Our Story

I believe that building on history creates heritage and that heritage creates pride and helps to educate and guide us into our future. One cannot have a future without a past. It is our choice what kind of past we want to leave behind.

Rita Schimpff, Eagle Scout Court of Honor 2004

Rita Schimpff grew up hunting, fishing and enjoying outdoor life in Oklahoma and Texas, thus developing an early love and respect for wildlife and their habitat.  She has carried this love to her art and her involvement with many local and national conservation associations.  Rita was a member of the first Junior League San Antonio Mitchell Lake Wetlands Project, created the MLWS logo and illustrated Mitchell Lake Wildlife refuge: an Illustrated History. 

She is a proud 14th generation American.

Rita studied art privately since she was ten, under such noted artists as Carl Rice Embry, Reginald Rowe and Warren Hunter.  She graduated from Texas Christian University with a BFA in Commercial Art and Textile Design.  Rita has also enjoyed a 30+ year career in the interior design field.

After meeting future husband, Skip Schimpff she rekindled her love of the outdoor life under his patience and guidance.

As a family, we are hunters and conservationists. We enjoy traveling, hunting and fishing together while also savoring the pleasures of cooking the game we stalk. We believe in Heritage: passing on important traditions to succeeding generations.

Skip Schimpff

Skip is a 5th generation Texan who bagged his first turkey at age 9.  Those early formative years spent hunting and fishing with his father were important ones, but were to be too few.  After losing his father at a young age, Skip was fortunate to have a neighbor and close friend step in and take him under his wing.  Thus, Skip gained a lifelong close hunting companion and mentor.  Skip has never forgotten the importance of this man stepping into his life and the opportunities and joy hunting can bring to youngsters.

Skip was a founding member and past president of the Southwest Chapter of Gulf Coast Conservation Association (now Coastal Conservation Association), a sponsor member of Ducks Unlimited for over 30 years, Trout Unlimited and the International Game & Fish Association.

Membership Involvement