Albert W. Henderson of Burlington, Wyoming was recently honored by the Boone and Crockett Club for his trophy typical American elk. The elk, taken with a crossbow in Fremont County during the 2014 season, scored 408 and received a first-place award at the Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards Banquet.  

“I’ve hunted in Wyoming my whole life,” said Henderson. “There are good elk all over the state in each area, but I’ve never taken an elk this big before.”

The Boone and Crockett Club was established over 100 years ago to promote the conservation and management of wildlife, especially big game, and to preserve hunting including the highest ethical standards of fair chase. Founding members included Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, General William Tecumseh Sherman, and Gifford Pinchot. 

Every three years, North American big game trophies taken, entered, and accepted into Boone and Crockett Club’s big game records-keeping program are assembled for public display followed by a banquet and award presentations. A judges panel comprised of senior Boone and Crockett Official Measurers verified each trophy’s final score, which is the sum total of a comprehensive series of measurements taken of antlers, horns, skulls, and tusks, depending on the species. The Boone and Crockett system of scoring big game trophies originated in 1906 as means of recording details on species thought to be disappearing because of rampant habitat loss, market hunting, and unregulated harvest. 

“I took my elk in a general area. This should be encouraging to all Wyoming hunters. You can still get a good bull on a self-guided hunt in any area with hard work and dedication,” said Henderson.

Henderson’s elk will be listed along with over 4,000 other trophies in the Boone and Crockett Club’s 29th Big Game Awards book available this fall.