The Wildlife Society Southeastern Student Conclave is one of the most active and challenging wildlife-specific competitions in the world. College and university undergraduate and graduate students from across the United States compete for three days in a variety of physical, artistic, and intellectual events.

For the first time ever, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College recently hosted this most prestigious annual competition of wildlife minds.  The University of Georgia (UGA) was the overall 2019 Conclave winner with the highest scores across all competitions.  Mississippi State University finished second followed by North Carolina State University, and Haywood (N.C) Community College.

A total of 21 colleges and universities, all with wildlife-related programs, competed in the Conclave, bringing 359 registrants, including student competitors and their faculty advisors, to Tifton.  Eleven states were represented, ranging from Maryland to Arkansas.

Competing in the Conclave were Auburn University, Clemson University, Arkansas State University, University of Arkansas at Monticello, Arkansas Tech University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, Murray State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Louisiana State University, Louisiana Tech University, Frostburg State University, Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, Haywood Community College, Western Carolina University, Cleveland State Community College, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee Tech University, University of Tennessee at Martin, and Virginia Tech University.

Physical events included canoeing, skeet and air rifle shooting, archery, and the exhausting but highly entertaining obstacle course, which this year included crawling through a mud pit, wading through a pond, and hoisting team members over an eight-foot-high wooden wall.

Artistic events included the annual art and photography contests, which have a variety of submission categories and a live-photography event where students have just a few hours to make a professional wildlife and/or habitat photograph.

Intellectual competitions such as team competition and quiz bowl, essentially wildlife jeopardy on steroids, challenged students’ knowledge on topics ranging from plant and animal identification and taxonomy, invasive species, history and policy, equipment, habitat and wildlife management techniques, and much more.

ABAC used the opportunity as the Conclave host to showcase its newly acquired 1,000 acre working school forest, which contained the obstacle course, archery, air rifle, and orienteering competitions. Field photography was held at the nearby Paradise Public Fishing Area, and the skeet shoot was held on nearby private property.

ABAC’s vast campus served as the host for the team competition, an event where entire school teams run to and complete 22 various stations on equally diverse topics within five minutes on a 1.7-mile route.  The ABAC campus also served as the site for the fishing competition, field estimations, lab practical, museum study skin preparation of hispid cotton rats, GIS Practical, and dendrology.

Quiz Bowl was once again a major draw at the Conclave when the teams competed in a double-elimination tournament that spanned two full mornings. The event was held at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center. UGA emerged as the Quiz Bowl champion followed by the University of Tennessee at Martin and Mississippi State University.

While ABAC judges graded all the events on a rigorous Saturday morning in time for the awards ceremony and banquet that night, Conclave participants enjoyed a variety of field trips and educational opportunities. Project Wild, Project Learning Tree, and farm equipment workshops were offered on the ABAC campus. 

Other participants chose field trips to the Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA), Broxton Rocks owned by The Nature Conservancy, Grand Bay WMA, Montezuma WMA, the Flint RiverQuarium, Cordele Fish Hatchery, and a private hunting ranch managed by Buck Country Wildlife Consulting.  Each field trip and educational opportunity offered a broad view of the ecology, natural history, and management of wildlife and habitat in South Georgia.

First, second, and third place winners of individual events received an engraved basswood plaque with the event title and their placement. Winners of more difficult group events, such as quiz bowl and team competition, received an engraved metal wood duck silhouette and a nicely framed wildlife print to hang with bragging rights at their respective academic institutions.

“A competition such as Conclave wouldn’t be a success without the dozens of volunteers and ABAC alumni who traveled from all over the state to come back and help ABAC’s Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society members put on this spectacular event,” Dr. Vanessa Lane, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology and management at ABAC, said.

“A special thanks goes to Michael Connor for speaking at the opening ceremony, Nikki Castleberry for helping run and score the museum study skin preparation, Vonda Fenn for being the go-to person behind registration and all logistics involved in planning an event of this scale, Director of Marketing and Communications Lindsey Roberts for all her assistance, all of the field trip leaders, all of ABAC’s faculty and staff who helped with crowd control and running various activities, and the ABAC administration, including the ABAC Foundation and the ABAC Alumni Association, for being so incredibly supportive with their financial and match-in-kind contributions.”