Leica Sport Optics Supports Youth Hunters Through Boone and Crockett Generation Next Awards
OutdoorHub 07.01.13
Leica Sport Optics is proud to participate in the development and acknowledgement of the next generation of hunter-conservationists by sponsoring Boone and Crockett’s Generation Next Awards, which honors youths who recently took a trophy in Boone and Crockett records.
Keith Balfourd, Boone and Crockett Club’s director of marketing, says 160 kids 16 years old and younger have been added to the books for B&C big-game animals in the last three years. The Generation Next Awards will be held during the Boone and Crockett Club 28th Big Game Awards, July 17-20 in Reno, Nev., at the Silver Legacy Hotel. The triennial event is one of North America’s longest-running celebrations of big-game conservation and management. It will feature a public exhibition of World’s Records, Top 5 trophies and records-book specimens taken by hunters age 16 and under during the past three years.
“We are excited that young hunters are being recognized for their impressive accomplishments,” Terry Moore, vice president of Sport Optics for Leica, says. “We understand that youth play a vital role in the future of hunting and in big-game conservation and management efforts, and we enthusiastically support the Boone and Crockett Club’s efforts to encourage these youngsters to pursue their passion for the out of doors.”
“Each of these kids received an invitation to come to Reno. display their trophy and to take part in the Generation Next Awards banquet,” Balfourd says. “We expect approximately 40 kids and their families to take part. Each youth hunter will get to come up on stage and be presented with a certificate and Generation Next hat while the master of ceremonies talks about the young hunter and his or her trophy. This event is a big deal for these young hunters and their families. Less than one half of one percent of big game hunters can say they have a Boone and Crockett animal in the record book. To be recognized in this way is even that much more special.”
Boone and Crockett began hosting public exhibitions of big game trophies in 1977.
“It’s an opportunity for people to see the trophies that we honor as symbols of America’s incredibly successful conservation system,” Club President Bill Demmer says. “It’s a system led and funded primarily by hunters, but it benefits all wildlife as well as all citizens who appreciate wildlife and wild places. By sponsoring our 28th Awards, Leica is helping us spread the word that America’s conservation system continues to work well today. In fact, most big game herds are healthier and world-class trophies are more plentiful now than ever before, thanks to hunters.”
The event not only offers registered attendees the opportunity to admire the trophy exhibition, but a chance to enjoy raffles, an auction featuring hunts in top trophy regions across the continent and evening awards banquets and presentations.
For more info on the Boone and Crockett Club 28th Big Game Awards, visit www.biggameawards.com.
For more information on Leica Sport Optics, check out www.leica-sportoptics.com, and visit Leica’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LeicaHunting.
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