Okay, so if one of the key principles of the North American Wildlife Conservation Model is to manage wildlife using sound science, who are those scientists and what do they do? The answer is... they're wildlife biologists and they do all kinds of interesting and exciting stuff.
To get a sense for some of what they do and what it takes to become one, watch the video here of a real-life wildlife biologist in New Mexico. As you'll see, wildlife biologists are professional scientists who study the behaviors of animals. They observe the lifestyles and life cycles of various wildlife to help determine the animal's role in specific ecosystems and how they interact with or how their populations are impacted by human beings. Plus, they will often perform various experiments (such as capturing and radio-collaring elk) to either increase our knowledge about a certain species or see how an individual animal influences their range and the overall ecosystem in an area.
As you can imagine, wildlife biologists are extremely important to preserving the wildlife populations and our natural environments along with increasing our understanding of the creatures that share our planet. Like Nicole in this video, many wildlife biologists specialize in certain areas of study that are often defined by ecosystem or species, or the agency that they work for. Some of these fields include: mammalogy, entomology, ornithology, marine biology, or limnology. In this video you'll see the study of mammalogy that deals specifically with the study and observation of big game mammals. This could include many different aspects of mammalian life, including evolution, biological function, management, and ecosystem impacts.
So becoming a wildlife biologist might be the ideal career for someone who enjoys spending time outdoors and traveling. Many wildlife biologists spend the majority of their time working in the field, observing wild animals in their natural habitats, and actively interacting with those species. Some of their time is spent working in labs or offices, and working with others in developing overall wildlife management plans for certain areas or regions. That's why many think that becoming a wildlife biologist is the perfect career for an adventurer who likes to work in a variety of outdoor environments.
The final question is are YOU interested in a career as a Wildlife Biologist? To help answer that, watch this video, have your teacher use the free classroom lesson activities below and click on the Learn More tab below.
This wildlife education program is made possible with support of these key educational partners. You and your teachers can link to their websites for additional information and educational opportunities.
At SCI Foundation’s American Wilderness Leadership School location in Jackson, Wyoming, educators and students learn about conservation, wildlife management, and outdoor recreation through outdoor, hands-on activities. Their Hands on Wildlife (HOW) program provides educators with conservation education instructional tools they can use in hands-on instruction.
Scientists now know that early Paleo-hunters played a lethal role in the extinction of many of North America's megafauna. Using flint-tipped spears and arrows over the past 15,000 years, they over-harvested many big game species to the point of extinction. The list of these creatures is pretty astounding and includes, North American horses, glyptodons, mastodons, mammoths, short-faced bear, dire-wolf, American cheetah, ground sloth, giant beaver, camels, and more. It's hard to believe, but explore the Internet to learn more about these long-lost animals of the American landscape.
Unfortunately, the waves of European immigrants that flooded to America in the 1700 and 1800's didn't know about America's past of hunting megafauna into extinction. So they shot and ate what was left of America's wildlife as if the herds would last forever. But of course they wouldn't last forever. Especially when the population of European immigrants doubled from 17 million to 32 million between 1840 and 1860. To feed the masses of humans invading America and reduce the food sources of Native Americans, buffalo hunters descended upon the 33 million buffalo that once spread across the west. In 1870, market hunters killed an estimated 5 million buffalo that year alone. And by 1886, there were only 540 bison left in the entire United States, mostly in the Yellowstone area of Montana.
But thankfully for America's wildlife, things began to turn around in 1872, when the outcry of early conservationists prompted President Ulysses S. Grant to established our first national park, Yellowstone, that included over 3,300 square miles. Next, a politician, hunter, and conservationist named Theodore Roosevelt organized a group of hunters in New York to form the Boone & Crockett Club in 1887… with a mission of preserving the big game of North America. More and more people pushed for conservation of America’s wildlife and in 1900 Congress passed the Lacy Game and Wild Birds Preservation and Disposition Act, that made it illegal to transport wild game taken illegally across state borders.
Then in 1901, Teddy Roosevelt became President and spearheaded a new era of wildlife conservation. He strongly believed in protecting as much land as possible for wildlife and public use. During his presidency, Roosevelt helped protect wildlife and habitat by establishing 148 million acres of land in 16 national monuments, 51 wildlife refuges, and 5 national parks.
