Colorado claims only one category leader in the most recent “Record of North American Big Game,” a typical mule deer taken in Dolores County.
This monster buck, with a score of 226 4/8, dates back 33 years, a span that suggests not much is happening in the Centennial State in the way of big game trophies.
Not so, says Ryan Hatfield, assistant director of record keeping for the Boone and Crockett Club, which keeps tally on the largest animals either shot or otherwise collected by legal means and principles of fair chase.
“Colorado really is coming on strong again in the new listing for mule deer,” Hatfield said of a trend that reflects a sharp increase both in overall population and numbers of trophy animals.
Boone and Crockett updates its awards period every three years. The 23rd period listed 52 entries for typical mulies, while the 24th showed 57. The 25th and most recent listing contained 72 Colorado entries and that accounting is likely to increase dramatically with a rapid escalation in big bucks.
“Colorado is practicing the sort of conservation that grows quality deer,” said Hatfield, who helped compile the expansive lists of animals in the newly published 12th edition of the record book, the first since 1999.
That’s the same year Colorado instituted a limited-license structure for deer hunting. Coupled with presumed improvements in habitat, these license strictures are credited with growing more and bigger bucks, which someday might translate to a new record rack at the top of the list.
Meanwhile, a whitetail taken by Eddie L. Kinney in El Paso County has been recorded as a state record with a score of 192 1/8. Taken in 2003, the buck’s papers weren’t processed in time for listing in this most recent book.
Colorado also has a growing presence in the ranks of Shiras moose. Reintroduced in the late 1970s, Colorado moose already have grown big enough to earn the sixth and ninth all-time rank.
All this and much more are included in a 3-inch-thick book that is the most visible manifestation of a process that stands as much for conservation as a mere symbol of hunting prowess.
“The reason this book got started is not what most people think,” Hatfield said. “The intention was to catalog some of the larger animals of each species before they went extinct. This was during that dire period of wildlife management before real conservation got started.”
The result – with more large specimens recorded each year – has become a mirror of these efforts, Hatfield said.
“We like to say our book is a reflection of conservation and management.”
For anyone who aspires to bag a memorable trophy, it’s also a mouthwatering visual inventory of the most magnificent animals ever taken. Rather than the traditional photos of the top five specimens in each of 38 categories, this latest book shows 10.
It also features articles from more than a dozen top outdoor writers, along with a special color section highlighting the history of famous hunting rifles.
As much as anything, the record book serves as a road map for a trophy enthusiast who wants to pinpoint those parts of the country that consistently grow huge racks. The club even has a Trophy Search section on its website. For deer hunters, the directional arrows increasingly point toward Colorado.
Incidentally, that 1972 record mule deer shot in southwest Colorado by Texan Doug Burris is on display at the Cabela’s store in Kansas City, Mo. You can look it up. It’s in the book.
Priced at $49.95, it’s available from Boone and Crockett Club, 250 Station Dr., Missoula, MT 59801, 888-840-4868 or online at www.booneandcrockettclub.com.
