Sig Sauer Joins B&C's 'Trailblazers in Conservation'

SIG SAUER, the long established and well-known firearms company now entering the sporting arms and hunting optics marketplace, is partnering with the Boone and Crockett Club on an initiative to help the hunting community rise to the challenges of a changing world.

The initiative is called "Trailblazers in Conservation."

If sporting lifestyles - and the conservation successes long funded through hunting and shooting - are to thrive in the future, then today's sportsmen must find a way to balance climate change, increased energy development, unmitigated urban sprawl, wildlife disease outbreaks, conflicting policies and a host of other challenges.

Through Trailblazers in Conservation, SIG SAUER is backing the Club's work for better scientific wildlife management, balanced policies, hunter advocacy and broader public understanding of the applications and benefits of sustainable-use conservation.

"Conservation has always relied on hunters, anglers and sport shooters. SIG SAUER has been part of that equation for many years, and we're grateful for partners willing to step up and sponsor conservation in even bigger ways," said Marc Mondavi, vice president of communications for Boone and Crockett. "We welcome SIG SAUER to our team."

SIG SAUER began in a Swiss wagon and railway-car factory in 1860, after the company's three ambitious owners undertook a venture to develop a state-of-the-art rifle. Their hope was that the Swiss Army would adopt it. Four years later, it did, ordering 30,000 of the company's Prelaz-Burnand rifles. Over time, SIG SAUER's reputation for innovation grew. It's now one of the world's most renowned manufacturers of small arms. Beginning in 2015, SIG SAUER is adding hunting optics to its line of products.

"As Sig Sauer expands beyond firearms into ammunition, silencers, airguns and electro-optics we are also expanding our focus to address multiple markets, including hunting" said Andrew York, VP Commercial Sales & President Electro-Optics at Sig Sauer. "The Trailblazer partnership with The Boone and Crockett Club allows Sig Sauer to protect our hunting heritage for generations to come and to be partners in those conservation programs that our critical the future of hunting."

The Boone and Crockett Club, founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, also has a long history in conservation. Club members were instrumental in lobbying for the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act, which levies an excise tax on ammunition, firearms, bows and arrows as a funding mechanism for conservation. The federal government collects the taxes from manufacturers like SIG SAUER and allocates dollars to state wildlife agencies for wildlife restoration, conservation and management programs. The Act generates millions upon millions of dollars each year.

Boone and Crockett also played a vital role in other milestone conservation measures such as the Lacey Act, federal Duck Stamp program, National Wilderness Preserve Act, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Farm Bills from the 1930s to now, and many others.

SIG SAUER joins Boyt Harness Co., Buck Knives, Swarovski Optik, Bass Pro Shops, Nosler, Hornady, Smith & Wesson, Remington, and Winchester Ammunition as partners in Trailblazers in Conservation.

Learn more about the Trailblazers in Conservation corporate sponsorship program by contacting Boone and Crockett at (406) 542-1888, ext. 208, or keith@boone-crockett.org.