Outdoors with Babe Winkelman
Babe Winkelman
The Pilot-Independent
It's been said that only the good die young.
Art Hawkins was the personification of "good." And thankfully for hunters, nature enthusiasts and devoted conservationists, he lived a long, rich and influential life.
An absolute giant in waterfowl management circles, and a former student of famed conservationist Aldo Leopold, Hawkins passed away in early March near his home in Hugo, Minn. He was 92.
It's not in bad taste to say that Hawkins passed away doing one of the things he coveted most in the outdoors — spying ducks and geese on the pond adjacent to the home he shared with his wife of 64 years. When Hawkins was found, his field glasses were still hanging around his neck and his walking sticks were still in his hands.
"He was a biologist but also an environmental advocate," said his son, Tex, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manager. "It went back to Leopold's roots: He felt environmental protection and restoration was everyone's responsibility."
Well-said, Tex. And I couldn't agree more.
Born in Batavia, N.Y., before World War I, Hawkins loved hunting, fishing and trapping as a young boy, a passion that would never leave him. He earned his bachelor's degree from Cornell University, then moved to Wisconsin to study under Aldo Leopold, the father of modern wildlife management and a man who had an indelible influence on Hawkins' professional life.
Like Leopold did in Wisconsin, Hawkins restored his Hugo farm as a wildlife safe haven. He even kept a detailed nature journal, in which he chronicled the changing seasons and the ways and means of wildlife. His first entry came in 1957.
Out of college, Hawkins worked with the Illinois Natural History Survey, working with famed waterfowl biologist Frank Bellrose, before serving 4.5 years with the U.S. Army during World War II.
In 1946 he took a job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and spent the next eight years at Manitoba's Delta Marsh working with another Leopold student, Delta Waterfowl scientific Director Al Hochbaum.
Along with Hochbaum and others, Hawkins helped pioneer aerial waterfowl surveys in the United States and Canada, transects that eventually become the spring breeding survey, the largest wildlife inventory in North America.
Hawkins served as Mississippi Flyway biologist and assistant supervisor of management and enforcement before taking the job as Mississippi Flyway representative, a post he held for 20 years before he retired in 1974.
"Every duck hunter owes a big debt of gratitude to Art Hawkins," said Rob Olson, president of the Delta Waterfowl Foundation. "He was a true giant, one of the great ones. He'll be missed."
In recent years, Hawkins — who was a tireless environmental writer, authoring countless articles about waterfowl and waterfowl management since he retired — grew more concerned about declining duck numbers in Minnesota and the general degradation of the prairie breeding grounds.
Always a man of action, Hawkins lent his expertise to the Concerned Duck Hunters' Panel, a Minnesota-based group formed in recent years to address those issues. Hawkins was also a founding member of the Wood Duck Society, and he and his wife had as many as 30 wood duck houses on their property.
According to many of Hawkins' friends and co-workers, Hawkins and his wife routinely opened up their home to conservationists and wildlife students, a meeting place of sorts to discuss and plan strategies on how to improve the natural world. Cake and coffee were always served.
It's fitting that Hawkins kept a photo of Aldo Leopold on his desk. Leopold was his mentor, and it is safe to say that Hawkins has been a mentor to countless others. He paid it forward.
Hawkins' passion for the natural world is the stuff of legends. He was a giant in conservation circles, and leaves a legacy that only the selfless and totally devoted can hope to emulate. He will be missed, but never forgotten.
Hawkins is survived by his wife Betty, three children, "Tex," Amy and Ellen, and four grandchildren. The family asks that memorials are preferred to the Aldo Leopold Foundation (www.aldoleopold.org) in Baraboo, Wis.; the Madison Audubon Society in Madison, Wis.; and the Delta Waterfowl Foundation (www.deltawaterfowl.org) in Bismarck, N.D.
Babe Winkelman is a nationally known outdoorsman who has been teaching people to fish and hunt for 25 years. Watch his award-winning "Good Fishing" television show on WGN-TV, Fox Sports Net, The Men's Channel, Great American Country Network and The Sportsman's Channel. Visit www.winkelman.com for air times.
