I just returned from Missoula, Mont., where I completed the course that will make me an Official Measurer for the Boone and Crockett Club. And I have to admit, I’m pretty excited. It was a great learning experience (our 16-member class trained to score every North American big game animal. The photo above shows Records Director Jack Reneau instructing students on the fine points of scoring a whitetail), and it taught me a whole lot more about B&C than simply measuring game animals.

There was a time that, when I thought “B&C,” the only image I could conjure was a record book. But the club means far more to hunting than a bunch of trophy animals. Indeed, B&C can be at least partially credited with the entire North American Model of wildlife conservation, and continues to be a strong force in promoting research, game management, and hunter ethics.

When the club was founded in 1887, many North American big game species were on the brink of extinction, thanks to decades of unregulated (and commercial) hunting. Teddy Roosevelt recognized that something needed to be done and formed a club with a mission to “promote the conservation and management of wildlife, especially big game and its habitat, to preserve and encourage hunting, and to maintain the highest ethical standards of fair chase and sportsmanship in North America.”

Among the founders were George Bird Grinnell (one of America’s first and most respected naturalists, as well as editor of Forest & Stream; which later became F&S) and Gifford Pinchot (founder of the U.S. Forest Service). The late Aldo Leopold, widely considered the “father of modern game management”, was among the B&C Club’s widely recognized and influential members.

So why, you ask, was the record book established? At its simplest, the records program was created as a kind of scientific measure — a barometer, if you will — of big game populations. If mature, trophy-class animals were present in a population, that was one indicator that the species was healthy, or being managed well. And, over time, “the book” has served as an accurate indicator of species dynamics and hunting opportunity.

I wanted to be an official measurer for a couple of reasons. Most simply, I’ve just been fascinated with antlers, horns and skulls since boyhood, and the opportunity to become “certified” was just a natural extension of that passion. I also believe strongly in conservation organizations like B&C, yet—not being wealthy—struggle for ways to contribute something besides cash. And, finally, I get a kick out reading the record books. In some circles, it’s trendy to bash trophy hunting and, by default, organizations like B&C that keep a record book. Obviously, obsessive focus on the inches of antler, horn, or skull grown by a game animal rarely leads to good, and there are plenty of examples (past and present) of people who will do almost anything to get their name in a record book. But—and this is important—that’s not the fault of the book itself. I’ve said it before; you can appreciate, pursue, and even kill, a mature game animal and not lose sight of what’s right. For such people, record books like that kept by Boone & Crockett are a good thing, and I’m proud to be an official measurer.