Chatfield, MN - The Pope and Young Club is excited to announce a significant shift in policy on how the Club will address velvet antlered animals submitted for all-time entry into the Club’s Records Program. While the Club has accepted all species of velvet antlered animals since 1999, these trophies were never eligible for awards (top three animals in each recording period). Additionally, velvet trophies were not listed in the All-Time or Velvet Edition record books in the same manner as hard antlered animals. They were not ranked and were listed by recording period, rather than the largest scoring animal to the smallest scoring animal. Lastly, velvet antlered animals were not eligible for World Record status within their category.

“With the assistance of our Records Committee, we reviewed this long-standing policy in-depth, analyzing all potential issues,” said Roy Grace, Records Chair of the Pope and Young Club. “These discussions took several weeks to ensure all aspects were covered. In the end, the Records Committee unanimously agreed to recommend that the P&Y Board change our policy on how we deal with velvet animals. During the June 2020 Board meeting in Reno, the P&Y Board unanimously approved the change proposed by the committee.”

Effective immediately, velvet antlered animals will be treated exactly like all other animals accepted into the Records Program. Additionally, and most importantly, velvet antlered animals will now be eligible for World Record status within their respective velvet category. To summarize, the following changes have occurred:

• Velvet animals will be eligible for World Record status within their respective category.

• The top three (3) velvet entries from each category received in each recording period, will be eligible for awards during the Big-Game Awards banquet.

• Velvet entries will be listed in the record book (all-time and velvet edition) by rank from largest to smallest.

• Top velvet animals for recording period (and all-time) will be invited to panel for verification/authentication.

The Club is also accepting donations to produce a revised Velvet Record Book with these changes to be showcased at the Reno, Nevada Convention, April 14th - 17th, 2021. If you would like to donate, please contact Lisa Kohlmeyer at the Pope and Young Club Office, 507-867-4144, or send an email to records@pope-young.org.

The Pope and Young Club is a non-profit North American conservation and bowhunting organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of bowhunting by striving to increase awareness and appreciation of bowhunting foundations, principles, and values. The Pope and Young Club is focused on Fair Chase hunting ethics that support the ethical pursuit of free-ranging, wild game animals without unfair advantage while promoting the conservation of both habitat and wildlife. The Club also maintains the universally recognized repository of records and statistics on North American big game animals harvested with a bow and arrow.

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Media contact Rick Mowery at rick@pope-young.org, Ph: 989.884.3800