Gary Ingersoll: 2003 Conklin Award Winner

Gary Ingersoll was born on September 6, 1939 in the small town of Austin in southern Minnesota. Gary was quite literally “born to hunt” as his father was a professional trainer of champion bird dogs.

After completing high school and graduating from Mankato State University with degrees in business and economics, Gary joined the Army and after serving his country, went on his first guided big game hunt, a hunt for polar bear. His reward was a polar bear of more than ten feet!

Gary expanded his hunting adventures in North America and went on to take most of Alaska’s big game, as well as elk, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope. He soon decided to try to take some of North America’s more difficult trophies, the wild sheep.

He had little trouble in securing a Dall, Rocky Mountain bighorn, and Stone sheep, and a desert bighorn was secured through a Mexican business associates that had the right contacts. His Grand Slam ram turned out to be a B&C head.

Gary then set his sights on the vaunted North American 27. At the time, only five hunters had accomplished this feat. In the process of accomplishing this goal, Gary was fortunate enough to harvest the last legal walrus. The only major hurdle left was the Mexican jaguar. On the first day of his jaguar hunt he took the number 1 cat of all time. The final animals of the 27 fell into place and Gary became the sixth hunter to complete this tremendous collection.

About this time, Gary was encouraged to get to Africa to expand his hunting horizons. A thirty-five day Kenya safari was planned for the summer of 1976. During this trip, Gary was able to take 27 different species including lion, leopard, Cape buffalo, and a large black rhinoceros. In 1977 he was off to Sudan where he not only took the highly elusive bongo, but also an eighty plus pound forest elephant and several plainsgame species including the very rare Nile lechewe.

Several more hunts came and went when at a hunting convention, C.J. MacElroy and Dr. Jim Conklin approached Gary about his future hunting aspirations. They suggested that Gary apply for the Weatherby Hunting and Conservation Award.

Gary wanted to win this most coveted award on his own terms. He refused to “pad” his hunting resume with non-fair chase species. He discussed this issue several times with Dr. Conklin, who said that he agreed with Gary and had done the same during his own Weatherby run. A solid friendship was born from this mutual respect.

Throughout his life, Gary has been an ardent supporter of many hunting and conservation organizations. Through his volunteerism and financial support, Gary has an enviable record of giving back to the hunting community. A longtime supporter of FNAWS, GSCO, SCI, and RMEF, to name only a few, Gary has put back every bit as much as he has taken, and then some. He has financially and often times, solely, underwritten conservation projects in the United States, Asia, and Africa.

Gary and his wife Elizabeth, now live in Houston Texas along with Gary’s two children, Jason and Traci, and his stepdaughter Tiffany. He continues to pursue the most difficult species available today.