EDGEFIELD, S.C.– Studies by the National Shooting Sports Foundation show that one of the top reasons hunters give up the sport is that they can’t find quality places to hunt.
The National Wild Turkey Federation’s More Places to Hunt program is designed to curtail this trend and help keep more hunters in the field.
Tell Us How Can We Help
To improve our efforts, we need to understand your issues and concerns, as a hunter, in your favorite hunting areas. Please take a few minutes to complete the More Places to Hunt Survey at: http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB2277H5ZRVBC
The information provided will be used to help the NWTF develop projects, and will be shared with our state and federal wildlife agency partners to help them better manage hunter access.
About the Program
For years, the NWTF has worked to improve access to hunting lands with great success. At both local and national levels, the NWTF and its volunteers have developed partnerships with landowners, and worked with state and federal agencies to help improve hunter access.
The NWTF’s membership is concerned about the impacts of declining hunter access, not only to hunting but also to wildlife conservation if this trend continues.
“Losing a place to hunt is bad enough, but the ripple effect from such losses are immense,” said Joel Pedersen, NWTF’s More Places to Hunt coordinator. “As hunter numbers decline, state agencies lose revenue used to support wildlife habitat and management projects as well as places to hunt. Without quality habitat and places to hunt, wild turkeys and hunters lose again.”
At the core of this access program will be NWTF state and local chapter volunteers. Just as the NWTF’s volunteers helped state wildlife agencies bring the turkey back from near extinction, they will be a big part of grassroots efforts in increasing public and private access for hunters.
In fact, NWTF chapters and their state and corporate partners have already experienced tremendous success in affecting hunter access in a variety of ways, including recent land acquisitions such as those in Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina; funding conservation easements that provide public access in Montana; funding a walk-in hunting area program in Kansas; holding landowner appreciation days in Wisconsin; and active involvement in legislative issues.
For more information about the NWTF or the More Places to Hunt program, contact the NWTF at (800) THE-NWTF or www.nwtf.org .
About the NWTF: In 1973, when the National Wild Turkey Federation was founded, there were an estimated 1.3 million wild turkeys and 1.5 million turkey hunters. Thanks to the work of wildlife agencies and the NWTF’s many volunteers and partners, today there are more than 7 million wild turkeys and nearly 3 million turkey hunters. Since 1985, the NWTF and its cooperators have spent more than $258 million upholding hunting traditions and conserving more than 13.1 million acres of wildlife habitat.
The NWTF is a nonprofit organization with 584,000 members in 50 states, Canada, Mexico and 14 other foreign countries. It supports scientific wildlife management on public, private and corporate lands as well as wild turkey hunting as a traditional North American sport.
