Chatfield, MN - During the Pope & Young Club’s 31st Biennial Convention in Omaha, Nebraska, the Club’s 2019 P&Y Conservation Award was presented to the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association. This award recognizes a person or organization for the promotion of the future of bowhunting and hunting, the image of bowhunting and hunting, and the conservation and wise use of our natural resources. The WBA was founded in 1941 by bowhunting pioneers, such as Roy Case and Aldo Leopold. In 1934, these pioneers helped establish the first bowhunting season in the United States. We congratulate the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association for their past and ongoing efforts to promote bowhunting.

"Wisconsin Bowhunters Association is very honored to receive this award, especially coming from the Pope and Young Club, our nation's premier bowhunting organization,” said Mike Brust, President of the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association. “We sincerely appreciate the recognition and look forward to continuing our efforts to promote, preserve and protect the great sport of hunting with the bow and arrow, as we have done for the last 78 years".

WBA has always been at the forefront PROMOTING, PRESERVING and PROTECTING the sport of bowhunting. Wisconsin bowhunting pioneers like Roy Case, Aldo Leopold, and others worked to establish the first dedicated bowhunting season in 1934, and in 1941 founded Wisconsin Bowhunters Association to promote, preserve and protect this new sport. The Association has been a force in bowhunting ever since. WBA worked with the Wisconsin DNR to develop many of the generous bowhunting opportunities we enjoy today, not only in Wisconsin but based on our success, seasons and regulations that have been copied in many other states. Wisconsin's bowhunting structure still serves as a template followed by several other game agencies across the country.

“Wisconsin Bowhunters Association has been instrumental in the establishment and preservation of archery seasons across the United States," said Rick Mowery, Communications and Marketing Manager for the Pope and Young Club. "The Club is proud to recognize WBA's monumental efforts to protect, preserve and promote our bowhunting heritage. State bowhunting organizations, like WBA, are on the front lines, every day, protecting and defending our right to bowhunt. The Pope and Young Club stands shoulder to shoulder with these organizations in this effort."

The Pope and Young Club is a non-profit North American conservation and bowhunting organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of bowhunting by striving to increase awareness and appreciation of bowhunting foundations, principles and values. The Pope and Young Club is focused on Fair Chase hunting ethics that support the ethical pursuit of free-ranging, wild game animals without unfair advantage while promoting the conservation of both habitat and wildlife. The Club also maintains the universally recognized repository of records and statistics on North American big game animals harvested with a bow and arrow.

Contact the Pope & Young Club office at:

www.pope-young.org or P.O. Box 548, Chatfield, MN 55923, Ph: 507.867.4144

Media contact Rick Mowery at rick@pope-young.org, Ph: 989.884.3800