315,000 SQUARE FEET THE SIZE OF THE COMPLEX, WHICH HAS TAKEN NEARLY A DECADE TO COMPLETE
copperhead might slither beneath. Move on to the King of Bucks hallway and see the famous “Missouri Monarch,” whose 11-pound antlers scored 3337/8 on the Boone and Crockett trophy list. The 44-pointer deer was found dead, apparently of natural causes, by a hunter in 1981. The rack broke the previous nontypical whitetail record of 286 points for a Texas deer, in place since 1892. In Great African Hall, many big species are represented: warthogs and wildebeests, giraffes and
JOHNNY MORRIS BASS PRO FOUNDER
FRUSTRATED BY THE LACK OF fishing equipment
available, Johnny Morris started selling gear at his father’s liquor store in Springfield, Mo., in 1971. His approach struck gold with fellow anglers and the company he founded, Bass Pro Shops, now has stores and Tracker Marine Centers in 98 locations across the U.S. and Canada. While keeping his company private, Morris’ personal fortune was worth $4.3 billion in 2016, according to Forbes magazine. One of his biggest projects has been transforming the old Wonders of Wildlife building in Springfield, which closed in 2007 because of dwindling patronage, into the new Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium, which opens this fall. We talked with Morris in June.
70 HUNT & FISH | SUMMER/FALL 2016
What are some favorite childhood memories about enjoying the outdoors? Morris: Just going float fishing here in the Ozarks with my dad and my mom, and setting up tent camps on the gravel bars … (and) going down below the pothole at Forsyth, below that dam there, and camping down there on Swan Creek. … Hearing whip-poor-wills, cooking out on a campfire. It gets in your blood. Share a story about a favorite firearm. It’s up there in the NRA museum (at the Bass Pro Shops store in Springfield). My dad on my 21st birthday gave me his old Browning Sweet 16. My dad, he loved quail hunting. He was a
crack shot. At the end of the barrel he had white medical tape to help him get on the birds. The other end of the stock was taped up with black electrician’s tape. But it had developed a hair trigger and he quit using it and he really didn’t want me shooting it, so I just hung onto it. … I’m a lousy shot. I have a dominant left eye. What are the highlights of the new museum and aquarium? To have something on a scale approaching the Museum of Natural History right here in Springfield, where half the population of the U.S. lives within a day’s drive. … It will be like one destination where people
(who) are really passionate about hunting or fishing can come and not just see these exhibits, but see so many artifacts, so many rich pieces of history and trophy-sized fish and game that have been harvested. … I think the difference here than many other aquariums and museums is it’s really going to be more about saluting — and not be ashamed about it but proud of it — to salute hunters and anglers and the role they played in conservation. — Wes Johnson
COURTESY OF BASS PRO
Q&A
clear domed portals of the piranha tank. Take advantage of the photo op of grinning kids posing with piranhas swimming around their heads. It’s just one of eight aquariums that feature immersive displays that encourage personal interaction. In the Cypress Swamp and Wetlands portion, take in the bevy of living wildlife — alligators, otters, black bears, bats, owls and even a bald eagle. Be sure to look down while standing on the glass-encased opening of the trail — a venomous