALL’S SHEEP- WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 189-6/8 175 4/8 176 1/8 Talkeetna Mts., AK Barry M. Rumpel 164 164 6/8 Windy Fork Nathan J. Simms River, AK

2015 D. Boland 2015 K. Leo

STONE’S SHEEP - WORLD’S RECORD SCORE 196-6/8 173 3/8 174 2/8 Cassiar Mts., BC

Carl P. Anderson

2015 K. Lehr

Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation

TOP TO BOTTOM:

B&C Associate James M. Kavanaugh took this bighorn sheep, scoring 180-1/8 points, in 2015 while hunting in Greenlee County, Arizona. He was shooting a .270 Winchester Mag. This Dall's sheep, scoring 175-4/8 points, was taken by B&C Associate Barry M. Rumple, near the Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska, in 2015. B&C Associate and Official Measurer Patrick C. Allen was on a hunt in Yuma County, Arizona, when he harvested this desert sheep, scoring 178-7/8 points. He was shooting a .270 Winchester Mag.

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1. Publication Title: Fair Chase 2. Publication Number: 1077-3274 3. Filing Date: 9/29/2016 4. Issue Frequency: Quarterly 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: Four 6. Annual Subscription Price: $35.00 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801-2753 Contact Person: Karlie Slayer Telephone: 406/5421888 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters of Publisher: Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801-2753 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor: Publisher - Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801-2753 Editor - Doug Painter, Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801-2753 Managing Editor - Karlie Slayer, Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801-2753 10. Owner: Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Drive, Missoula, MT 59801-2753 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders: None 12. Tax Status: Has Not Changed During the Preceding 12 Months 13. Publication Title: Fair Chase 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data: Fall 2016 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation – Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months and No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date (respectively): a. Total Number of Copies: 7500 and 8,000 b. Paid Circulation (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 4,146 and 4,207 (2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 0 and 0 (3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Counter Sales and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS: 0 and 0 (4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS: 605 and 475 c. Total Paid Distribution: 7,751 and 4,682 d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 1,735 and 1,636 (2) Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0 and 0 (3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS: 253 and 285 (4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail: 211 and 200 e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: 2,199 and 2,118 f. Total Distribution: 6,950 and 6,800 g. Copies Not Distributed: 550 and 1,200 h. Total: 7,500 and 8,000 i. Percent Paid: 68.36% and 68.85% 16. Publication of Statement of Ownership: X If the publication is a general publication, publication of this statement is required. Will be printed in the Winter 2016 issue of this publication.

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A COUPLE OF STEPS BEYOND THE HUNT As hunters, we are involved in a complex relationship with wild animals and wild places—we are at the same time the apex predator and the benevolent steward. As human beings with minion over the wild kingdom, we have the ability to either nurture and sustain or abuse and waste these precious resources with which we have been charged. As hunters in particular, when we accept this duality of roles we must be willing to subject ourselves to and measure our actions against a code of honor, respect, and integrity to be certain that we stay on the nurture/sustain-end of the continuum. Absent the compulsion to be the best stewards we can be, our role in the circle of life is easily corrupted and ultimately indefensible. That said, there is more to this than just hunting ethically. We have a moral and ethical obligation to support the conservation effort and those organizations that do the work, to set a good example for folks that are not inclined to support our hunting privilege, and remain vigilant politically and otherwise. While I have done my fair share of preaching about what is and isn’t hunting— and I have gone to great lengths to revel in our “sacred bond” with wild animals and wild places—I have not spent near enough time talking about the need to invest some of our time and treasure in support of organized conservation groups. You likely have

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a membership card in a few of these organizations, and you get at least one magazine from B&C, but how active are you in the effort? I am not challenging you, as I don’t believe it’s my place to judge another person’s commitment. But I am asking you to ask yourself. Incidentally, part of a more active involvement is contributing to the collective wisdom and knowledge upon which conservation is based; another part is making sure the leaders don’t get off track. Regardless, I do believe this is a critical part of our role as hunters in the relationship we have with wild animals and wild places. Next, we have to make sure those who are undecided about hunting do not have the opportunity to take us to task for our actions (or inactions). As hunters, it is easy to set a good example, but it is just as easy to do otherwise. Further, the duality of roles as a hunter-conservationist makes perfect sense to us, but it can be difficult for others to rationalize. They are not being ignorant or disparaging; they genuinely do not understand at a very fundamental level. These people hold the greatest potential; they are the ones we can bring in or alienate. Much like the locavore, as long as the kill is humane and the animal is eaten, they do not condemn the hunt. What these folks need to hear is how much time, money, and science is invested by and through our hunting community. They also need to know how much love, respect and

THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE

knowledge we have for and about the natural world. This is the way to win them over and gain not just their tolerance but also their approval. Who knows, we might get a chance to take them hunting one day. Lastly, while I am not going to go into the current political scene, it is critical that we all pay attention to politics and government. In my opinion, the biggest threat to our hunting culture and our future as hunters is here. Too many forces come to bear in the political process and the motivation is suspect at best. All too often the pay for play process obviates proper consideration of crucial wildlife, habitat and conservation needs. We all need to be keenly focused and up to date on who is saying what and what they are up to, so we are prepared and ready to intervene and/or vote accordingly. Enough said. These obligations should not be burdensome or problematic. We should accept

Daniel A. Pedrotti, Jr. B&C REGULAR MEMBER Chair, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee

and embrace them as part of our culture. They are less an issue of ethics and more of a proper trade or exchange for the liberty we enjoy when we hunt. Personally, I believe these investments beyond the hunt are the flip side of the coin that represents our claim of dominion over the natural world. That is to say, part of my payment for the God-given right to harvest wild animals is that I give of my time, talent, and treasure. As our bodies and souls are nourished by our time in the great outdoors, so we must give back for the sake of the animals and wild places and for the sake of future generations of our hunting community. Can I get an Amen? n

As hunters, it is easy to set a good example, but it is just as easy to do otherwise. Further, the duality of roles as a hunter-conservationist makes perfect sense to us, but it can be difficult for others to rationalize. They are not being ignorant or disparaging; they genuinely do not understand at a very fundamental level. These people hold the greatest potential; they are the ones we can bring in or alienate.

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