Babe Winkelman
The Pilot-Independent
It's been said that only the good die young.
Art Hawkins was the personification of "good." And thankfully for hunters, nature enthusiasts and devoted conservationists, he lived a long, rich and influential life.
An absolute giant in waterfowl management circles, and a former student of famed conservationist Aldo Leopold, Hawkins passed away in early March near his home in Hugo, Minn. He was 92.
It's not in bad taste to say that Hawkins passed away doing one of the things he coveted most in the outdoors — spying ducks and geese on the pond adjacent to the home he shared with his wife of 64 years. When Hawkins was found, his field glasses were still hanging around his neck and his walking sticks were still in his hands.
"He was a biologist but also an environmental advocate," said his son, Tex, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manager. "It went back to Leopold's roots: He felt environmental protection and restoration was everyone's responsibility."
Well-said, Tex. And I couldn't agree more.
Born in Batavia, N.Y., before World War I, Hawkins loved hunting, fishing and trapping as a young boy, a passion that would never leave him. He earned his bachelor's degree from Cornell University, then moved to Wisconsin to study under Aldo Leopold, the father of modern wildlife management and a man who had an indelible influence on Hawkins' professional life.
Like Leopold did in Wisconsin, Hawkins restored his Hugo farm as a wildlife safe haven. He even kept a detailed nature journal, in which he chronicled the changing seasons and the ways and means of wildlife. His first entry came in 1957.
Out of college, Hawkins worked with the Illinois Natural History Survey, working with famed waterfowl biologist Frank Bellrose, before serving 4.5 years with the U.S. Army during World War II.
In 1946 he took a job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and spent the next eight years at Manitoba's Delta Marsh working with another Leopold student, Delta Waterfowl scientific Director Al Hochbaum.
Along with Hochbaum and others, Hawkins helped pioneer aerial waterfowl surveys in the United States and Canada, transects that eventually become the spring breeding survey, the largest wildlife inventory in North America.
Hawkins served as Mississippi Flyway biologist and assistant supervisor of management and enforcement before taking the job as Mississippi Flyway representative, a post he held for 20 years before he retired in 1974.
"Every duck hunter owes a big debt of gratitude to Art Hawkins," said Rob Olson, president of the Delta Waterfowl Foundation. "He was a true giant, one of the great ones. He'll be missed."
In recent years, Hawkins — who was a tireless environmental writer, authoring countless articles about waterfowl and waterfowl management since he retired — grew more concerned about declining duck numbers in Minnesota and the general degradation of the prairie breeding grounds.
Always a man of action, Hawkins lent his expertise to the Concerned Duck Hunters' Panel, a Minnesota-based group formed in recent years to address those issues. Hawkins was also a founding member of the Wood Duck Society, and he and his wife had as many as 30 wood duck houses on their property.
According to many of Hawkins' friends and co-workers, Hawkins and his wife routinely opened up their home to conservationists and wildlife students, a meeting place of sorts to discuss and plan strategies on how to improve the natural world. Cake and coffee were always served.
It's fitting that Hawkins kept a photo of Aldo Leopold on his desk. Leopold was his mentor, and it is safe to say that Hawkins has been a mentor to countless others. He paid it forward.
Hawkins' passion for the natural world is the stuff of legends. He was a giant in conservation circles, and leaves a legacy that only the selfless and totally devoted can hope to emulate. He will be missed, but never forgotten.
Hawkins is survived by his wife Betty, three children, "Tex," Amy and Ellen, and four grandchildren. The family asks that memorials are preferred to the Aldo Leopold Foundation (www.aldoleopold.org) in Baraboo, Wis.; the Madison Audubon Society in Madison, Wis.; and the Delta Waterfowl Foundation (www.deltawaterfowl.org) in Bismarck, N.D.
Babe Winkelman is a nationally known outdoorsman who has been teaching people to fish and hunt for 25 years. Watch his award-winning "Good Fishing" television show on WGN-TV, Fox Sports Net, The Men's Channel, Great American Country Network and The Sportsman's Channel. Visit www.winkelman.com for air times.