Caroline Pruitt is on the fast track to SCI trophy hunting stardom, since the 14-year old already has 18 animals in the record book, including eland, American bison and wildebeest. She has collected SCI trophies using handguns and muzzleloaders, and now has turned almost exclusively to bowhunting and using a crossbow.
Arleen D. Looper arrowed this outstanding Rosebud County, Montana whitetail in October, 2006. More impressively, she was on a self-guided hunt–on her own collecting this 170 4/8s-inch, 11-point giant. This number eight-ranked SCI Alaska brown bear fell to Cindy Rhodes who took the massive bruin near Kiavak Bay with guide Andy Runyan in April, 1997. It had a skull score of 30 3/16s inches. Debra Card holds the No. 1 SCI spot for Alaska-Yukon moose with this impressive giant having a total rack score of 731 1/8 inches. The big bull was taken near near Cordova, Alaska, and has held the number one spot for nearly a decade. It had 39 points, and an outside rack spread of well over six feet. Debra has a dozen trophy animals registered in the SCI record book. This number 6th ranked SCI Sindh ibex was taken last March in politically-unstable Pakistan, by long-time hunter Barbara Sackman. This trophy is only one of Barbara's 191 animals listed in the SCI record book, including world class targets such as: Alaska moose, mountain caribou, Roosevelt elk, Nile crocodile, desert bighorn sheep, kudu, Cape buffalo, bongo, whitetail deer, rhinoceros, musk ox, hippopotamus, polar bear, African lion, brown bear and leopard. Not to be outdone by her mother-in-law, SCI top hunter Maryann Sackman from New York shows one of 93 trophies she has entered in the record book. This is a Siberian ibex, taken in Mongolia in 2005. Among Maryann's impressive list of SCI records are: African elephant, Nile crocodile, mule deer, bighorn sheep, kudu, mountain and barren ground caribou, bongo, musk ox, whitetail deer, hippopotamus, African lion, brown bear, polar bear and leopard. The Honorable Julie Mogenis with her number one SCI Midwestern whitetail deer taken on private land. This incredible non-typical buck scored 321 5/8s, had 25 points, and was taken in Oklahoma in December, 2007. Elinor "Bunny" Huntley only has one SCI record animal, but it's one heck of a buck. This 11-point giant whitetail was taken with a rifle in November, 2004 near Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. With a score of 183 6/8s typical points, it had 24-inch main beam lengths and heavy mass throughout the rack. Widely traveled hunter Victoria Myer has 43 SCI trophies in the record book, including this impressive common nyala. Listed in her extensive trophy resume' are Alaska moose, mountain caribou, desert bighorn sheep, blacktail deer, sable antelope, Nile crocodile, kudu, eland Cape buffalo and leopard. Wisconsin resident Julie Weigel has just two animals registered with SCI. But they are whoppers. One is this 10th ranked American mountain goat, taken out Bigfork, Montana in October, 2000. Her other SCI entry is a giant of a typical-rack whitetail buck, ranking number four with a score of 195 2/8s. Wendy Barnhart shows a dandy of a typical whitetail buck, which scores 192 2/8s, and ranks 14th in SCI. But this buck is one of only 29 SCI records she holds, including rankings for elk, elephant, kudu, Cape buffalo, sable antelope, bongo, hippopotamus and African leopard. It's likely everyone who hunts knows the name Cabela's, and Mary Cabela is part of the retail store owner clan out of Sidney, Nebraska. As one would suspect, she's a long and accomplished huntress with one of the most extensive resume's of trophies in SCI, claiming records for 211 animals. Included is this huge bighorn sheep taken in November, 2007 with a muzzleloader. Other SCI trophies she's taken include: elk, caribou, Nile crocodile, whitetail deer, Dall sheep, Cape buffalo, kudu, eland, bongo, muskox, several African lions and a pair of African leopards.
Hunting isn’t a man’s world by any stretch of the imagination. In truth, plenty of women can more than hold their own with any man when it comes to hunting.
Don’t believe it?
Well, check out these world-class sports women, and some of the trophy animals they have recorded with Safari Club International (www.scirecordbook.org). And keep in mind that all men’s and women’s records are lumped together in SCI, not segregated by the sex of the shooter.
