by James C. Fulmer | Past President, NMLRA
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“You can do anything if you have enthusiasm…. Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it, there is alibi.”
— Henry Ford[/pullquote]
Photo provided by Dave Ehrig.
The Longhunter Society was formed in 1988 by the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association (NMLRA) to promote muzzleloading hunting in North America. The Longhunter Society is open to all qualifying hunters. The animals must be taken with a muzzleloading firearm during the legal hunting season under the rules of fair chase.
The nationally recognized Boone & Crockett Club generously allowed the NMLRA Longhunter Society to use their copyrighted scoring system and measurers in support of this program. The Boone and Crockett Club, in 1932, published its first All-Time Records Book that was only for North American big-game species. The first edition of the Boone and Crockett book, in 1932, with its simple scoring system, does not reflect the detailed scoring system developed in the late 1940s and was copyrighted in 1950. The B&C first All-Time Record Book under the new system was published in 1952. The All-Time Record Book includes all trophies over current minimum entry scores and meets other stated requirements that have been entered since the beginning of the system.
There is also an Awards Program Records Book which is published every three years. The Awards Program Record Book includes only those trophies of the three year stated program, as based on the lower minimums applicable in many categories, so a good many trophies get recognition in the Awards Program Records Book that cannot qualify in the All-Time Record Book.
In 1992, the NMLRA published the first Longhunter Society Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book. The NMLRA President at the time, Thomas Schiffer, wrote a message in the opening thanking the many who made it happen: Thompson-Center Arms which provided early funding; Boone & Crockett for their generosity in allowing the NMLRA to use their scoring system and its support of the program; and Owen Collins, the first Committee Chairman, plus Amy Davies, first Program Director. President Schiffer also thanked many people who helped make it happen: Jim Smith, Jim Salmon, Rick Hacker, J. Wayne Fears, Bob Black, Tom Bowen, Joyce Vogel, Marilyn Imel, Denise Goodpaster, Sharron Pollard, and Terry Zinz. There were many more individuals who helped make it possible, but you can recognize many of the names that are still involved with the muzzleloading sport today.
Finally, President Schiffer went on to thank the NMLRA:
“And lastly, but most assuredly, not least, the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, and its forward thinking Officers and Directors who identified a challenge and accepted the responsibility of establishing a major program that will carry muzzleloading hunting into the 21st century.”
Tom Bowen was the Chairman of the Longhunter Society in 1992 when the first Longhunter Big Game Record Book was published. In Tom Bowen’s introduction to the book he wrote:
“The first edition of the Longhunter Society Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book represents the combined efforts of a great many people, all with one goal in mind —to make it the best it could be. I’d like to thank each and every one of those people who had a hand in seeing this project through to its conclusion.
“Muzzleloading hunters have much to be proud of when they take to field in search of their trophy, because they do so with the enticing challenge of a one-shot hunt. They know they must access each shot opportunity with more scrutiny than a modern hunter might. They must stalk a little closer, and they must be a little more confident in their shooting abilities.”
The Program Director’s letter in the front of the 1992 Longhunter Big Game Record Book was written by Joyce Vogel. Joyce is still the LHS Program Director after 24 years. The last part of Joyce’s letter in the 1992 edition reads:
“I want to thank the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association for allowing me the opportunity to be part of the Longhunter Society Muzzleloading Big Game Records Program. I am honored, indeed, to have shared in the publication of this book, and to have worked with the LHS Committee during the past eighteen months to firmly establish the Longhunter Society as a viable muzzleloading hunting entity.
“It is our hope that the efforts put forth in the publication of this book will bring you many evenings of enjoyable reading.”
There was great enthusiasm for the first publication of the Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book in 1992. Now the NMLRA is getting ready to publish the 7th edition of this book. The 2016 Longhunter Society’s Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book is accepting entries until April 15th of this year. This date allows enough time for animals taken to have the 60-day drying period for horns and antlers before submission for scoring. This also provides enough time for the scorers to complete their Longhunter Society or Boone & Crocket score sheets and to submit them to the Longhunter Society.
For more information on how to get your muzzleloading big game entry in the 2016 Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book check out the Longhunter link at nmlra.org/programs-2/longhunter-society/ for criteria and answers to questions.
The NMLRA has been leading the way for over 80 years in promoting muzzleloading. We have promoted muzzleloading hunting seasons from state to state and have annually hosted the National Muzzleloading Championships. The NMLRA has spoken at the United Nations to help keep original and reproduction muzzleloaders from international treaties. Our sport and our muzzleloading heritage is being challenged more now than ever before. The thought of banning black powder and lead were never considered in 1933 when the NMLRA was founded. Now today the NMLRA is bombarded from all over the country with questions about new laws that are proposed that affect muzzleloading.
The NMLRA needs your support now, not next year, but right now. The first thing you can do if you are not a member and are reading this is join us. There is strength in numbers. Also through your membership, you will not only be getting Muzzle Blasts magazine, but you will be supporting the muzzleloading sport at the national level. Also please, please, vote in your local and national elections. Be an informed voter see where the candidate you are voting for stands on something as simple as what we love to do, burn black powder and shoot lead.
Support the NMLRA! Support the Longhunter Society!
