MISSOULA, Mont. – This afternoon, the Boone and Crockett Club applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for overwhelmingly passing H.R. 1450, the Treating Tribes and Counties as Good Neighbors Act.

The Boone and Crockett Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch (TRMR) is an outdoor classroom on an epic scale. From kid camps to Scout expeditions, the TRMR is a place to slow down and watch as nature goes about her business.

This year, 2023, marks the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Having spent the last seven years studying the ESA, I’ve come up with two observations—but first, let me set some context.

Over the last two decades, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation has become a catch-all term for a conservation system built more than a century ago.

The celebrated 7x57 sired a clan now shadowed by 6.5mm cartridges. Fame can be fickle!

When he caught wealthy tourists defacing Yellowstone National Park with their initials, he tossed them in jail. When he caught poachers killing Yellowstone’s bison, he kicked the poachers out—and likely conspired to pressure Congress for stricter protections. That was Boone and Crockett Club member George Anderson. 

By PJ DelHomme