In the 1930’s, another hunter and pioneer in wildlife conservation emerged as “the father of wildlife management”. Aldo Leopold became the first professor of game management at the University of Wisconsin. He wrote the first book on Game Management where he said that a combination of ethics and science should be used in wildlife management and conservation. Leopold and his writings helped educate a nation about the importance of an environmental ethic, and the scientific principles of wildlife management that included things like the biological carrying capacity of species in a certain habitat.
To learn more about the story of America's Pioneers in Conservation, watch this video, have your teacher use the classroom lesson activities below and click on the Learn More tab below.
This wildlife education program is made possible with support of these key educational partners. You and your teachers can link to their websites for additional information and educational opportunities.
At SCI Foundation’s American Wilderness Leadership School location in Jackson, Wyoming, educators and students learn about conservation, wildlife management, and outdoor recreation through outdoor, hands-on activities. Their Hands on Wildlife (HOW) program provides educators with conservation education instructional tools they can use in hands-on instruction.
What's one way to hone your hand-eye coordination, sharpen your reflexes and quicken your reaction time? Nope, you don't have to try out for your school football quarterback position. Clay target shooting sports is a realistic option for anyone... even if you're not all that athletic.
So you're probably wondering, how challenging is it? Simply watch this video of two teens who have never handled a shotgun before to see how quickly you can learn with some proper instruction. To discover all the programs across the country where you can discover clay target shooting for yourself, check out the reference links at the bottom of this page.
For instance, the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF link below), is one of the leaders in youth development shooting sports programs. Using a combination of education and athletics, they help the growth and personal development of student athletes throughout the nation through a variety of fun, team-based shooting tournaments. They offer both a Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and a Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP), that offer student athletes from elementary through college age a supportive environment where shooting sports serve as catalysts for teaching life lessons and skills that emphasize positive character traits and citizenship values.
Clay target shooting, which comes in several defined types, can be done almost anywhere… where it’s safe. But before you try any type of clay target shooting, you’ll really need two things: 1) proper safety and gun handling training from a qualified instructor, and 2) you really should also take a certified hunter education course such as hunter-ed.com (see the bottom of this page).
Skeet shooting can either be recreational and/or competitive. Participants, using shotguns try to break clay targets that are mechanically flung into the air from two fixed stations at high speed from a variety of angles. Watch the video to get a better idea.
Then there's trap shooting where the clay targets are launched from a single "house" or machine, generally "flying" away from the shooter. Trapshooting was originally developed, in part, to augment bird hunting and to provide a method of practice for bird hunters. But now it's practiced all over the world with a number of varieties, including Olympic trap.
Finally, there's the super-fun Sporting clays. It's full of action and is the closest thing to actual field shooting of all shotgun sports. Rather than having clay birds thrown from standardized distances and angles as with skeet or trap, sporting clays courses are designed to simulate the situations a shooter might encounter when hunting ducks, pheasants, other upland birds, and even rabbits. Since there is no set season and it can be shot at any time, many hunters shoot sporting clays to further their wingshooting skills during the off-season. Targets may be thrown from literally any angle or distance to simulate wingshooting, and six different sizes of clay targets are used to further give the shooter the experience of actual hunting conditions.
To learn more, have your teacher download the lesson activity below, check out the "Learn More" tab and explore the helpful links provided below... and be safe while having fun or earning gold at the Olympics. So enjoy the journey of discovery in all of the content in our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in partnership with Safari Club International Foundation, a nonprofit org dedicated to promoting wildlife conservation across the country. And even if you don't decide to try the challenge of shooting sports, consider the fact that everyone who participates in these sports helps fund conservation programs that all Americans enjoy.
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
There's an old saying that, "Archery is the king of sports, and the sport of kings". In medieval times that was certainly true and especially for royalty... as Robin Hood defies King John in the image above. But today, despite being thousands of years old and still a way of life for some rare primitive cultures, archery remains the king of sports for many outdoor enthusiasts.
So what makes archery such a popular shooting sport? Many people will simply say it's fun. But we're science geeks here so let's try to decode the F-U-N of archery.
The "F" in the word fun could mean the "Force-draw conversion". Sorry for the diversion into physics but archery is really the conversion of your body's physical muscular energy into "stored energy" in the limbs of the bow that's suddenly turned into the kinetic energy of the arrow launching from the bow. Okay, even that's a bit too geeky for us. No matter how you define it, there's something almost mystical about actually feeling your body's muscles being converted into launching something over 200 feet-per-second through space and ker-thumping into a distant target. If you doubt that, try a simple experiment. First, try converting your body's physical energy into kinetic energy on a sport you haven't tried before. Maybe whacking a tennis or golf ball, bowling, or tossing a Frisbee. Next, try shooting an arrow from a bow. If you're like most people, you'll feel your body's energy in the arrow as you watch it soar toward the target. And unlike most sports that involve hitting or launching balls, you'll never forget the feel of your first arrow.
