MISSOULA, Mont.--Across North America, Boone and Crockett trophy entries have risen 400 percent over the past 30 years, including almost 3,000 entries in the past three years alone. This striking upward trend shows wild, free-ranging, trophy animals are more plentiful today than ever before--a tribute to modern conservation and management programs.

WASHINGTON PHOTOS

Washington and Oregon are contributors to this continental upswing in trophy production.

In fact, when the Boone and Crockett Club publishes its upcoming 27th Big Game Awards Book, which will list trophy-class big game specimens taken from Jan. 1, 2007, through Dec. 31, 2009, Washington will be represented by 41 and Oregon by 62 of those nearly 3,000 total entries.

From that giant collection of trophies, the Top 5 specimens from each recognized species and category are being invited to appear in a free public exhibition of world-class antlers, horns, and mounted specimens. This triennial event, the Boone and Crockett Club 27th Big Game Awards, is slated for the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nev., June 22-26, 2010.

InterMedia Outdoors, publisher of Washington and Oregon Game & Fish, is a sponsor of the event.

OREGON PHOTOS

"Our exhibition is a tradition that dates back to 1947. That's when we began inviting the public to see the trophies that B&C honors as symbols of conservation success, as well as the hunters that we acknowledge for achievement under the highest tenets of fair chase and hunting ethics," said Eldon Buckner of the Boone and Crockett Club.

This year's ceremony, for the first time, will also honor hunters 16-years-old and under who've entered a trophy into Boone and Crockett's records during the past three years--and there were an amazing 74 of these successful youths in the awards period.

Boone and Crockett Club recognizes 30 hunted big-game categories, including bear (four categories: Alaska brown, black, grizzly, and polar), bison, caribou (five categories: barren ground, central Canada barren ground, mountain, Quebec-Labrador, and woodland), cougar, deer (five categories: Columbia blacktail, Coues' whitetail, mule, Sitka blacktail and whitetail), elk (three categories: American, Roosevelt's and tule), moose (three categories: Alaska-Yukon, Canada, Shiras'), musk ox, pronghorn, Rocky Mountain goat, sheep (four categories: bighorn, desert, Dall's, and Stone's), and Pacific walrus.

Six categories of antlered game are classified as either typical or non-typical.

Here are Washington and Oregon's top trophy entries for each species and type taken from Jan. 1, 2007, through Dec. 31, 2009. Listings marked with an asterisk (if any) indicate an overall Top 5 specimen invited to appear at the Boone and Crockett Club awards event in Reno:

WASHINGTON
Whitetail (typical)
160 3/8 Stevens, WA R.Tyler Vickrey 2008

MULE DEER (TYPICAL)
180 2/8 Chelan, WA Aaron D. Bessonette 2008

MULE DEER (NON-TYPICAL)
216 3/8 Chelan, WA Todd Walker 2009

ROOSEVELT’S ELK
278 1/8 Grays Harbor, WA Robert J. Mayton 2008

AMERICAN ELK (TYPICAL)
365 4/8 Columbia, WA Scott Baysinger 2007

AMERICAN ELK (NON-TYPICAL)
436 4/8 Columbia, WA Dan J. Agnew 2008 * 393 5/8 Kittitas, WA Donald E. Myhre 2009

COLUMBIA BLACKTAIL (TYPICAL)
145 5/8 Skagit, WA Travis Bullock 2007 143 5/8 Lewis, WA Greg K. Dunham 2007 140 7/8 Jefferson, WA David L. Mosier, Jr. 2008 135 Kitsap, WA Cheri M. Page 2008 132 1/8 Lewis, WA Michael D. Hellem 2007

BLACK BEAR
20 13/16 Grays Harbor, WA Stephen D. Craig 2008 20 9/16 Cowlitz, WA Andrew S. Preston 2007 20 7/16 Chelan, WA Eric Ross 2007 20 3/16 Walla Walla, WA Clyde Allen 2008 20 1/16 Chelan, WA Curtis Perry 2008

COUGAR
15 5/16 Okanogan, WA Steven Valley 2007

BIGHORN SHEEP
187 5/8 Columbia, WA Matt Bell 2007 185 2/8 Columbia, WA Jay E. Link 2008 184 2/8 Columbia, WA Chris A. Dianda 2008 175 1/8 Okanogan, WA John D. Hammer 2008

ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT
51 4/8 Whatcom, WA Stephen R. Parker 2007 50 2/8 King, WA Michael T. Warn 2008 49 6/8 Pierce, WA Anthony R. Nastansky 2008 48 6/8 Yakima, WA Tracy A. Sautner 2007

SHIRAS’ MOOSE
179 Stevens, WA Kirk T. Youngers 2007 * 163 2/8 Stevens, WA Travis M. LeCaire 2007 160 7/8 Pend Oreille, WA Jacob T. Sadler 159 3/8 Pend Oreille, WA Christopher Wilson 2007 153 6/8 Stevens, WA Jason R. Uhls 2007

OREGON
WHITETAIL (NON-TYPICAL)
189 Grant, OR Nancy Garrett 2007

MULE DEER (TYPICAL)
195 7/8 Malheur, OR Terry C. Hickson 2008 180 6/8 Grant, OR Joan L. Larson 2007 180 Wasco, OR Court R. Priday 2007

COLUMBIA BLACKTAIL (TYPICAL)
151 6/8 Jackson, OR Erik G. Jensen 2007 148 5/8 Jackson, OR Gary Kaiser 2007 144 2/8 Jackson, OR Clifford L. Skaggs 2007 143 2/8 Clackamas, OR Casey P. Brooks 2007 142 2/8 Clackamas, OR Kelly F. Baillie 2007

ROOSEVELT’S ELK
332 4/8 Curry, OR Mark J. Becker 2009 326 7/8 Tillamook, OR John L. Bishop III 2008 324 7/8 Douglas, OR Joseph O. Rutledge 2008 323 2/8 Tillamook, OR Gregory L. McVittie 2008 317 1/8 Coos, OR Rob D. Miller 2008

BLACK BEAR
21 12/16 Jackson, OR John Souza 2008 21 6/16 Jackson, OR Joel F. Gorman 2007 21 2/16 Union, OR Jarom Hibbert 2008 21 1/16 Yamhill, OR Derek W. Ellenwood 2007 20 15/16 Jackson, OR Jeffrey J. Heil 2008

COUGAR
15 Wheeler, OR Ryan A. Middaugh 2007 14 13/16 Union, OR Scott Mengis 2008

PRONGHORN
84 6/8 Malheur, OR H.W. Buhrig 2007 84 4/8 Harney, OR Timothy P. Brown 2007 83 2/8 Harney, OR John Crafton 2008 82 Lake, OR Kent Cornish 2007 82 Malheur, OR Anthony Barnett 2007

BIGHORN SHEEP
185 5/8 Baker, OR Ray C. Dodson 2007 185 2/8 Wallowa, OR Mike A. Carpinito 2007 181 6/8 Baker, OR Angie Butler 2008 180 5/8 Union, OR Sean D. Griffith 2008 175 6/8 Lake, OR Derek Ward 2008

ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT
52 4/8 Wallowa, OR Terrence P. O'Loughlin 2007 52 2/8 Wallowa, OR Scott J. LaRoque 2007 48 2/8 Wallowa, OR Justin E. Spring 2008

"The states and provinces on this list are producing the best of the best right now. Boone and Crockett records are an indicator of habitat quality and on-the-ground performance of conservation and management programs, so we congratulate these respective wildlife agencies and hold up their work as a model for the 21st Century," said Buckner.