If you like wildlife & wild places, Thank a hunter
You know, here at thebestshootingsite.com, we believe in being great and moral stewards of our natural resources and wild lands. Being based in Arizona is not only fantastic weather-wise, but we have some of the greatest and most effective wildlife management programs and people in the nation.
What many people don’t realize is that there is one only one group that is 100% responsible for both the proliferation of wildlife, as well as the development, management, and stewardship of American public lands - the hunter.
Without hunters, there would be hardly any songbirds. There would be very little small game. Forests would give way to fields and streams would run brown, rather than blue.
Big game species like whitetail deer, rather than be the proliferative and most common big game animal in the world, would be in numbers so small but even the sight of one or their tracks called for a news story.
The wild turkey would be “a rare bird, indeed.”
Pronghorn antelope would number in the hundreds rather than in the hundreds of thousands.
Yes, if you love wildlife, wild places, public land and the outdoors, THANK A HUNTER.
If you want to help species that are threatened and endangered, let hunters manage them.
Finally, if you want to really help wildlife, rather than buy PETA or HSUS another yacht, buy a hunting license.
For the Hunter
Your Wildlife Legacy & The Future of Hunting
Happy 2020! It’s difficult to believe we’re already one-fifth of the way through the 21st century, isn’t it?
As we head into the new year, I’m reminded of how blessed we are to have opportunities to pursue 10 species of big game — elk, pronghorn, mule deer, white-tailed deer, bison, bear, javelina, mountain lion, bighorn sheep and turkey — and a variety of small game species like quail, rabbits, ducks, geese and doves, as well as predatory and fur-bearing animals.
Of course, this wasn’t always the case. In the 1900s, few elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep or turkeys roamed Arizona. The passenger pigeon was already extinct, along with a depletion of many of the nation’s natural resources, the result of unregulated hunting and commercialization of wildlife.
Fast forward to today. Thanks to a strong wildlife conservation movement, the introduction of science-based management, regulated hunting, the passage of critical legislation and a lot of hard work by sportsmen and conservationists, wildlife is thriving.
Sadly, though, there’s a new threat to wildlife conservation in 2020 — you and me. There are fewer hunters than ever. The average age of today’s hunter is 56 and a member of the baby boomer generation. By 2030, a mere 10 years from now, those hunters will reach an age that limits or even prevents their participation. That gap isn’t being filled by future generations and demographic groups, either. Most do not hunt.
Our wildlife legacy is deeply rooted in a unique funding source for conservation. It’s called the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Act. Because most wildlife conservation agencies do not receive general funds, they are dependent on license sales from hunters and matching funds from this excise tax. As the number of hunters dwindles over time, so will the funding — and that will have an impact on the resources needed to manage Arizona’s 800-plus native species, the most of any inland state.
It’s been said that you have to know there’s a problem before you can fix it. At the Arizona Game and Fish Department, much work has been done over the years through our hunter recruitment and retention program. We’re making strides.
AZ Game & Fish