David Samuel

 Class of 2007
Bowhunter, Contributor to the Sport

Dave Samuel, widely recognized and respected, West Virginia University professor emeritus spent three full decades teaching WVU wildlife management classes, but his impact as an educator, bowhunting activist, and author transcends the boundaries of any single university or state. In fact, the influence generated by "Dr. Dave" stretches to the far corners of the twenty-first century world.

Since 1971 when Dave became Conservation Editor of Bowhunter Magazine, he steadily built a reputation as one of archery’s most reliable sources of factual pro-wildlife, pro-conservation, and pro-hunting information. His 2002 book, Know Hunting, Truths, Lies & Myths, rebuts anti-hunting propaganda while providing solid evidence of hunting’s beneficial role in contemporary game management practices.

As chair of the Pope and Young Club's Conservation Committee, Dave helped boost P&Y Conservation Program budgets from $3,000 to an excess of $60,000 annually. While National Bowhunters Education Foundation President, he conducted bowhunter education courses in Europe and Africa to help get bowhunting legalized abroad. His efforts in Zimbabwe and South Africa led to legalizing bow and arrow hunting for dangerous game. In the states, he advised two graduate students working for the Minnesota Department of Natural resources in conducting the Camp Ripley bow wounding study. Their research proved that bow losses were minimal (about 5%) and refuted claims by the Humane Society of the United States that 80% of deer hit with arrows were lost.

 Notes of Interest

• National Bowhunter Education Foundation Board of Directors - 1976 - 1994

• National Bowhunter Education Foundation President - 1984 - 1988

• Served 7 terms as Vice President of the American Archery Council - 1984 - 1997

• Pope and Young Club Board of Directors - 1991 - 2003

• Bowhunters of America Board of Directors - 1989 - 1993

•  Inducted into the West Virginia Bowhunters Hall of Fame - 1994

• Recipient of the NBEF's William H. Wadsworth Award - 2001

• Inducted into the Safari Club International Bowhunter Chapter Hall of Honor

• Author and columnist

• QDMA Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award - 2009