This article was first published in the March/April 2026 issue of North American Whitetail magazine.
I swung open the doors of the swanky club just in time to see a silver-haired octogenarian pantomime what was plainly a bull moose raking its rack against a stand of saplings. I squeezed past that esteemed gentleman and into the room where I was greeted by a host of newfound friends and welcomed warmly into their brotherhood. Every hand I shook threatened to pull me into a bear hug. I had been a few minutes late to the party, and they had started without me. The atmosphere was lively. Stories were being swapped. Knees were being slapped. There was nearly as much liquor in the room as there was testosterone and let me tell you, there was a lot of liquor. There was a lot of food, too, and I watched in open mouthed awe as one of the guys at my table scarfed down ham sandwiches like he had entered some kind of contest.
Where was I, you ask? A locker room? A bachelor party? A college fraternity rush event, maybe? Close, but no. I was in Springfield, Missouri, for the 32nd Big Game Awards Judges Panel Media Summit. Along with a handful of other outdoor writers and editors, I had been invited to the event for a behind the scenes look at the Official Measurers’ Panel Scoring process before the Big Game Awards Gala at the end of July. What I witnessed that weekend, among the assorted tape measures and the scattered score sheets, was a reason to be hopeful for the state of the hunting industry.
When I think about Boone and Crockett, I think about record book racks. The organization’s roots, though, are set in the soil of conservation. They were planted there by none other than America’s 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. Fearing that much of North America’s wildlife was on the brink of extinction as the result of market hunting, Roosevelt and fellow outdoor enthusiast George Bird Grinnell founded the Boone and Crockett Club to combat a practice that simply couldn’t be sustained. The record book came about as a means to honor the most textbook examples of exceptional trophies, which is why net scores, not gross, are the only ones that Boone and Crockett accepts. After spending a weekend watching the Official Measurers work, I believe that Roosevelt and Grinnell would be absolutely thrilled, because the seed of their efforts are being watered by the best of what the hunting industry has to offer.
Boone and Crockett Official Measurers don’t get into the business because they’re savants with a measuring tape. They don’t get invited to participate in a Panel Scoring because they’re especially adept at adding eights of an inch. These guys just live for the sport of big game hunting. They eat, sleep and breathe it. They’re the guys that you call when you need help packing out a doe killed deep in public land, the guys that are ready and willing to lend their knives to a late night butchering session. I’m convinced that Boone and Crockett Official Measurers take up the tape because they want to be involved in every aspect of the hunt, be it theirs or someone else’s. As hunters themselves, they’re thrilled, obviously, when they connect with a trophy buck, but they’re every bit as excited when someone else does, too.
For their hard work measuring trophies, for the countless miles they put on their pickups and the countless calories they consume at fast food stops along the way, for the risks that they take making potentially controversial decisions, they are invited to travel, on their own dime, every three years to score North America’s finest trophies. Now, to be fair, getting invited to be a part of the panel scoring is like getting invited to officiate the Super Bowl. It’s a tremendous honor. But these guys pay their dues and then use up their vacation time, all so that they can work for free.
As I watched Boone and Crockett’s Official Measurers work, I couldn’t help but contrast these salt of the earth types with the steroided and spray tanned influencers that consistently pop up like spring weeds all over my social media lawn, and my drive home from the Boone and Crockett Media Summit was spent thinking about how refreshing it is to know that the guys we trust with our trophies, the guys at the very pinnacle of our shared passion, are guys that just enjoy a cold beer, a good story, and an up close and personal look at the best hunting trophies North America has to offer. Oh, and maybe a ham sandwich or two.
Wright Outdoors 