Hunting

Hunters are one of the most important sources of funding for wildlife conservation in the United States: under our unique system, the revenues from hunters’ purchases of licenses, tags, and taxable firearms and ammunition help pay for land acquisition, habitat restoration, and the recovery of both game and non-game species.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the population of wild turkey was about 100,000. Thanks to the dedicated management and ongoing conservation work made possible through hunter dollars, there are now around 7 million wild turkey roaming the United States and Canada. Many other species—such as the white-tailed deer, wood duck, Rocky Mountain elk, Pronghorn antelope, and bighorn sheep—have similar success stories thanks to critical conservation funding from hunters.

The value of hunting also hits close to home for me. My house on Chincoteague Island faces the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, which spans 14,000 acres of pristine wildlife habitat. The Refuge was purchased in 1943 using money from the sale of Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps.

As Yale Professor, Steve Kellert, noted, ““Hunting is one of the oldest of human practices. Indeed, according to some it has been the primary basis for our species’ social, intellectual, and evolutionary development. Perhaps 99 percent of human tenure on earth has been as a hunter-gatherer.”

Hunting connects us with our past and gives us a singular understanding of and appreciation for wildlife. Finally, hunting provides lean, organic, chemical-free meat.