YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (Sept. 19, 1876) – Soon on newsstands in all 38 states, an upcoming edition of “Forest and Stream” will feature a report by editor George Bird Grinnell on a poaching crisis still plaguing Yellowstone even in its fourth year as a U.S. national park.

Grinnell, back from an expedition in the area, witnessed the sad carnage and writes, “It is estimated that during the winter of 1874-1875, not less than 3,000 buffalo and mule deer suffer even more severely than the elk, and the antelope nearly as much.”

The concerned editor is urging Congress to help stop the rampant market hunting and exploitation of wildlife, timber, geysers and other natural resources of the park.

That’s how early sportsmen might have announced the launch of a long crusade that would change the course of conservation in America.

The plight of Yellowstone and the public outcry that followed Grinnell’s articles on what he called “the park grab,” proved to be a tipping point that rallied the 1887 formation of the Boone and Crockett Club. Founder Theodore Roosevelt was resolute in establishing the fledgling outfit’s first order of business: Protect the park.

Yellowstone elk poached by Fredrick and Philip Bottler near Mammoth Hot Spring during the spring of 1875.

Today, Boone and Crockett is commemorating the 120th anniversary of the Club’s first major success, the Yellowstone Protection Act of 1894.

“The campaign to preserve Yellowstone was the first time a natural resource issue secured the popular support of both sportsmen and non-sportsmen,” said current Boone and Crockett Club President Bill Demmer. “Yellowstone thrust Boone and Crockett into the national limelight as an organization of hunters leading America’s early conservation movement.” Read more