Vern Evans
The Boone and Crockett Club’s Records Committee last week agreed to classify javelina as the conservation group’s newest big-game trophy category.
It’s the first new records category in nearly 25 years, and once specific measurement protocols are established, the club will accept entries from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico. B&C last approved categories for non-typical Columbia black-tailed deer as well as non-typical Sitka black-tailed deer in 2001. The last time the organization created a category for a big-game species was in 1998 with the addition of the once-endangered tule elk to its century-old records program.
The Boone and Crockett Club has been measuring North American big game since 1895 with the original vision for the records program to create a record of what was thought to be the vanishing big game in the country. The big-game record book, Records of North American Big Game, was first published in 1932 and serves as a record of biological, harvest, and location data on hunter-taken and found trophies based on the principle that the existence of mature, male specimens is an indicator of overall population and habitat health.
“The decision to add javelina as a trophy species was years in the making, and reflects not only the growing appreciation for the species among hunters and wildlife managers, but can bring conservation benefits to javelina and the places it lives,” says Mike Opitz, chairman of the club’s Big Game Records Committee.
Javelina records are likely to be determined by skull dimensions, similar to how the club assesses bear and feline trophy submissions. But details, such as the specific measurements to be taken and the establishment of minimum scores, will be determined by the club’s records committee over the next several months.
The expansion of the records program extends only to the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), which is native to the Southwest and commonly called javelina. The name descends from Spanish for “wild sow,” though javelina are unrelated to feral hogs, which sometimes share the landscapes they occupy. Two other species of peccary, the white-lipped and the Chacoan peccary, have distributions across central and northern South America and aren’t included in this proposal largely because their distribution doesn’t extend into what’s commonly understood to be continental North America.
Approval of the collared peccary as a designated trophy species was recommended by a working group that included wildlife managers from New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Mexico along with representatives of other conservation groups.
As a regulated wildlife species, javelina “are managed alongside other big game species, including requirements that hunters follow all regulations in pursuit of the animal across all jurisdictions,” the working group noted in its proposal to the club. Classification as a trophy species would “build upon the growing interest in javelina hunting and recognize this unique North American big game species.”
Indeed, interest in javelina hunting has increased dramatically in recent years, with many permit units requiring multiple preference points to draw and quotas filling relatively quickly in over-the-counter units. Biologists report that across all three U.S. states with javelina populations, nearly 58,000 hunters annually harvest an estimated 33,000 javelina. In New Mexico, applicants for about 1,500 javelina licenses doubled over the four years from 2019 to 2003. The rise of online communities such as JavelinaHunter.com is another indication of the species’ popularity.
“With fewer big-game tags available across the West, we’ve seen an upswing in interest in javelina, especially among bowhunters,” says Nicole Tatman, big-game program manager for New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and one of the members of the working group who proposed adding javelina to the Boone and Crockett records. “They’re an interesting species, very social and vocal among themselves. They don’t see very well, so it’s possible to get close to them and observe them at close ranges.”
Tatman said one of the benefits of adding javelina to the record categories that include bighorn sheep, elk, deer, and bear is that the trophy designation can elevate the real and perceived value of the species and its habitats.
“Compared to aspirational mountain landscapes, the landscapes that javelina prefer are less appreciated — think dry, scrubby desert — but they’re no less important for wildlife,” says Tatman. “At least in New Mexico, these places will get drier and hotter as we move forward, and recognizing a species of value that’s so closely associated with that habitat will give us more resources to manage those landscapes for resilience.”
Tatman noted that across their range, javelina populations are stable to increasing. In New Mexico, populations have been slowly moving northward. Texas has recently opened new javelina seasons in several counties due to range expansion and increased observations.
“Their distribution seems to be curtailed by continued cold weather, but they’ve been seen as far north as Santa Fe, where it gets pretty darned cold,” says Tatman.
The Boone and Crockett Club’s trophy designation may also elevate the cultural status of javelina, which has been considered either a pest or a nuisance in many jurisdictions.
“In parts of Mexico, on some ranches, javelina are not a well-regarded species,” says Emilio Rangel Espino-Barros, a biologist and hunting outfitter from northern Mexico who also contributed to the work group. “They are sometimes used [as targets] to sight in rifles. This designation is a case where conservation and monetary value can go hand in hand. If we add javelina to trophy species, it will increase their conservation value, and people are going to have more interest in seeing them.”
As the Boone and Crockett Club considers minimum scores and specifics of measuring trophy javelina, administrators will likely consult the three states that currently include javelina in their big-game records. In Arizona, javelina records have been kept since 1970 and the Texas Big Game Awards established a javelina category in 2010. New Mexico considers records from Safari Club International for javelina records.
“As we work on establishing minimum scores, and we’ll work with the states and Mexico to come up with a minimum that strikes the balance between a mature specimen worthy of recognition and a good representation of a mature javelina across its range,” says Kyle Lehr, Boone and Crockett Club’s director of big game records. “We need to determine if a mature javelina in, say Texas, is quantifiably different from one in Arizona.”
Read Next: The History — and Future — of Trophy Hunting in North America
The addition of javelina as a designated North American trophy mammal could change the roster of the North American 29, sometimes called the “Super Slam,” that includes all trophy species recognized by the Boone and Crockett Club. Club officials declined to comment on the roster, since it’s not an achievement created or administered by B&C.
The Boone and Crockett Club has been compiling and publishing its Records of North American Big Game since its first record book in 1932. The club’s 32nd Big Game Awards will be recognized in July 2025 in Springfield, Missouri.
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