Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke followed up his signing of Secretarial Order 3356 last Friday with a new addition to the DOI employee cafeteria on Tuesday. The avid sportsman introduced his colleagues to “Big Buck Hunter Pro,” an arcade game that lets users “shoot” at big game animals with a pump-action “rifle.”
This is Zinke’s latest attempt to reemphasize hunting and fishing in the DOI. The arcade game will only be showcased temporarily, but its aim is to get many employees involved in the sporting season—and in turn further the Department’s mission of wildlife and habitat conservation.
“Some of my best memories are hunting and fishing with my dad and granddad, and then later teaching my own kids to hunt and fish. That’s something I want more families to experience,” Zinke said. “Hunters and anglers are the backbone of wildlife and habitat conservation in America because sportsmen contribute billions of dollars to conservation. From my perspective, the more sportsmen we have in the woods and waters, the better our wildlife and land will be.”
Zinke also announced the “Secretary’s Shotgun Showdown,” an employee competition on the game, with the winner earning bragging rights and a personal visit with the Secretary. He kicked off the contest by competing against U.S. Fish and Wildlife career employee Casey Stemler from Littleton, Colorado. For more than 45 years, Casey has enjoyed hunting and fishing on National Wildlife Refuges from California to Maryland, as well as big game hunting on BLM lands throughout the West.