Every once in a while, you come across someone that you can admire unwaveringly.  For us here at Field Sport Concepts, one particular trait common in all of those we admire: they use what they have to make the world a better place.

Few people better exemplify this strength of character than the late Paul McIlhenny who died last Saturday at the age of 68.  As we wrote in our previous post on “Sky Game,”a film about McIlhenny’s commitment to protecting habitat for migratory birds, he had an inexhaustible devotion to improving the world around himself.  Indeed, under McIlhenny’s stewardship, Avery Island (the home of Tabasco) became a sanctuary for Lousiana’s native fauna as well as a testing grounds for new conservation practices.  And after Hurricane Katrina, he worked tirelessly to help New Orleans recover and thrive.  As Garden & Gun Magazine recently wrote, “the impact of his devotion to the land, culture, and people he loved will be felt for generations.”

To read more about the McIlhenny family’s conservation work, check out Garden & Gun’s article, “The Spice Island.”

The photo above was generously contributed by photographer Eric Kiel.  View more of his work at http://kielphoto.com/