Summary Many sportsmen and women depend on federal lands managed by agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for access to activities like hunting, fishing and recreational shooting. As these agencies develop strategies to manage federal lands, it is critical for those who support these …
Summary Properly managed wildlife habitat is essential for supporting sustainable and healthy wildlife populations. Well-managed lands containvarious successional stages that provide a diversity of habitats capable of supporting a diversity of wildlife. On federal lands, however, young forests and other early seral habitats are often underrepresented. The most efficient method to improve wildlife habitat is …
Summary Poaching stands as one of the greatest threats to both the social acceptance of hunting and professional wildlife management. By definition, poaching runs afoul of laws governing the harvesting of wildlife, thus upending the scientifically-developed regulations put in place by state wildlife managers. Further, anti-hunting communities have aimed to equate poaching with hunting in …
Summary The practice of farming cervids (members of the deer family such as whitetail deer, moose, and elk) in the United States has been around since the late 1800’s, and has existed elsewhere in the world for millennia; however, commercial cervid farms are a more recent phenomenon and have taken on a contentious rancor in …
Summary More than half of the states in this nation do not protect the personal information that sportsmen and women are required to provide when purchasing hunting and fishing licenses. Some of these states require the information to be readily accessible to the public, while others mandate individuals to complete a request for public information …
Summary Shooting ranges have a long tradition of service to a wide variety of citizen groups. However, without adequate range protection laws, safe shooting ranges – which offer valuable public services and recreational opportunities in addition to supporting the American System of Conservation Funding – will be vulnerable to arbitrary sanctions and creative lawsuits. In …
Summary Though hunting, fishing, and harvesting wildlife (including by trapping) have long been an American heritage, dating back to before the first Europeans arrived in North America, only recently has the “right” to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife come into question. To establish in perpetuity what has been assumed for centuries, several states have sought …
Summary The vast majority of states throughout the nation offer an online component of the hunter’s safety course, which provides potential hunters a way to receive their hunter safety certification at their own pace. By offering new hunters an easy and efficient way to gain hunter safety certification, more people will have the opportunity to …