State: TN

Why It Matters: The cost of managing resources held in the public trust, maintaining public access, and delivering conservation programs continues to increase while hunting and fishing license revenues are failing to catch up. As a result, agencies in several states have considered implementing license fee increases to help close budget gaps. While license fees […]

Why It Matters: The Tennessee Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus (Caucus) is a bipartisan group of state legislators that is housed under the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses (NASC) umbrella and serves to protect our time-honored outdoor traditions. The Caucus does a great job of keeping members engaged both during the regular and interim sessions, allowing members […]

Why It Matters: Widely known as the most successful conservation framework in the world, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation has flourished, in part, due to the “user pays – public benefits” structure of the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF). Sportsmen and women play a pivotal role in this system through the purchase of sporting licenses. Thus, hunters make up the bulk […]

Why It Matters: America’s sporting heritage depends on more than healthy wildlife populations—it depends on people. As hunter participation fluctuates and longtime sportsmen age out of the field, efforts to recruit, retain, and reactivate (R3) hunters have become increasingly important. Expanding opportunities for new participants through youth hunting programs, apprentice licenses, and mentored experiences helps ensure the future of conservation […]

Why It Matters: As is with much of the country, turkey hunting continues to be wildly popular among hunters across the Southeast. Turkey hunting traditions run deep throughout the region, and the pursuit generates millions of dollars through the “user pays – public benefits” structure that is the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF). From recruiting the next generation of […]

Why It Matters: One major topic of this year’s legislative session in Tennessee that shines through has been issues impacting sportsmen and women. Whether that is legislation that establishes an optional hunter safety education in schools program or legislation that protects hunters’ ability to lawfully hunt within city limits, the interests of Tennessee’s sportsmen and women were well represented in Nashville. However, there is still work to be done, particularly […]

Why It Matters: As hunting participation has generally been on the decline in recent years, access to quality hunting ground is often cited as a leading barrier to hunting participation. These challenges can be exacerbated when access and opportunity are governed by conflicting rules established by multiple agencies, causing confusion among would-be participants. Efforts to codify the state’s fish and wildlife agency as the sole rulemaking and […]

Why It Matters: Exposing young people to the fundamentals of our time-honored traditions is essential in recruiting the next generation of hunters. Bringing hunter safety education classes into schools offers a controlled and safe environment for students to learn the fundamentals needed to safely participate and enjoy our favorite pastimes and continue funding conservation through the […]

Why It Matters: Whether it’s the funding of conservation today or enabling the next generation of sporting license buyers, there are bills moving through the Tennessee General Assembly that would benefit the sporting-conservation community both short and long-term. Hunters and anglers generate the vast majority of state-level conservation funding through the “user pays – public benefits” structure that is the American System of […]

Why It Matters: Hunters and anglers generate the vast majority of state level funding for conservation through the “user pays – public benefits” structure that is the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF). State fish and wildlife agencies rely on funds generated by sportsmen and women through sporting license sales and excise tax revenue from the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration programs to…