By Buckmasters Online
-- Birthdate: September 30, 1955
Hometown: Montgomery, Alabama
Height & Weight: 6' 3", 175 pounds
Hair & Eyes: Brown & Light brown
Education: BA, Auburn University. Major: Economics. Minor: Marketing.
Tennis: World-Class tennis pro & coach Captain and No. 1 tennis player for Auburn, 1973-1977.
All SEC and All-American honors
Former touring tennis pro on the American Express and Pacific Northwest circuits
Earned birth in Wimbledon's qualifying rounds, but elected not to go.
Some of the most respected leaders in the outdoor industry told world-class tennis pro, coach and lifelong outdoorsman Jackie Bushman that it was impossible to unite America's deer hunters.
In vintage Bushman style, the 6-foot, 3-inch, soft-spoken Alabamian, quietly but firmly proved them wrong -- approximately one-half million times, if you count the steadily-growing membership in his 360,000-member Buckmasters association of deer hunters, plus subscriptions to his various hunting magazines and even more if you include the three websites.
Bushman, whose grandfather began teaching him to hunt before he was 8, is the founder and CEO of Buckmasters, Ltd., the world's largest association of deer hunters, and the publishing house for Buckmasters Whitetail and Rack magazines; and the industry's most active web site: buckmasters.com, as well as badf.org and youngbucksoutdoors.com for kids. Through Buckmasters, he licenses a variety of games, clothing and other products that bear the Buckmasters logo. He produces the much copied Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine TV series; conducts the three-day Buckmasters Expo presented by Yamaha; and the Buckmasters Classic -- a four-day celebration of the hunter's role in conservation and wildlife management.
Bushman launched Buckmasters in 1985, at age 29, after a successful career as a world-class tennis pro and coach. Armed with little more than a burning determination and a stool, he hit the road selling Buckmasters memberships one at a time. "I would buy booth space at outdoors shows," he says, "and I would go sit on a stool -- by myself -- with my mock-up magazines and newsletters -- and I would sell Buckmasters memberships." From February through August of that year, he sold almost 3,000 individual memberships.
Since then Buckmasters has become the world's largest deer hunting association. Its members are found throughout North America and in many countries around the world.
"At the heart of Buckmasters," its mission statement reads, "stands our steadfast commitment to represent and promote a positive public image of ethical hunting and an awareness of the essential role of hunting as a necessary conservation tool, now and for the future."
Bushman stars in the Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine TV series on TNN July through December. The 2003 airings will mark its fifteenth season. Bushmans' tenacity made it the first hunting series on TNN and the first deer-hunting series on any network. He designed the series to entertain and educate. Many other shows have followed in its path.
He launched his Buckmasters National Deer Classic in January of 1987. During the week, writers, and top sports and entertainment stars celebrate the hunter's role in wildlife conservation and management along with kids and adults with disabilities or uncertain medical futures.
In 1986, Bushman invented the unique Buckmasters 3-D Sport Target System, which allows archers to compete in a realistic, time-sensitive, computerized hunting arena that promotes ethical hunting and safety -- and allows fans to watch the action. It became the basis of his Buckmasters Top Bow Indoor Shooting Series and World Championship, which he introduced in 1991. The annual March and July qualifying events lead to the August world championship.
In 1991, Bushman also introduced Project Venison, a national program under the non-profit arm, the Buckmasters American Deer Foundation, to help feed the hungry. Through it, hunters take excess venison to processing plants where it is prepared for area food banks. Buckmasters American Deer Foundation picks up the processing and distribution tab from funds raised through local Buckmasters Chapter banquets. Last year, Project Venison supplied meat for approximately 500,000 meals.
The Buckmasters American Deer Foundation is an independent non-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation that serves the public through a number of charitable activities that include: Project Venison; hunts for physically challenged sportsmen; college scholarships for worthy students pursuing careers in wildlife management/conservation; and hunting and educational programs for children who would otherwise not be exposed to the outdoors.
In 1994, Bushman orchestrated the first Buckmasters Expo, a three-day annual consumer product show with a member-only country music concert, the Buckmasters Top Bow Indoor World Championship, the Young Bucks Outdoors children's pavilion, and a life member field day. It draws an average of more than 40,000 hunting fans. Celebrity entertainers for the show have included such stars as Hank Williams Jr., the Charlie Daniels Band, comedians Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall, John Michael Montgomery, and Clay Walker.
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