The "U" in archery is Understanding the five simple steps to draw, aim and shoot an arrow. Watch the video here to get some expert advice from a world-class archery coach from PSE Archery. And as you watch these two teens, remember that neither of them shot a bow before filming the video. The "U" could also mean Universal because archery can be enjoyed by anyone from 2 years old to 102 (and beyond). It also has Unlimited ways to enjoy the sport from target shooting, 3-D competition, bowfishing, bowhunting, "stump shooting", and even archery-golf in some places. And of course there's National archery tournaments and the Olympics.
Finally, there's the "N" part of it. That's because archery Naturally connects you with Nature. Though few sports actually feel "natural" when you first try them, many people admit that archery feels natural, like it's part of our DNA that been released from a primal part of our brain. Ask any archer and they'll tell you about their almost mystical connection with the sport. Plus, there's no question that either an outdoor archery range or one of the bowhunting pursuits puts you outside in nature. Plus, as you evolve as a bowhunter, you'll develop advanced outdoor skills on how to get within close range of wild animals. That in turn elevates your understanding of entire ecosystems.
So to try archery for yourself, explore the links below. You'll discover all kinds of helpful pathways to archery from NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program), Archery 360, to finding local archery clubs or ranges near you with youth programs. And to explore archery in your classroom, have your teacher download the lesson activity below. Also, check out the “Learn More” tab below… and discover a sport that can last a lifetime and possibly win you gold someday at the Olympics. Enjoy the journey of discovery in all of the content in our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in partnership with Safari Club International Foundation, a nonprofit org dedicated to promoting wildlife conservation across the country. And even if you don’t decide to try the challenge of shooting sports, consider the fact that everyone who participates in these sports helps fund conservation programs that all American’s enjoy.
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
One reason people participate in sports is to increase their skills through some sort of challenge. The challenge can simply be a personal one where you're improving your skills or score, such as bowling or golf. Or, more competitive challenges might be trying to win in casual or structured competitions against other contestants or teams. Archery is no different.
A fun and simple form of archery is shooting at clumps of grass, leaves, or sticks out in the forest. It's called "stump shooting" where you use a special tip on your arrow that catches on brush and makes it easier to find after the shot. You can roam at leisure while shooting by yourself, or make it more competitive by shooting with a friend or two.
Target shooting at an archery range offers a variety of competitive challenges, from shooting with friends to a formal "archery shoot" or tournament. Archery tournaments some in all shapes and sizes from local, to regional, to state, to national, to international and even the Olympics... or even in school with NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program) shown here.
Some archery ranges also offer more realistic challenges of shooting at wild animals. For instance there are 3-D archery ranges that have life-size three-dimensional targets that look like real deer, bear, turkeys and other wild animals.
Other ranges might have printed actual images of real animals such as bears or mountain lions that can offer fun shooting challenges, especially if your shooting partner helps with the fun factor with interaction. Just watch the video here to see how these teens have fun with a friendly competition while pretending to face dangerous wild predators.
To discover some of the many ways you can have fun and increase your shooting skills in various archery challenges, click on the Learn More tab below. And to explore archery in your classroom, have your teacher download the lesson activity below. Also, enjoy the journey of discovery in all of the content in our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in partnership with Safari Club International Foundation, a nonprofit org dedicated to promoting wildlife conservation across the country. And even if you don’t decide to try the challenge of shooting sports, consider the fact that everyone who participates in these sports helps fund conservation programs that all Americans enjoy.
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
Consider this… the primitive Clovis culture in North America has been dated back to about 14,000 years ago. But guess what else roamed the landscape back then, often creeping up or making a full charge on the odd two-legged creatures?
Though we don't see them today, America lions, saber-tooth cats, and 500-pound wolves were out there hunting fresh meat until about 11,000 years ago. Do the math to figure out what that means. Answer - It means that these Clovis Paleo-hunters had to look over there shoulders every day for almost 3000 years, because big furry things with sharp fangs and claws that had a daily thirst for red meat could be hunting them.
