Rob Keck

Home: Edgefield, SC
Family: Susan wife); Carolyn, Curtis, and Cadence; Heather, Charlie, Hank & Coleman (daughters, husbands and children)
Hobbies: Hunting, Trapping, Fishing, and Art (painting)
Preferred Methods of Hunting: Bow, Muzzleloader, Rifle

Hunting Stuff

Years been hunting: fishing since 1955, trapping since 1957, hunting since 1958
Hunting strength: Wild turkey and Whitetails
Trapping strength: Red and gray fox, bobcat, beaver, muskrat
Favorite game to hunt: Wild turkey, Whitetails, pheasants and squirrels
Favorite place to hunt: South Carolina, Kansas, Virginia, and Northwest Territories
Favorite season to hunt: Late winter time flocks of adult gobblers in Kansas, Nebraska, or South Dakota
Favorite way to hunt: Calling! Turkeys, elk, whitetails, waterfowl, predators
Favorite turkey call: Neil Cost Boat Paddle, Super Aluminator, and a Dale Ernest single, short, split reed diaphragm

Career Highlights

Biggest kill: a B&C Musk Ox from above the Arctic Circle, and a 201” Kansas Whitetail, 2 1/8” spurred Ocellated turkey
Greatest hunting achievement: The first person to take a wild turkey in every state in the US (except Alaska, which has no wild turkeys), plus Canada, Mexico,   Guatemala, and New Zealand.
Favorite Hunting moment: when my 87 year young dad completed his Grand Slam of turkeys with me and my youngest daughter completed her Royal Slam of wild turkeys.

Current Highlights

Member of the Bass Pro Shops RedHead Pro Hunting Team
Director of Conservation at Bass Pro Shops
Chairman of the Board of the Wonders of Wildlife
Member of: The Legends of the Outdoors National Hall of Fame, Pennsylvania Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame, Kansas Governor’s One Shot Hall of Fame

Rob Keck has been a driving force in conservation for more than three decades, and during that time built one the most successful conservation organizations in the nation. His leadership, for almost three decades, as the CEO of the National Wild Turkey Federation, fueled the return of the wild turkey in North America. He influenced conservation and natural resource policy issues, having been appointed and served on the Sporting Conservation Council under President George W. Bush, advising both the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture on conservation matters. 

Keck has walked and talked conservation and hunting with four US Presidents, the President of Mexico, and the Premier of Canada. He has hunted with and discussed conservation with Vice Presidents, Cabinet members, Senators, Congressmen, and a member of the Supreme Court, as well as Olympic champions, country music stars, NASCAR legends, and other professional athletes. He has served on numerous boards, including his current position as Chairman of the Board of the Wonders of Wildlife.
In addition to being a pioneer in outdoor television, producing and hosting award winning shows, he is a passionate big game hunter that has hunted from above the Arctic Circle to the South Island of New Zealand. He has been a US Open and World Turkey Calling Champion and was the first hunter to take a wild turkey in every state. In 2009, he was inducted into the “Legends of the Outdoors National Hall of Fame” in Nashville, Tennessee.
Our speaker today served as the Grand Marshall for NASCAR’s Atlanta 500 in 2003, 04, 05, 06, and his dedication and leadership to our hunting heritage prompted ‘Peterson’s Hunting’ magazine to name him one of ‘Hunting’s 25 Most Influential Personalities of the 20th Century.’

Rob has served as vice chair of Deacons at Edgefield First Baptist Church and resides with the love of his life, Susan at their home, Willow Oak Farm. Their pride is reflected in two lovely daughters, their husbands, and three spoiled grandchildren as well as Molly, their Yellow Lab.