Imagine a world without wild places laden with elk, deer, wild turkeys and other game animals to pursue. What would you do on the weekends? What meat would you eat? Would you have your current business or job?
ATA-member businesses, alongside those in the firearm and fishing industries, help preserve wildlife and wild places by paying federal excise taxes through the Wildlife Restoration Act. But before 1937, there was a bleak future for animals, landscapes and any business hoping to capitalize on these natural resources.
Tom Decker, branch manager for Communications, Analysis and Partnerships of the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said ATA members can thank forward-thinking conservationists for creating laws that fund restoration projects and protect the nation’s natural resources, on which most archery and bowhunting businesses rely.
“It doesn’t matter if you make a bow, a call, a treestand or a food plot product, if you’re manufacturing any goods related to the harvest and take of game animals, it’s because these species were restored,” Decker said. “We take all that for granted now, but it’s important to understand where we came from and why laws are in place to protect and pay for wild animals and management.”
When European immigrants arrived in America, they cleared land for farming, cut trees for shipbuilding, and began hunting and trapping for European commercial markets. Habitat was lost, and unregulated hunting and trapping negatively affected wildlife populations. As people expanded westward across the continent, they overharvested animals. Additionally, market hunters killed animals to sell meat and hides, and some species were slaughtered to near extinction.
In the late 1800s, people began to see a need to better conserve our natural resources. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s historical timeline explains that “by the mid-19th century, Americans began to realize that unrestricted killing of wildlife for food, fashion and commerce was destroying irreplaceable resources.” People began creating clubs, programs and laws to protect wildlife and wild places.
Congress created the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries in 1871. Many state wildlife agencies were established in the late 1800s, but they focused on law enforcement and fish hatcheries and stocking. They didn’t have biologists or conduct research, and there was very little land acquisition for refuges, sanctuaries, or wildlife management areas.
Congress passed the Lacey Act in 1900, the first federal law to protect game, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act in 1929. Both laws were helpful to wildlife but neither funded conservation efforts. At the time, there was a tax on sporting arms and ammunition that was used to pay for World War I debts. Instead of trying to create a new tax for conservation purposes, some people had the idea of redirecting the war tax to benefit wildlife.
At the urging of industry and sporting community leaders, Congress passed the Wildlife Restoration Act, aka Pittman-Robertson Act, in 1937 to raise money for state wildlife agencies. The money is collected from manufacturers who pay a 10% to 11% federal excise tax on the first sale of firearms, ammunition and hunting equipment. For states to receive these federal allocations, they must pay a 25% match of nonfederal funding. Most states use money generated by hunting license sales to pay the match.
State agencies use the funds to pay for high-priority conservation initiatives such as habitat restoration, restocking programs, hunter-education programs, and public-land access and acquisitions. The P-R Act was the first sustainable source of federal revenue for state wildlife management in America.
“Fred Bear saw the restoration happening in the ’50s and ’60s and said (the archery industry) can contribute to this,” Decker said. “He believed we could make a good system better by being a part of it.”
With industry support, archery equipment started getting taxed in 1972. Since then, bows and arrows, and accessories that attach to bows, have all been subject to the FET.
Since the P-R Act’s passage in 1937, hunters have generated over $25 billion for conservation when accounting for inflation according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in addition to the $900 million generated from state licenses, tags and permits. Funds generated from the sales of archery equipment exceeded $1 billion in 2022.
As a result, animal populations that were once threatened or in danger of extinction, like buffalo, beavers, elk, deer, pronghorn, turkeys, and wood ducks, are now flourishing. For example, it was believed that only 300 wild bison roamed North America in the 1860s, but today more than 30,000 wild bison graze the continent and an additional 400,000 live in captive herds.
“I cannot overstate the abundance, distribution and occurrence of wild birds and mammals on the continent were significantly changed by this act,” Decker said. “Without the funding and these restoration projects, there wouldn’t be any animals in some areas. We needed active management to move them, protect them, regulate their take, and then allow for the take sustainably.”
Understanding the reasons behind the P-R Act and its history should give ATA members a new appreciation for conservation and the federal excise taxes they’re legally responsible for paying.
“Manufacturers should be proud of their contributions,” Decker said. “They partner with state fish wildlife agencies and the federal government to benefit wildlife and make involvement opportunities possible for people. Archery and bowhunting enhance people’s lives and manufacturers provide the funding source for conservation in the U.S. to ensure those activities exist.”
In the coming months, the ATA will outline how federal excise taxes are collected and distributed, explain how FET dollars are spent and audited, and explore recent changes to the P-R program and how the industry can continue to improve the funding source.
The ATA provides its members with FET information, advice and advocacy. The ATA created a free, comprehensive guide to federal excise taxes for its members and works directly with the state wildlife agencies, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, IRS and U.S. Congress on FET issues.
If you have questions or concerns regarding federal excise taxes, please contact Dan Forster, ATA’s vice president and chief conservation officer, at (507) 233-8143 or danforster@archerytrade.org.
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