2025 Award Winner:
Gov. Kelly Armstrong
The 2025 DSC-PAC Bull Elephant Award will be presented to North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong at the 2025 DSC Convention & Sporting Expo. This award is given to legislators at the national level who have continually supported legislation and efforts that coincide with DSC’s mission.
Governor Armstrong represented North Dakota in the State Senate from 2013-2018, the US House of Representatives from 2019-2024, before becoming Governor in 2024. He has a long history of supporting causes that strongly align with DSC’s mission.
“It started when I was 9 years old and shot a raccoon with my bow and I have literally hunted all over the world for everything you can think of with both with a bow and a rifle,” Armstrong said. “My favorite is still, you know, pheasant hunting in southwest North Dakota. I have one sheep left, I got dry holed last year on a bighorn, but once I get done with that, I’ll have the grand slam. North Dakota’s a hidden treasure. We may not be the best for anything, but we’re kind of the best for everything. Pheasants grouse, partridge, whitetail, mule deer, great duck hunting, great spring snow goose hunting, great big geese hunting, tons of predators! My favorite part about that is hunting anywhere you can in North Dakota. But because I live in a very flat state, I’ve been drawn to the mountains a lot, so I’m going to continue on the sheep hunting as long as my body will let me and continue to go see my friends in Africa as much as possible.”
This award stands out for Gov. Armstrong, who was the featured speaker at the DSC PAC 2024 meeting at last year’s Convention.
“When you’re in politics, there’s not a lot of awards I actually really care that much about other than, you know, winning elections, but I’ve been a Life Member of DSC,” he said. “I’ve quite frankly been going to the annual Conventions long before I ever got involved in politics … I get really good advice from people I trust. But it’s just as far as conservation, as far as getting more and more people involved and making sure people recognize how truly important organizations like this are to maintaining a future for my single favorite thing in the world to do, but also into preserving habitat and animal health and species health all across the world. I can’t think of a I can’t think of a more worthy organization, and I couldn’t be more humbled to win the award.”
The Outdoor Heritage Fund in North Dakota is a piece of legislation Gov. Armstrong is proud of.
“One of the first things we did was set up an Outdoor Heritage fund to preserve habitat in North Dakota,” he said. “Whether it’s no till farming, decrease in CRP, habitat loss is a huge problem for all of us. Whether it’s in the southwest, North Dakota, or in northern South Africa. One of the things I’m most excited for about governor is, you know, we’ve done really good things with habitat, making sure that we’re figuring out a way that this doesn’t only turn into a rich person’s sport. Get more kids involved, get more blue-collar people being able to go shoot ducks or pheasants, and getting access to private land in which to do those things by working with landowners, not forcing things down their throats. So, I think we have really cool opportunities to do that both in the hunting and fishing space.”
Along with being an outdoorsman, Gov. Armstrong spends his time as a Volunteer Firefighter and Volunteer American Legion Baseball Coach. He is married to his wife, Kjersti, and they have two children, Anna and Eli.
Purpose
The Bull Elephant Award is given to legislators at both the national and state levels who have continually supported DSC’s mission.
Criteria
Winners are chosen because they have consistently spent their careers as advocates of legislative efforts in support of ethical, sustainable hunting and the conservation principles of DSC. The award is not given every year, but is given when it has been earned through not only key legislation, but a lifetime dedicated to the hunting tradition.
Winners
There have been four awards granted to date.
- The first recipient was U. S. Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX 32), a Chairman of the Rules Committee and DSC Life Member. He is DSC’s de facto representative in Washington, D.C. and has played a critical role in several key legislative areas, including the lifting of the hunting ban on exotics and preventing firearm transport bans by the airlines.
- The second and third awards were given simultaneously to Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton (Conroe) and Texas State Representative Trent Ashby (Lufkin) after they led the way in support of DSC’s proposal of Proposition 6 that created a Texas State Constitutional Amendment making hunting and fishing constitutionally protected rights in Texas. In addition, both Senator Creighton and Representative Ashby have been lifelong advocates of hunting and fishing.
- The fourth Bull Elephant Award went to U. S. Rep. Don Young (the only Congressman for all of Alaska), Chairman Emeritus of the U. S. House Natural Resources Committee and DSC Life Member. Don has been one of hunting’s strongest allies in Washington D.C. He is a lifelong hunter and angler and has continually supported DSC’s legislative efforts.
- The fifth award went to U.S. Congressman Jeff Duncan, Chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, for his 17 years of public service, dedicated to protecting our constitutional freedoms and protecting the Nation. Thanks for your support of our hunting heritage as the key to conservation of our wildlife and wild places.
Presentation
The award is presented at the DSC Convention.