FROM THE
PRESIDENT
T
he North American
Model of Conservation
has worked wonders to
restore, even drastically
improve, wildlife populations
to a time before civilization
fragmented the continent.
Perhaps it’s worked too well.
We now live in a time when
more than one generation
doesn’t remember what it
looks like to have depleted
populations of wildlife and
scarred habitat. For these
generations, this is just what
things look like; from whitetail
deer and elk to waterfowl
and turkeys, wildlife and wild
places just exist.
They didn’t see the dearth
of animals in the past, don’t
know the history of why it
happened and all the work it
took restore the habitats and
bring those species back from
the brink of extinction.
Worse, they don’t know that
hunters, anglers, trappers and
shooters are the ones who
did the majority of the work.
Beyond that, today these
people blame sportsmen for
the demise of species and
want to end hunting based not
on fact and proven science,
but purely on emotion.
It is the “Huntervationist,”
the hunter-conservationist,
who created the most
successful management
model on the planet and re-
established these species and
habitats. And, as you’ll see in
this issue, that model works
throughout the world and is
the answer to saving the most
iconic species worldwide.
And it is these species –
lions, rhinoceroses, giraffes
and the like, which create the
greatest firestorm on television
and social media when a
hunter kills one and it goes
viral. It is these incidences
that induce politicians to write
kneejerk legislation to create
the perception of “doing
something” about an issue
that doesn’t actually exist.
As Huntervationists, we
must all tell the hunter-
conservationist success story.
Stories like the Twenty Four
Lions project in Mozambique,
which is supported by the
Cabela Family Foundation. The
family who started Cabela’s
outfitter stores are perfect
examples of Huntervationists
who support scientific wildlife
management. The project
is historic in scope and
precedence, and the public
needs to understand it is all
due to hunters.
But, you don’t have to be
a Cabela to give back to
conservation. Each of us do
our part every year as active
and licensed sportsmen.
Each of us is responsible for
contributing to conservation
and the sustainability of
wildlife and wild places. It’s
not the animal-rights activist
who willingly gives year-
round, it’s the Huntervationist.
Evan Heusinkveld
President and CEO