Story by Lone Star Outdoor News
Dallas Safari Club announced the winners of two of its most prestigious awards, the new Conservation Trailblazer Award, to be given to Clay Brewer; and the Capstick Award, to be given to Rob Keck.
Conservation Trailblazer Award
Clay Brewer has been selected as the inaugural winner of DSC’s Conservation Trailblazer Award. This award celebrates the contribution of wildlife professionals to the field of game and non-game wildlife conservation, including wildlife and habitat management, applied research and policy.
Brewer will be presented the award, plus a $10,000 contribution toward his work in wildlife conservation, at the Feb. 11 evening banquet during the 2021 DSC Convention.
Brewer, who is the conservation director and bighorn sheep program lead of The Wild Sheep Foundation, was nominated for the award by Texas Bighorn Society President Dr. Sam Cunningham with support letters from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Executive Director Carter Smith, Wild Sheep Foundation President Gray Thornton and Texas Bighorn Society Board Member Emeritus Tommy Caruthers.
“We would like to recognize his long-time dedication to the conservation and reestablishment of wildlife, especially bighorn sheep in the U.S. and Canada and desert bighorn sheep in the Southwest U.S., Texas and Mexico,” Cunningham wrote in his nominating letter.
DSC Executive Director Corey Mason said Brewer’s career epitomizes what can be accomplished for wildlife and wild places through dedication, collaboration and selfless work.
Brewer began his career at TPWD as a wildlife biologist in Central Texas and worked up the ranks to Regional Director of Region II. He built a solid partnership with many landowners recognizing that desert bighorns move across the landscape and that landowners are an integral part of desert bighorn management in Texas. These efforts were the benchmark in the reestablishment and continued conservation of the desert bighorn sheep in West Texas.
At the Wild Sheep Foundation, Brewer oversees wild sheep conservation, management and research activities in the western United States, Canada and Mexico.
Capstick Award
The DSC Peter Hathaway Capstick Hunting Heritage Award Committee selected Rob Keck as the 2021 award recipient. Keck will be presented with the award at the DSC Convention and Expo, Reflections, during the Saturday evening banquet on Feb. 13, 2021.
To pay tribute to Peter H. Capstick, award recipients have shown long-term support and commitment to our hunting heritage through various avenues such as education, humanitarian causes, hunting involvement and giving.
“Rob epitomizes what an individual with vision and purposeful work can accomplish for wildlife and our hunting heritage,” DSC Executive Director Corey Mason said. “He has guided and educated an untold number of people in his distinguished career.”
Keck recently retired from the director of conservation position for Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s and is past Chairman of the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium, and was the host of Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Radio Show.
For 27 years, as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Keck directed and fueled the return of the wild turkey in North America. While at NWTF, he oversaw the growth of the organization to more than a half-million members and developed a network of 2,400 chapters that completed habitat improvement projects on more than 4 million acres. As founder of the Families Afield initiative, he worked with the NWTF, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and the National Shooting Sports Foundation to break down age-restrictive barriers that prevented kids from getting a hunting license and opened the door for mentored hunting for all ages. This program changed the law in 42 states, providing opportunities to more than 2.5 million new hunters.
Keck also is a passionate big-game hunter who has hunted from above the Arctic Circle to the South Island of New Zealand. He has been a US Open and World Turkey Calling Champion and was the first hunter to take a wild turkey in every state.