So what happened to allow human to not only survive from being prey, but to becoming the ultimate hunter on the primitive landscape? Two things in combination; 1) development of primitive hunting tools, 2) refinement of hunting and shooting skills that determined the balance between life or death.
If you're like most people, you probably wonder if you could have survived back then, or for how long before you became the warm insides of a stomach of a saber-tooth lion. Then consider finding out by creating your own “educational primal shooting challenge” to see if you could survive during Clovis time, either hunting big game to feed your clan, or the terror and rewards of surviving predator attacks.
Additional information and classroom materials that will be appearing on this page will help you explore those questions. Until then, enjoy the video and imagine yourself on North America's primitive landscape. Also explore the other "shooting sports challenge" classroom videos and lessons, including the full 27-minute program with the thumbnail on this page.
Until then, enjoy the journey of discovery in all of the content in our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in partnership with Safari Club International Foundation, a nonprofit org dedicated to promoting wildlife conservation across the country.
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
Welcome to Clovis Kids Cook-off as part of our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series.
As you’ll discover in this video, our hunting heritage offers you pathways to learning about how humankind historically and presently harvests wild game, and the rewards of sustainably preparing and consuming our renewable wild resources with your clan.
Okay, so there's several great ways to enjoy and share the "truly wild", wildlife and conservation education in this show.
First, you can kick back with family or friends to watch this entire half-hour television episode to get the full content in one sitting. Kinda like enjoying a full course meal. Yum-yum.
Then there's the shorter, custom segments on the noted links below. These are the custom "classroom" or learning videos with some bonus content designed to share with your entire classroom. On these links below you'll also find lots of other educational content, including custom lesson activities for your teacher to take your entire classroom on a three to four day journey of peer-driven learning blended with fun and hands-on pathways to try outdoor pursuits yourself.
Whichever way you decide to enjoy the fun and educational content, it's a win-win way for you to get engaged with pathways to discovering more about yourself and the great outdoors.
Until then, enjoy the journey of discovery in all of the content in our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series.
Official Hunter Safety Courses for Today’s Hunter
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
Welcome to the Shooting Sports Challenge television show that's part of our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series airing nationally on 5 digital networks 24/7, and syndicated television in 7 states on 33 stations via ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX... plus PBS in a number of markets.
As you’ll discover in watching this program, shooting sports and our hunting heritage offers you pathways to learning about America's Model of modern wildlife management and how to discover new levels of self-confidence and focus.
Okay, so there's several great ways to enjoy and share the shooting sports and conservation education in this show.
First, you can kick back with family or friends to watch this entire half-hour television episode to get the full content in one sitting. Kinda like enjoying a full course meal. Yum-yum.
Then there's the shorter, custom segments on the noted links below. These are the custom "classroom" or learning videos with some bonus content designed to share with your entire classroom. On these links below you'll also find lots of other educational content, including custom lesson activities for your teacher to take your entire classroom on a three to four day journey of peer-driven learning blended with fun and hands-on pathways to try outdoor pursuits yourself.
Whichever way you decide to enjoy the fun and educational content, it's a win-win way for you to get engaged with pathways to discovering more about yourself and the great outdoors.
So enjoy the journey of discovery in all of the content in our America’s Conservation & Hunting Heritage Series funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in partnership with Safari Club International Foundation, a nonprofit org dedicated to promoting wildlife conservation across the country.
Official Hunter Safety Courses for Today’s Hunter
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
Many people don't realize that... even using flint-tipped spears and arrows over the past 15,000 years, early Paleo hunters over-harvested many North American big game species to the point of extinction. If you were to see these giants still roaming our landscape you would be in awe. Imagine for a moment all of these giant species that were hunted to extinction by the first primitive hunters to reach North America. Most were hunted to extinction about 3000 years after the arrival of Paleo hunters in North America (11,000 to 12,000 years ago). Research has revealed a similar pattern on continents and islands around the world of many mega-fauna hunted to extinction within 2000 to 3000 years after the of the arrival of humans.
Of course when European settlers arrived in America, there had no idea that so many species, that must have seemed endless to Paleo hunters, had been hunted to extinction. So they didn't have either the history or foresight to imagine that shooting America's wildlife could devastate their populations. For instance the passenger pigeon once numbered 3 to 5 billion at their population peak and darkened the sky. It seems impossible that unregulated market hunting combined with human changes to the landscape could impact a wildlife population that size. Yet someone shot the last wild bird in 1901 and the sole survivor died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. From billions to extinction in less than 100 years.
