On Saturday, September 26, over 800 of Maryland’s sportsmen and women came out to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources 9th Annual National Hunting and Fishing Day event at the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore to celebrate Maryland’s rich sporting heritage.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation participated in the event, hosting a booth and discussing the work of the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus – the sportsmen’s voice in Annapolis.
National Hunting and Fishing Day celebrates the time-honored traditions of hunting and angling, as well as the contributions over time of the original conservationists – hunters and anglers – who support sound, science-based wildlife management through license sales, excise taxes on outdoor gear, and sustainable use models.
Purchases of licenses, duck stamps, guns, ammunition, archery equipment, fishing tackle, motorboat fuel, and other items used by sportsmen and women drive conservation funding in the United States. Together, these funding sources create the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF), a unique “user-pays, public-benefits” model. Last year alone, the ASCF generated over $25 million in critical conservation dollars for the Old Line State. All Marylanders benefit through these monies from improved access to public lands, public shooting facilities, improved water quality, habitat restoration, and numerous other department projects funded through this System. Additionally, Maryland’s 445,000 hunters and anglers fuel the state’s economy, by spending over $815 million annually on their pursuits.
In recognition of the many and varied benefits our sportsmen’s traditions provide to conservation, and our society at large, CSF worked with Governors Sportsmen’s Caucus members and leaders of state legislative sportsmen’s caucuses across the country to produce over 30 proclamations and resolutions, recognizing September 26 as Hunting and Fishing Day in states throughout the nation.
CSF would like to give special thanks to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for their tireless efforts promoting America’s sporting heritage in the Old Line State.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
