A Legacy of Outdoor Recreation
As we enter into August, we celebrate and welcome in National Shooting Sports Month – a time-honored tradition for many of us here in the Natural State. Many Arkansans, including myself, have grown up with a deep appreciation for shooting sports – passing this love down to our children who will undoubtedly carry the legacy on through generations. As the co-chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, there is a great opportunity to advocate for legislation in Congress that supports our nation’s recreational shooters and trappers, hunters, and even anglers who share a deep appreciation for a pastime that defines our nation’s history.
Deeply intertwined with the ideals of conservation, survival, and sport, our history is rich with the legacy of outdoor sportsmanship. Necessary for survival, the early American settlers relied heavily on their skills with a rifle to not only feed their families but protect their communities. However, as time went on and society became more stabilized, those skills began to transform into sport, merging the skills necessary for survival with friendly competition.
Beginning in the early 1800s, clubs and associations formed across the United States, inspired greatly by European traditions, to formalize the concepts of shooting sports and outdoor recreation. Leaning heavily into the legacy of the frontiersmen who came before them, these pioneers of our greatest American pastime laid the cornerstone for a sport that so many of us enjoy today. We cannot, however, look back at our nation’s history of outdoor recreation and shooting sports without highlighting one of our nation’s greatest and most notable outdoor figures: President Theodore Roosevelt.
A passionate outdoorsman, hunter, and conservationist, President Roosevelt became the leading architect of American conservation and outdoorsmanship. In a letter to Henry Cabot Lodge, President Roosevelt fondly wrote about his love for the outdoors when he said, "I heartily enjoy this life, with its perfect freedom, for I am very fond of hunting, and there are few sensations I prefer to that of galloping over these rolling limitless prairies, with rifle in hand, or winding my way among the barren, fantastic and grimly picturesque deserts of the so-called Bad Lands…" This great love for the outdoors seeped into his presidential administration’s efforts, establishing nearly 230 million acres of public lands, which included 150 national forests, 55 federal bird reservations and game preserves, 5 national parks, and our nation’s first 18 national monuments.
Not only did President Roosevelt view shooting sports as an opportunity for outdoor recreation, but he also saw it as a prime opportunity to deepen his understanding of the wilderness and its native inhabitants. Throughout several of his adventures, he took note of his findings and observations, publishing them in pieces of literature we can enjoy today. Many of our current outdoor recreation opportunities are mostly thanks to the incredible groundwork laid by Theodore Roosevelt.
Arkansas’ rich heritage of shooting sports has been safely practiced and enjoyed for generations. This month, as we observe National Shooting Sports Month, let’s celebrate the time-honored tradition and legacy of sportsmanship that has been the lifeblood of not only the Natural State, but our nation’s very existence.