The American bison once blacken the American plains. When Lewis and Clack explored the west, an estimated 60 million bison roamed the plains and foothills. But the combination of market hunting and slaughter by the Army reduced the bison almost to the point of extinction by the late 1800’s.
Fortunately, the movement to preserve and protect America's wildlife, wild lands, and other natural resources occurred between 1890-1920. The conservation movement affected government policy that lead to landmark legislation that established Yellowstone National Park in 1872, Yosemite National Park in 1890, and the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. In 1901, conservationist, outdoorsman and sportsman Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States. With other conservation voices such as John Muir and Gifford Pinchot, parks and wildlife refuges began being established across the nation. Today there are now over 560 National Wildlife refuges in the U.S. And perhaps more importantly, states across the nation began regulating hunting season and harvest numbers based on wildlife conservation science.
To discover how this conservation movement helped restore wildlife populations in America over the past 100 years, watch the video here and click on the "Learn More" button below. But if you really want to wade into the past and have your entire class share in the fun of learning to manage really "wild" wildlife species, have your teacher download the free lesson below on Managing Pleistocene Megafauna. It's a serious interesting peer-driven education and a highly interactive ice-age blast to the past.
Once you've learned about the birth of conservation, you can expand your wildlife knowledge more by exploring Managing Black Bears and Managing White-tailed Deer.
This wildlife education program is made possible with support of the follow educational partners. Teachers can link to their websites for additional information and educational opportunities, such as their American Wilderness Leadership School Youth Program.
At SCI Foundation’s American Wilderness Leadership School location in Jackson, Wyoming, educators and students learn about conservation, wildlife management, and outdoor recreation through outdoor, hands-on activities. Their Hands on Wildlife (HOW) program provides educators with conservation education instructional tools they can use in hands-on instruction.
If you could have flown over North American in 1492 (when Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered America) you would have seen a vast wilderness, unbroken by the sweeping hand of civilization. And if you could have somehow counted all the white-tailed deer within the forests then, their numbers would have totaled about 45 million.
Now if you jumped ahead in time some 400 years to 1903 when the first plane did actually fly over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina by Wilbur and Orville Wright, you’d see that the landscape had changed dramatically. Settlers with their axes and plows had transformed many of the lush forests into farms. Settlers’ guns combined with uncontrolled market hunting had also dramatically impacted those 45 million white-tailed deer. In fact, they had been decimated to the point of only an estimated 300,000 deer in the United States by 1903. With such a downward spiral, they seemed doomed to near extinction, right?
But thanks to the birth and evolution of modern wildlife management, things changed dramatically for the white-tailed deer. Now there are about 100 times more deer, some 30 MILLION that now inhabit North America. Think about that for a moment… 100 times more deer than 100 years ago. And today, the “whitetail”, as many people call them, represent the nation’s most abundant wild game resource and one of America’s great conservation success stories… all rolled into one.
All that sounds pretty wonderful on the surface. But with that many deer sharing a limited or shrinking wild landscape with some 300 million humans creates a whole set of serious challenges for wildlife managers, public safety officials and the other species that share those limited wild places. Two reasons that whitetails have been so successful in rebounding their numbers are: 1) they are extremely adaptable to almost any wild or human-made environment, 2) they are a “keystone” species - which means they can dominate and eat so much plant matter in an ecosystem that they can adversely impact all the other species that try to share that ecosystem.
Watch the video on this page plus click on the Learn More button below to "learn lots more" about managing white-tailed deer and how wildlife managers use regulated hunting as a key tool in ecosystem management. To truly become junior wildlife managers, have your teacher download the free lessons on Managing White-tailed Deer below so the entire class can share in the science and discovery of managing your own deer herds. The links below will also help you learn how different places developed their deer management plans. And once you've learned about managing deer, expand your wildlife knowledge by exploring Managing Black Bears.
This wildlife education program is made possible with support of the follow educational partners. Teachers can link to their websites for additional information and educational opportunities, such as their American Wilderness Leadership School Youth Program.
At SCI Foundation’s American Wilderness Leadership School location in Jackson, Wyoming, educators and students learn about conservation, wildlife management, and outdoor recreation through outdoor, hands-on activities. Their Hands on Wildlife (HOW) program provides educators with conservation education instructional tools they can use in hands-on instruction.