Funding

Bull Moose’s largest donor is the Western Conservation Foundation, which has contributed $133,608 since 2011 alone. WCF has deep connections with the environmental movement, and in the past has contributed to such notorious environmentalists as Climate Solutions (a major proponent of global warming), the National Wildlife Federation (whose main focus is fighting global warming and shutting down oil and gas production, and whose CEO sits on the board of Al Gore’s “Climate Reality Project”), the Audubon Society, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. WCF has also contributed to the Tides Center, which is a significant grant-maker to left-wing causes.

This history of Bull Moose’s top contributor is notable because it’s hard to imagine WCF would give so much money to an organization that didn’t share its same ideological beliefs. Environmentalism is paramount to any other concerns.

Bull Moose’s Leadership

A look into the history of Bull Moose’s current leadership also reveals a hidden environmental agenda masquerading around as a sportsmen’s club.

Both of Bull Moose’s co-founders and current co-directors, Gaspar Perricone and Tim Mauck, have connections to Trout Unlimited, another “sportsmen’s” organization. According to Bull Moose’s website, both Perricone and Mauck serve as the conservation chairman of TU’s Denver chapter.

Another top executive, John Gale, previously directed conservation programs for TU. He now works for the National Wildlife Federation, a radical environmental activist organization. Gale is joined at NWF by his Bull Moose colleague Jared Mott, who is NWF’s grassroots outreach coordinator. Gale also sits on the board of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, an environmentalist front group.

Viewing these two elements together – funding and leadership – shows that Bull Moose is not about “heritage, traditions and opportunities of sportsmen and women.” It’s merely the latest cog in a vast and wealthy environmentalist machine.

In 2013, Washington Times reporter Emily Miller exposed Bull Moose Sportsmen, the Alliance’s (c)4 arm, noting that it is “a fringe organization run by Democratic activists that has been rejected from membership into the major gun and hunting groups’ umbrella organization because it refuses to reveal its funding sources.” Bull Moose Sportsmen only represented 5,000 members, while the American Wildlife Conservation Partnership, a coalition of many hunting groups that excluded Bull Moose Sportsmen, represented 6 million hunters.

Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance Action Fund

In addition to spending on certain advocacy initiatives, Bull Moose also has an action fund for making political contributions. In 2010, the fund spent a total of $117,540 to elect Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) to the U.S. Senate, and in 2012 contributed $17,000 in support of Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico). Bull Moose has not contributed any money to Republican candidates.

According to OpenSecrets.org, America Votes granted a total of $660,000 to Bull Moose’s action fund in 2012 alone. America Votes makes grants and contributions to a number of controversial organizations, including Planned Parenthood and other left-wing groups.