L to R - Ed Fanchin, Stephan Felix, Jim Willems

          The infrequently presented Ishi Award is the highest honor which the Pope and Young Club can bestow upon a bowhunter.  It is awarded only when a truly outstanding North American big game trophy animal is deserving of recognition.  A nomination and selection committee, comprised wholly of the Club’s Board of Directors, determines each selection after careful evaluation.

            The story behind the award really begins with its Indian namesake who was completely unknown to civilized man until daybreak on the morning of August 29, 1911.  That day the dawn stillness was shattered by the excited barking of dogs.  Roused from their sleep, the occupants of a slaughterhouse near the village of Oroville, California investigated the racket.

            Cowering in a corner of their corral, emaciated from starvation and near the limits of fear and exhaustion, was a primitive Indian.  The terror stricken man, obviously believing he was about to be killed, was taken into custody and housed in the Oroville jail.

            Communication with his captors and “civilized” Indians living nearby proved impossible; however, news of the savage’s capture soon spread and reached the attention of two professors of anthropology at the University of California.  These two men, Professors Alfred Kroeber and T.T. Waterman, journeyed from San Francisco to Oroville with the hope of discovering the ancestry of this “wild man”.  Finally, after unsuccessfully trying many different tribal tongues, Professor Waterman spoke a word in the Yana language which was met with an instant response.

            At last the Indian could be told he was not facing imminent death at the hands of the white men.  Reassured, his appetite improved and he began to quickly adjust to life in what for him was surely a strange new world.  And so Ishi, the last surviving member of the ancient tribe of Yana Indians, was transported directly from the Stone Age into a complex, modern society.

            The professors took Ishi back to San Francisco with them and gave him living quarters in the University’s museum.  It was here that Dr. Saxton Pope, an instructor at University School of Medicine, was called in to make a physical examination of the Indian.  This professional meeting developed into a strong friendship.  Soon Ishi was showing Dr. Pope and his companion, Art Young, how to make and use bows and arrows for hunting.  Although Ishi lived only five years in civilization before succumbing to tuberculosis, his memory lives on in the writings of Pope and Theodora Kroeber, the wife of one of the professors who first befriended him.

            Consequently, in late 1962 when the Pope and Young Club introduced the idea for a special bowhunting award, Dick Mauch’s suggestion that it be named in honor of Ishi was met with immediate and enthusiastic response.  After all, it was Ishi who had instilled in Pope and Young the love of the bow and its use as an efficient hunting tool.  What then could be more appropriate than honoring the individual who had done most to inspire the “fathers of modern bowhunting”?

            The Ishi award concept belongs to Mauch, Glenn St. Charles, Fred Bear and Chuck Kroll.  They had been searching for an award similar to the Boone and Crockett Club’s coveted Sagamore Hill Medal honoring the memory of Theodore Roosevelt.  Their suggestion for a special Ishi Award was quickly accepted by the membership.

            The award itself was designed by Fred Bear with assistance from Chuck Kroll.  Bear owned a few pieces of some very fine, select grade rosewood which were nearly perfect in color, grain and texture.  This wood was donated to the Club to serve as plaques for what was to become bowhunting’s most rare and distinctive award.  Next, specially made obsidian spear points were fashioned by Jim Ramsey of Lincoln, New Mexico, undoubtedly a master at this ancient art.  These had-chipped points, mounted on each rosewood plaque along with an engraved metal plate, complete the treasured Ishi Award.

Ishi Awards

4^th Recording Period (1963-64)          Non-typical Whitetail Deer                     279 7/8

                                                            Del Austin

6^th Recording Period (1967-68)          Typical Whitetail Deer                            204 4/8

                                                            Mel Johnson

7^th Recording Period (1969-70)          Bighorn Sheep                                      176 3/8

                                                            Ray Alt

8^th Recording Period (1971-72)          Barren Ground Caribou                                    446 6/8

                                                            Art Kragness

9^th Recording Period (1973-74)           Alaska/Yukon Moose                            248 0/8

                                                            Dr. Michael Cusack

11^th Recording Period (1977-78)        Columbian Blacktail Deer                       172 2/8

                                                            B. G. Shurtleff

12^th Recording Period (1979-80)        Black Bear                                            22 4/16

                                                            Ray Cox

13^th Recording Period (1981-82)        Cougar                                                 15 11/16

                                                            Jerry James

14^th Recording Period (1983-84)        Typical Mule Deer                                 201 4/8

                                                            Bill Barcus

15^th Recording Period (1985-86)        Dall’s Sheep                                          164 5/8

                                                            Gary Laya

16^th Recording Period (1987-88)        Non-typical American Elk                      419 5/8

                                                            James L. Ludvigson

17^th Recording Period (1989-90)        Non-typical Columbian Blacktail Deer     194 4/8

                                                            James Decker

18^th Recording Period (1991-92)        Canada Moose                                      222 1/8

                                                            Charles Roy

19^th Recording Period (1993-94)        Pronghorn Antelope                             90 0/8

                                                            Roger W. Clarno

22^nd Recording Period (1999-2000)    Typical American Elk                             409 2/8

                                                            Chuck Adams

23^rd Recording Period (2001-2002)    Typical Coues’ Deer                              130 1/8

                                                            Sergio Orozco

24^th Recording Period (2003-2004)    Non-typical Whitetail Deer                     294 0/8

                                                            Michael Beatty

29^th Recording Period (2013-2014)     Woodland Caribou                               375 0/8

                                                            Jeff Samson


30th Recording Period (2015-2016)     Typical American Elk                          430 0/8

                                                              Stephan F. Felix