Congratulations Ryan Burkert
on being the 2024 Eisenhower Award recipient
Ryan's remarks:
In June 2020, I separated from the Army and moved to Montana to start the next phase of my life. We were moving here to enjoy the public lands and waters. I didn’t grow up hunting, and when I moved to Montana, I had only hunted once but never filled a single tag…ever…anywhere.
As I left the military, I was also looking for an opportunity to continue to serve and give back. I just happened to network with BHA’s first leader of the new Armed Forces Initiative program. In the summer of 2020, Andy and I were the first two volunteers, bringing the total AFI membership up to three.
As we worked together to define AFI, how we wanted to build it, what we wanted to accomplish, and how we wanted to operationalize it, the feedback we started to get from the military community mirrored my own experiences. Transitioning veterans were searching for purpose and to regain a sense of community. We felt that AFI could provide that…conservation and public land advocacy could be their purpose, and the proverbial hunting or fishing camp could be their community.
Our first experiment in the fall of 2020 was a veteran mule deer camp in southeast Montana. Although we had a few lessons learned, it was a tremendous success. Around the campfire, I taught classes on the history of public lands and how we can advocate for them through the legislative process. Other more experienced hunters taught classes on glassing, using wind and terrain to stalk, the gutless method, and packouts. The professional hunters mentored new hunters and took them into the field to harvest their deer. In November 2020, AFI grew from three to 17 at that first camp.
Since I was focused on the camp logistics and part of the camp staff, I didn’t get to harvest an animal myself. But the knowledge and confidence I gained at the camp allowed me to return two weeks later, by myself, and harvest my first deer and fill my first tag…ever.
Now look where AFI is: 3.5 years later, after our first event with a total membership of 17, we now do 160 events in 46 states per year, with over 2000 military participants.
I also reflect on where I am now and how my journey mirrored AFI's. In the past three and half years, I’ve filled ten tags, including mule deer, bear, pronghorn, whitetail, caribou, elk, and turkey. I list these because I moved to Montana less than four years ago, leaving 20 years of military service without any local friends or family, having never filled any tag, and searching for a way to give back.
The Armed Forces Initiative gave me all those things. Nine tags were filled on public land and one on block management. None of the tags were filled at an AFI event, but six of the ten tags were filled with friends I made through AFI. I filled out the other four tags with the knowledge, skills, and confidence AFI provided. I’ve run mule deer, turkey, and fly fishing camps and hopefully inspired other veterans to continue to serve and conserve.
I am truly honored to receive this award, not because of my volunteer work or what I’ve provided to BHA and AFI but because I truly appreciate what AFI has offered to me. I am but an anecdote of what AFI and the AFI mission provide the entire military hunting and fishing community. Much like the rest of BHA, we’re about purpose, service, community, conservation, public lands, hunting, and fishing. We just happened to have served in uniform as well.
AFI makes a difference in people’s lives. Thank you to Morgan, Andy, Trevor, Kyle, DJ, Dave, Shawn, Garrett, Anson, and the Armed Forces Initiative for improving my life.
About Trevor Hubbs
I grew up running hounds on coyotes and raccoons, spent a fair amount of time public land waterfowl hunting, and have hunted upland birds behind my setters across the midwest.