ATA’s Conservation Initiative: Informing Nonhunters, Recruiting Hunters

This effort to help the nation’s educators grew from talks with S3DA staff. The S3DA’s mission is to foster, educate and guide youths in archery through 3D, indoor and outdoor target shooting. S3DA staff strive to introduce youths to bowhunting, bowfishing and other next-step opportunities.

Jennifer Mazur, ATA’s senior director of outreach and education, said many consumers don’t understand their role in conservation. They also don’t realize buying archery equipment or hunting licenses helps state agencies manage wildlife and wild places. She hopes the programs encourage participants to get more involved in archery and efforts that protect and preserve the nation’s natural resources.

“Tournaments and other archery events have lots of downtime,” Mazur said. “We’re missing opportunities to teach people about hunting’s role in conservation. We must also recruit and invite them to try bowhunting.”

Bowhunters help restore habitat, train hunters, study wildlife, improve public access, and fund conservation projects by buying licenses and paying federal excise taxes on archery gear through the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act. Bowhunters also help manage native wildlife populations and remove invasive species like feral hogs and Asian carp. That’s why bowhunters are extremely important in protecting and managing our nation’s public lands and wildlife heritage. The more people who hunt, the more financial contributions they make to hunting, shooting and wildlife-associated recreation.

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