M. Gault "Bunny Beeson Jr.
The
founder
of Wildlife Action, Inc., was born and raised in Mullins, SC,
leaving the area for four years of military service in the U.S. Air
Force. While stationed in Topeka, Kansas, he attended Washburn
University.
Dedicated to community service since his youth, he became an Eagle
Scout and received the God and Country Award, later serving as
scoutmaster for 15 years. Recognizing the need for a sports facility
in Mullins, he organized a group of concerned citizens, planned,
founded and implemented construction of the Mullin's Recreational
Complex.
He founded and operated a variety of business enterprises dealing in
retail and real estate. In 1977, he and 6 other men believed they
could make a difference in conserving wildlife and formed an
organization called Wildlife Action. Chartered by the state that
same year, these men put up duck boxes to increase duck population.
In 1983, WLA membership was opened to the public as Beeson spent
more time volunteering his efforts to this new conservation
organization than working in his sporting goods store.
Finally, realizing that in order for WLA to accomplish the project
he dreamed, he must give up his business and work full-time for WLA,
in December 1986, Beeson sold his business and began fulfilling the
responsibilities of Wildlife Action's President Chief Executive
Officer. Membership in WLA today stands at over 14,000 nationwide.
He served for 8 years as chairman of the Marion County Fish and Game
Commission, was a member of the S.C. Governor's Sub Committee for
the Land Procurement and Utilization Committee and served on the
S.C. Wildlife and Marine Resource Department's panel for the Habitat
Enhancement and Land Protection Act of 1986. He was also a member of
the