Media contact: PJ DelHomme, (406) 258-0107, [email protected]
MISSOULA, MT (October 27, 2026) – The Boone and Crockett Club announced today that Hayden Walkush, a master’s student in wildlife at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP), has been recognized with the Boone and Crockett Fellow Outstanding Achievement Award. The award recognizes a graduate student whose research advances the Club’s mission and informs natural resource management and policy decisions in North America. The award highlights and strengthens the connection between students and the Boone and Crockett Club that supports them.
“The Boone and Crockett Club promotes a system of governance in North America where natural resource policy decisions are informed by strong, credible science and our University Programs support these future wildlife scientists. Hayden’s research exemplifies this mission and we are proud to present this award to him for his research on black bears in Wisconsin,” commented Dr. Steven Leath, the Boone and Crockett Club’s executive vice president for administration and co-chair of the University Programs subcommittee.
The Boone and Crockett Wildlife Conservation Program supports graduate students in wildlife conservation and related fields through its University Program Fellows Program. The Club’s University Programs offer educational and professional development opportunities that prepare future scientists, decision-makers, and leaders to address the enormous challenges facing wildlife conservation. As part of achieving this broad-based goal, the Club has invested considerable resources in its University Programs to generate credible science on important natural resource issues and train future conservation leaders.
Hayden has been a Boone and Crockett fellow since his undergraduate days at UWSP. His master’s research on Wisconsin’s black bears is part of a decades-long project at UWSP's Wisconsin Center for Wildlife. Working under advisor Dr. Cady Sartini, he studies how bears move through and respond to a patchwork landscape of working forests, elk restoration areas, and intensive bear hunting activity. His work is part of a long-standing $1 million research project that Boone and Crockett Club members helped revive and fund. His study area includes the Great Divide District of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
“I am absolutely honored to have been selected. It is difficult to put into words how much my time as a Boone and Crockett Fellow has meant to me, both professionally and personally,” said Walkush. “As I approach the end of my program, I have been reflecting on the many people who have shaped my journey and encouraged me to find my voice as a conservationist, being a Boone and Crockett Fellow has been a key part of that. A simple “thank you” hardly feels sufficient, but please know I will honor your support by carrying what I have learned into the next stage of my career.”
“It is not often that you meet your most capable graduate student during their first few weeks on campus as an undergraduate freshman, but he knocked on my door, introduced himself and asked about how he could get involved with wildlife work,” noted Walkush’s advisor, Dr. Cady Sartini. “He is bright, capable, and radiates with a love for wildlife. He is resourceful, driven, and a gifted leader. He is exactly what the Boone and Crockett Club would expect out of a leader in the wildlife field, in no small part because the Club has given him the tools and opportunity to put himself there.”