Actually, even though T.R.'s time was the beginning of desperately needed land and wildlife conservation programs, I do not consider that as the beginning of our hunting heritage.

For one thing, some of my ancestors were living here and had their own hunting heritage - even hunting related religious rituals - for thousands of years before white man ever came along. Some of my white ancestors were here 200 years before T.R. and I'm sure they had their own hunting heritage. They weren't allowed to hunt the King's deer over there, so I'm sure hunting meant a great deal to them.

The conservation laws were solely to curtail market hunting - which involved a wide variety of species - to keep our wildlife from being exterminated for profit.

T.R. was a trophy hunter. He was also a philthy rich white guy. (c'mon spelling police. I dare ya. ) So maybe trophy hunting is the heritage for filthy rich white guys, but not for dirt farmers in the Midwest or lower middle class suburbanites in the Southeast. So then you have to define what regional, cultural or economic class heritage you're referring to.