Definition of Big Game

[buffybr]

I always thought of big game as anything you'd have to shoot with a .243 rifle or larger. That being US standards.

So by this definition, the 5 pt bull elk that a friend of mine shot last week with his .22-250 was small game? Or that the three grizzly bears that a woman that I know killed in her sheep corral a few years ago with her .22-250 were also small game?

Like Bill Quimby stated, many states define by statute what big game animals are. Generally this starts with deer and pronghorn antelope. In fact, for some states, the whitetail deer may also be the biggest game animal that they have.

For record keeping, the Boone and Crockett Club's Records of North American Big Game lists animals from the Coues deer up. Roland Ward's Records of Big Game lists animals from Dik Dik, Dwarf antelope, and Grysbok up.

I guess my definition of big game animals would follow that of these record keeping organizations. Sub categories within this definition would be Dangerous Game or Plains Game.

 

[NUys]

For there is no definite definition for Big Game, I think we need to define small game first and then I asume all the rest will be big game . Game is put in two categories in S.A. Dangerous game and Plains game and I think that big game should overlap in these two categories like Eland, Blue Wildebeest, Kudu, Zebra, Sable which are plains game but they definately are not small. On the end of the day big game has something to do with body size and mass. I would say any animal with a body weight over 350# is big game.

This is only my opinion.

 

[BryceM]

Anything bigger than me is big game. Anything smaller might still be fun to hunt.

 

[buffybr]

Anything bigger than me is big game. Anything smaller might still be fun to hunt.

That sounds good to me!