August 14, 2025 - The Boone and Crockett Club and Pope and Young Club announced today that they have completed scoring procedures and are now accepting entries for javelina (collared peccary, Pecari tajacu) in their record books. In December, the Boone and Crockett Club Records of North American Big Game Committee approved the creation of the new category, and Pope and Young’s membership voted to approve the new category at their biennial convention in April. The Boone and Crockett Club will accept entries of any hunter taken animal as well as “picked up” or found individuals, the Pope and Young Club will accept entries of animals taken with a bow and arrow. The scoring procedures, minimum entry requirements, and scoring sheets are now available on the B&C and P&Y websites, and a new Boone and Crockett Club Heritage of the Hunt podcast interview released today provides additional background on the new category.
“The Boone and Crockett Club established our records program well over a century ago as a way to measure conservation successes that helped to recover and sustain North American big game species. The record book is a way to honor exceptional animals that are maintained on the landscape due to professional wildlife conservation and management,” commented Mike Opitz, chairman of B&C’s Records of North American Big Game Committee. “It has been 27 years since a new species category has been added to our record book, and we are excited that including collared peccary in our records program will increase hunter excitement as well as increase support for their conservation.”
The proposal to include a new big game category for javelina was brought forward to each organization’s records committee by a working group made up of wildlife managers from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and old Mexico as well as other hunting conservation groups. Javelina are medium-sized hooved mammals native to the southwestern United States and nearly all of Mexico, inhabiting a variety of habitats ranging from dry deserts to tropical forests. While they may resemble a nonnative boar or pig, peccaries are technically classified in a different family that existed independently in the Americas for millions of years. While many different forms of peccaries went extinct, the collared peccary evolved in South America and spread northward into Mexico and the southwestern United States over the last few thousand years. The biologists submitting the proposal for a new big game category note that collared peccary appear to still be expanding their range northward in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
“After hearing the presentation by leading biologists, it was apparent that collared peccary (javelina) is indeed a native North American big game mammal that is well managed and growing quickly in popularity for hunters—especially when pursued with a bow and arrow. It will be exciting to see the scientific data points we will gather from this new species, while offering a new category of big game species to pursue for the record book,” said P&Y Records Chairman Roy Grace.
Javelina skulls will be measured in the same manner that both organizations measure bears and cats. Only the greatest length and greatest width are recorded to the nearest sixteenth of an inch. The new javelina category will be effective immediately and is retroactive, meaning any javelina skull taken prior to the establishment of the category is eligible for the records programs as long as it meets the minimum entry score of 13 14/16 for Pope and Young or 14 5/16 to qualify for Boone and Crockett. The Boone and Crockett Club today released a new episode of their Heritage of the Hunt podcast that includes an interview with several individuals involved with the proposal to add javelina as a category and to provide more details on the scoring procedures.
Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young Official Measurers have been notified of the new category and scoring procedures. To find a measurer in your area, go to the ‘Find an Official Measurer’ page on the Boone and Crockett Club and Pope and Young Club websites.
About the Boone and Crockett Club:
Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club promotes guardianship and visionary management of big game and wildlife in North America. The Club maintains the highest standards of fair chase sportsmanship and habitat stewardship. Member accomplishments include enlarging and protecting Yellowstone and establishing Glacier and Denali national parks, founding the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System, fostering the Pittman-Robertson and Lacey Acts, creating the Federal Duck Stamp program, and developing the cornerstones of modern game laws. The Boone and Crockett Club is headquartered in Missoula, Montana. Click here to learn more about the Boone and Crockett Club.
About Pope and Young:
The Pope and Young Club is North America's leading voice for ethical bowhunting as well as assisting with critical conservation projects and legislative issues. If you are a fair chase, ethical bowhunter, and you care about preserving, protecting, and promoting the culture and future of bowhunting, then you are invited to be part of the Pope and Young Club. Consider joining today at www.pope-young.org. to stand with Pope and Young in these efforts.