https://www.boone-crockett.org/best-big-game-bar


Link has some photos.



Is This the Best Big Game Bar?

By PJ DelHomme

Trophy mounts have always adorned the walls of certain watering holes across the world. But there is one bar in California that is home to more Boone and Crockett Club records than any other.

From Main Street in downtown Rio Vista, California, midway between Sacramento and San Francisco, the front of Foster’s Bighorn does a remarkable job of hiding what’s behind its doors. Facing the street, there’s the name of the restaurant with an illustration of a bighorn ram. A little neon sign with a cocktail glass lights up the evening. The sign reads, “coffee shop.” And that’s it. Nothing would indicate that once you open those doors, your eyes will be bombarded with hundreds of trophy-sized mounts from all over the world.

There is a giraffe, a snow leopard, a rhino, a Cape buffalo, and so many more. The elephant was mounted in 1952, and it’s massive, with its trunk measuring 13 feet and five-foot-long tusks weighing 110 pounds each. Look closely to find the platypus. In 1912 on the Kenai Peninsula, Foster killed the Alaska-Yukon moose that looms over the bar. Its greatest spread is just shy of 69 inches and ranks 23rd All-time

There’s also a healthy representation of the bar’s namesake. There are at least a half-dozen bighorn sheep and a couple of desert rams that are recorded in the Boone and Crockett Club’s big game records. The largest in the collection is an Alberta ram that scores 198-6/8 points. There’s a musk ox from Greenland and the number four Pacific walrus. A pronghorn and mule deer round out the North American record-book collection. All told, more than 300 specimens watch you sip on a beer.


Who Was Bill Foster?

For starters, that wasn’t his real name. Bill Frieda changed his name when he was run out of Alameda by the county attorney. Foster was a bootlegger who settled down (kind of) when he opened Foster’s Bighorn in 1931. Prohibition ended in 1933, and bootlegging and gambling were especially profitable. Foster used that money to fund his passion for hunting. He made eight trips to Africa between 1928 and 1950, as well as trips to Canada, Alaska, India, Greenland, and Mexico. He met Ernest Hemingway on his first trip to Nairobi. Growing up in Hayward, he worked as an apprentice for a man who was one of the first African hunters to bring movies of wildlife to the U.S. in 1918. To preserve his own collection, Foster hired his friend John Jonas of Jonas Brothers Taxidermy.

Foster officially retired from big game hunting in 1953 and died in 1963. His widow honored Bill’s wishes to keep the collection in Rio Vista. She reportedly turned down requests from Howard Hughes and Walt Disney, who wanted to buy it all. The collection has even survived multiple bar owners.

In November 1986, the Boone and Crockett Club published its first Associates newsletter. In an article, it features Foster’s restaurant in what might be the Club’s first-ever review of a dining establishment. “But, for the price of a couple of beers or a meal, you can enjoy some really fine trophies.” The newsletter mentioned the impressive bighorn collection, but the food was “forgettable, although not expensive.” To be fair, that review is nearly 40 years old. Chances are the menu has improved. As for the decor, that has thankfully stayed the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2-yg-rKvSg


Video of the bar, some amazing sheep he shot.

Very cool! Looks like a very good place to tip a few.

My family and I have eaten there many times. We would take my Mother-in-law and her husband there for dinner, since they lived in Rio Vista. Every time we went there, we'd see something different. I'm sure we just missed it, it looked like all of the mounts had been there a long time. One time we were seated right under the elephant. It's a nice place and worth the visit and the food was good, but it's been 30 something years since we were there last time.

Fosters is a very interesting place for any avid shhep hunter or African hunter. I live a little over an hour away from Rio Vista and have eaten there quite a few times. Fosters has a new owner and I understand the food is better now. A close friend may be donating his life size Brown Bear mount, which was and may still be the Long Hunter Society muzzleloader world record bear, to Foster’s, so I’ll likely go visit to see his bear as soon as it’s on display.

I think the best part of Foster’s is the old photos lining the wall in the bar. Some are from African hunts in the 1930’s and 1940’s others are from Canadian hunts in the same period. Imagine a 4 week pack string hunt in Alberta and British Columbia back then when he shot some giant rams, grizzlies and other game. Or a couple months across Kenya and Tanganyika 75 years ago. The one trophy I’ve always had trouble figuring out is a giant high altai ram over the bar. Who on earth ever thought about going to Mongolia back then to hunt Argali’s? He may have been one of the very first hunters to kill an Argali ram.

Would be really neat to visit!

I live about 40 minutes from there. I will have to check it out.
There is a place on I-5 and Highway 20 in Williams called Granzella's Restaurant. I have never had a bad meal there. The Beef and Barley soup is very good. They have all kinds of mounts.
They have had several fires and may have lost some of the mounts.
It is still quite impressive.

quote:

Originally posted by MeMe:
I live about 40 minutes from there. I will have to check it out.
There is a place on I-5 and Highway 20 in Williams called Granzella's Restaurant. I have never had a bad meal there. The Beef and Barley soup is very good. They have all kinds of mounts.
They have had several fires and may have lost some of the mounts.
It is still quite impressive.

Granzella’s has a neat collection and better food, but the game mounts are nothing compared to Fosters. Foster’s truly is one of a kind.

Another good restaurant and bar is Ole's Big game in Paxton Nebraska. I used to pheasant hunt in the area. They also owned the motel by the freeway and were really set up well for hunters. They have a few mounts not as many as Foster's, but it is surprising to have such a collection in such a small town. My wife likes the restroom signs, she always laughs at that. In the link you have to click on photos.

https://www.google.com/search?...cGNRMUZnRXpFMVkwclVL

Yes, Foster's has an amazing collection. I've shot tournaments at the sporting clays club (Bird's Landing) near there many times.
I think the regulars have been there so many times that they don't hardly notice the trophies at this point. I'm so impressed by how many unusual species there are that I can't quit staring. I'd love to have an hour in there when they are closed - to wonder around without bothering people trying to eat.

Surprised the Safari Club/resturant in Thermopolis WY has not come up yet. Worth a visit.