LEROY TOWNSHIP — Ben Jacobsen and his family have been given the 2017 Outstanding Wildlife Conservationist award by the Mower Soil and Water Conservation District.

The Jacobsens own  Three Arrows Hunting Preserve in LeRoy Township.

“I grew up hunting and fishing and wanted to ensure my kids, and someday grandkids, would have a place to hunt,” Ben Jacobsen said.

Three Arrows, which annually releases about 3,000 pheasants and 500 quail, is a “dream come true” for Jacobsen, his wife Diane, and four children: Elizabeth, Christian, Haley and James. They all love being outdoors and interacting with their prairie.

“We like to think of Three Arrows not only as a business but as stewards of the natural land we have,” Ben Jacobsen said. “We pride ourselves in the fact that we can share it with people who don’t normally get to experience nature and wildlife.”

Three Arrows helps host youth hunts with two Pheasants Forever chapters and a fall hunt with Mower County’s Pheasants Forever to support breast cancer research. This year, Jacobsen plans to add a third youth hunt with NAVHDA, a dog-testing group.

The Jacobsen family owns 60 acres of land in LeRoy Township and manage an adjacent 100 acres owned by Ben Jacobsen’s  father, Robert, all for hunting and dog training.

Ben Jacobsen’s grandfather bought the land in the 1920s, starting as cropland and pasture then cropland before going into conservation land.