T.R.ivia

This Month's Question:

Which of T.R.’s children once said, “My father wants to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral,” referring to T.R.‘s desire to be the center of attention?

Send your answer to this month’s question to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for your chance to win a navy blue T.R. Sesquicentennial hat.


Answer to November’s question:
At the urging of the Florida Audubon Society, T.R. proclaimed Pelican Island in Florida our first national wildlife refuge in 1903. Today, our nation encompasses 530 national wildlife refuges, totaling more than 93 million acres.

Congratulations to Charles Parker, November TRivia winner.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Photo of the Month

Two anglers enjoy their catch, a native redband trout, by the Metolius River, Ore. Photo by Sarah Roth

Top Story

Jim Range Wins Budweiser Conservation Award

TRCP co-founder and former chairman Jim Range, a preeminent American sportsman-conservationist, has been posthumously honored as the 2010 Budweiser Conservationist of the Year. The award, presented by Budweiser and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation at the 2010 Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to perpetuating the American outdoor way of life. READ MORE

Latest News

  • TRCP Announces Ambitious Policy Agenda for 2010

    Highlighting a range of issues pivotal to sportsmen-conservationists, the TRCP has released its 2010 Conservation Policy Agenda. Developed in concert with the TRCP’s partners, which include national hunting, fishing and conservation organizations, labor unions and grassroots sportsmen, the 2010 Conservation Policy Agenda will enable the TRCP to advance policy solutions on natural resource management issues of common concern and will provide focus to the group’s efforts in the year to come.READ MORE

    • TRCP CEO Steps Down, Board Begins Search for Replacement

    The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s George Cooper announced today his decision to step down as president and CEO of the sportsmen-conservation group. The TRCP board of directors has appointed Director of Finance and CFO Diane Craney interim CEO beginning Jan. 1, 2010. The board is initiating a national search for a permanent replacement this week.READ MORE

    Conservationists Support Salazar’s Energy Leasing Reforms

    Led by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, members of a coalition of prominent conservation groups emphatically seconded dramatic reforms to the federal government’s minerals-leasing policy announced by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Hunters and anglers call revision of federal leasing protocol “long overdue,” promote bringing clarity and public engagement to public-lands management.READ MORE

    New Faces at the TRCP

    Several accomplished conservation professionals joined the TRCP in recent months to bolster the partnership's on-the-ground work in support of responsible management of our natural resources and our hunting and fishing traditions. The TRCP is pleased to welcome Dr. Ben Brown, Nicholas Payne and Tom Sadler to our group.READ MORE

    Industry Decision to Forgo Montana Energy Leases Draws Praise from Sportsmen

    More than 29,000 acres of prime fish and wildlife habitat on the Rocky Mountain Front will be permanently removed from oil and gas development due to an industry decision to relinquish leases on these lands. The TRCP praised the action as a positive move toward conserving important fish and wildlife habitat and sustaining hunting and fishing opportunities for American citizens.READ MORE

Roosevelt Reflections

Kermit Roosevelt’s Reflections on Hunting with T.R.

by Ken Barrett

Kermit Roosevelt, son of Teddy, sits under a tree during his expedition with his father down the River of Doubt in 1913. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Kermit Roosevelt’s Reflections on Hunting with T.R.

In 1920, a year after Roosevelt’s death, Kermit, his son and boon companion during the great African safari of 1909-1910, published an account of his own hunting adventures. In addition to tales about the twosome’s African adventure, his book includes stories about hunting in the American Southwest for sheep, New Brunswick for moose and South Dakota - along with T.R.’s friend Sherriff Seth Bullock, of Deadwood fame - for prairie chickens. The Happy Hunting Grounds is a slim volume, only 100 pages in length, yet it is reminiscent of his famous father’s writings. It remains in print and is available from Barnes & Noble Books.

In Jennifer Ham’s introduction, you’ll find a quote from T.R. that speaks to the heart and soul of many hunters. “I am fond of politics, but fonder still of a little big-game hunting,” he wrote.

I would suggest that Roosevelt ought to have written “a great deal of big-game hunting”! For few of us can imagine a year-long safari in Africa, not to mention his many excursions out West and to Canada in pursuit of big game.

Kermit was only 19 years old when he accompanied his father to Africa and barely 30 when he penned his own book, but by then he understood the allure of hunting and expressed it well when he wrote, “We get three sorts and periods of enjoyment out of a hunting trip. The first is when the plans are being discussed and the outfit assembled; this is the pleasure of anticipation. The second is the enjoyment of the actual trip itself; and the third is the pleasure of retrospection when we sit around a blazing fire and talk over the incidents and adventures of the trip.” Who among us would argue with those words?

Kermit obviously idolized and loved his father, writing of T.R., “He was a natural champion of the cause of every man, and not only in his books would he carefully give credit where it was due, but he would endeavor to bring about recognition through outside channels.”

The Happy Hunting Grounds is filled with personal nuggets and observations about growing up and hunting with Theodore Roosevelt. I enjoyed it and trust you will, as well. 

TRCP Partners