Why You Should Thank a Hunter This Earth Day
While they are often demonized as cruel animal-haters, hunters are the most generous contributors to conservation in the U.S.
Today is Earth Day.
Since hunters are, by and large, the most generous contributors to conservation, today would be a good day to extend some gratitude.
While there are a slew of anti-hunting organizations that work hard to paint hunters as cruel, barbaric, and uncivilized, hunting is actually the backbone of wildlife conservation in North America.
“In a civilized and cultivated country, wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen,” Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, founder of the National Wildlife Refuge System, and avid hunter, explained years ago.
“The excellent people who protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wildlife, are ignorant of the fact that in reality, the genuine sportsman is by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more valuable wild creatures from total extermination.”
The North American Model of Conservation
The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is the most successful conservation system in the world. A system of laws and policies designed to protect and restore wildlife through sound science and active management, the North American Model has brought numerous vulnerable species back from the brink, including wild turkey, black bear, pronghorn antelope, and wood duck.
Pioneered by Theodore Roosevelt and strongly supported by American sportsmen, the North American Model was developed in response to the near decimation of once-common species. Roosevelt and the hunters of his time recognized the dramatic and devastating effects of killing for feathers, primarily through commercial hunting.
At the heart of the North American Model is managing the taking of wild animals only within limits that ensure the sustainability of those populations for generations yet unborn, and management of those species is based on science, not opinion or conjecture.
The Model includes seven foundational principles:
Wildlife resources are a public trust that governments must manage for the benefit of all citizens.
Unregulated commercial markets for wild game that decimate wildlife populations are eliminated.
Laws are developed by citizens and enforced by government agencies to regulate the proper use and management of wildlife.
Public access to wildlife, including hunting, fishing, and trapping, regardless of social or economic status, is a right of every citizen.
Wild game populations cannot be killed frivolously or casually but only for a legitimate purpose as defined by law.
Because wildlife often migrates across political boundaries, it is considered an international resource.
Wildlife policy and management are based solely on science.
The North American Model is why modern conservation efforts are so successful. Its principles have helped create several institutions, laws, and mechanisms, including funding scientific research and training, wildlife agencies, conservation incentive programs, and protection for endangered species.
This cocktail of legislation and programs, primarily pioneered by hunters, has worked together to provide us with the healthy and abundant wildlife populations we enjoy today.
Hunters Fund Conservation
Hunting is unparalleled in terms of generating revenue for conservation efforts. It is literally an economic force for conservation.
Hunters contribute approximately $796 million a year to conservation programs through their state hunting licenses and fees alone. But the funding doesn’t stop there.
Passed in 1934, the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act, also known as the Duck Stamp Act, requires the purchase of a duck stamp before hunting migratory waterfowl. The revenue generated from Duck Stamp sales is used to protect fragile wetlands crucial to our environment, not just our migratory waterfowl species. To date, Duck Stamp sales have generated over $1.1 billion, which has been used to preserve more than six million acres of waterfowl habitat.
In 1937, supported mainly by outdoor sportsmen, the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, more commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act, was passed. This foundational piece of legislation placed an 11% excise tax on firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment. Since its inception, the Pittman-Robertson Act has generated more than $14 billion specifically for conservation. The Act also funds the US Fish and Wildlife Service and state fish and game agencies across the country, with more than $700 million each year.
“[Pittman-Robertson] has restored ducks to our skies and marshes, antelope to our plains, whitetail deer to our woods, opened millions of acres for public access for hunters and anglers, and inspired conservationists for generations to come,” said National Shooting Sports Foundation Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane.
Hunters graciously donate an additional $440 million annually to conservation efforts by supporting groups like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimted, the National Wild Turkey Foundation, and Mule Deer Foundation.
State wildlife agencies and the country's wildlife conservation system depend heavily on hunters for funding. The revenue generated from license fees and excise taxes provides approximately 60-70% of state wildlife agencies' annual budgets. These agencies are responsible for managing most of the wildlife in the US.
Without hunters to foot the conservation bill, the country’s wildlife would be in grave danger.
Even in Vermont, which leads the nation in wildlife viewing, hunting is the most critical element in conservation funding. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, which manages more than 25,000 species of animals and 2,000 species of native plants, claims wildlife viewing "provides no significant revenue stream to the department that would allow for the management of the resources viewed."
In contrast, the department relies on hunting and fishing licenses and excise taxes paid by sportsmen and women for most of its $20 million annual budget.
Most of the country’s public lands are managed through what is often referred to as “user pay, user play” funding. In essence, sportsmen and women pay for the right to use the land. Money generated from license sales and equipment taxes covers the expense of routine maintenance, restoration, and enhancement projects on public lands.
However, “user pay, user play” isn’t appropriate for our public lands and wild places. “User pay, public play” is far more accurate. Thanks to the hefty monetary investments of dedicated hunters and anglers, the non-hunting public can enjoy hiking, camping, rock climbing, and wildlife viewing.
So, if you love the Earth, thank a hunter today. They deserve it.