B&C Celebrates New Home of North American Conservation

Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops founder 

The Boone and Crockett Club commends Club member and Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris on his continuing conservation efforts and the upcoming opening of one of the largest, most immersive conservation attractions in the world - Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium. The 315,000 square-foot exhibit sits adjacent to Bass Pro Shops flagship store in Springfield, Missouri, and will soon serve as the new home to North American conservation when it opens later in 2016. 

In 2015, Boone and Crockett Club joined more than 25 of the country's leading conservation organizations to contribute to the creation of the attraction. The nationwide collaboration brought together conservation leaders to discuss fun and engaging ways to motivate public appreciation for wildlife and conservation efforts. The attraction will highlight past successes and share important conservation messages to a national audience. 

"The museum and aquarium continues the legacy of dedicated professionals and individuals who truly care about ensuring the future of wildlife through conservation practices," said Morrison Stevens, Club president. "It will serve many generations to come with an immersive, educational experience that focuses on the benefits of long-term conservation and the positive effects on wildlife. The motto 'Conservation had a beginning, but has no end,' is fitting to describe the opportunity presented by this attraction." 

Wonders of Wildlife will also become the new home to Boone and Crockett Club's National Collection of Heads and Horns. First dedicated in 1922 to "the vanishing big-game animals of the world," the exhibit gives visitors a chance to see more than 40 historically significant North American game animals that helped spark America's conservation movement.

Wonders of Wildlife and the neighboring Bass Pro Shops will host the upcoming Boone and Crockett Club 29th Big Game Awards, July 14-16, 2016. The event offers a public exhibition of World's Records and Top-5 trophies in all categories of native North American big game, plus records-book specimens taken during the past three years by hunters age 16 and under.