Elmer M. Rusten Interview, June 18, 1979

• Main Author: Rusten, Elmer M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ScholarWorks at University of Montana 1979
• Subjects: Crockett; Kodiak; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/booneandcrockett_oralhistory/11; https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/booneandcrockett_oralhistory/article/1010/type/native/viewcontent/OH_297_025.mp3; https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/booneandcrockett_oralhistory/article/1010/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/OH_297_025.pdf

Elmer Rusten describes growing up in Eau Clair, Wisconsin, where he learned to hunt and fish. He discusses his stance on trophy hunting as a conservation tool, specifically focusing on sheep populations. Rusten recalls his hunting trip to Kodiak, Alaska, where he hunted a trophy bear and met Donald Hopkins, a Boone and Crockett Club member. Rusten discusses his interest in the Club and his time as an official measurer and judge for the Big Game Committee. He also talks about serving as the chairman of the records-keeping program and some of the limits and guidelines that were used to score animals. Rusten describes the transition from keeping records for the sake of having them to using them in a competition-based program. He talks about the Club’s arrangement with the National Rifle Association [NRA] to co-sponsor the North American Big Game Committee. He mentions the origins of the Sagamore Hill Award. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/booneandcrockett_oralhistory/1010/thumbnail.jpg