Why It Matters: Today’s youth are the future sportsmen and women that will be called upon to carry on our sporting heritage. Efforts to establish hunter education classes in Georgia’s schools will benefit children in grades six through twelve by bringing our time-honored traditions into the classroom and recruiting the next generation of sportsmen and women.
Highlights:
- On February 13, Georgia Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus (Caucus) Co-Chair Representatives Chas Cannon and Matt Dubnik, among other Caucus members, introduced House Bill 451, which would allow public schools to offer hunter safety education courses in grades six through twelve.
- The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) spearheaded a Coalition Letter of Support for House Bill 451 alongside twelve other conservation organizations.
- On February 26, House Bill 451 was reported favorably out of the House Game, Fish and Parks Committee.
- On March 6, House Bill 451 passed the House of Representatives on a strong, bipartisan vote of 159-16.
House Bill 451 requires that the state Board of Education develop content standards for instruction in hunting safety no later than April 1, 2026. Local school boards will have the option to establish a curriculum in hunting safety beginning in the 2026-2027 school year. The curriculum for the course will be optional and based on hunter safety education courses currently offered by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and be taught by individuals who meet qualifications set by the DNR. Local school boards will have the option to establish a curriculum in hunting safety beginning in the 2026-2027 school year.
Bringing hunter education to local schools not only benefits today’s youth but also the future of our time-honored traditions. The “user pays – public benefits” structure of the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF) has three pillars: revenue from sporting licenses and excise tax revenue from both the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Programs. Today’s hunters support the ASCF in many ways, including the purchase of sporting licenses and sporting goods. However, as these hunters age out, they take their valued conservation dollars with them. To avoid the development of a funding gap from one generation to the next, efforts to recruit the next generation of sportsmen and women that will fund conservation into the future should be top of mind for policymakers and hunters alike.
Equipping young people with the knowledge needed to understand the basics of hunting, wildlife conservation, and hunting ethics is foundational to ensuring the next generation of sportsmen and women and the sustained future of conservation funding through the ASCF.
CSF again would like to thank Representatives Cannon and Dubnik, the Caucus, the DNR, and our many sporting conservation partners for their role in supporting this initiative through the House of Representatives, and we look forward to advancing House Bill 451 in the Senate.
