The Fight For Hunters’ Rights

Some hunters take hunting for granted. Safari Club International does not.  

When people ask me what SCI is all about, I recite our mission: To defend hunters’ rights and promote wildlife conservation around the world.  

People always get the first part. They know we are hunters, so it makes sense that a group would exist to defend the right to hunt. Like the NRA defends the right to shoot, we defend the right to hunt ethically.  

However, some are still unclear on how wildlife conservation plays a part.  

“But you want to kill animals, right?” they might say. “Doesn’t that contrast with wildlife conservation?”  

The short answer is no, not at all. In fact, hunting is key to protecting wildlife and wild places for the future. 

Conservation is all about managing resources so they can be utilized in a healthy, responsible way. Sustainable-use hunting results in managing wildlife populations, conserving animal habitats and providing food for families and friends in the process.  

If one really cares about diversity in wildlife and the conservation of species, then the logical conclusion is that hunting is the foremost tool to protect and expand the diversity of species and habitats around the globe.  

Early conservationists figured this out about 100 years ago.  

Aldo Leopold, Teddy Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell — hunters themselves — saw that wildlife and the environment were being overexploited. At this point in history, bison were decimated. Passenger pigeons were gone from the wild. Ducks were on a similar trajectory as market gunners supplied canvasbacks and mallards to insatiable East Coast cities.  

The conservationist-hunters concluded that relationships between people, land and resources must change. Without protecting habitat and managing wildlife, there would be more extinction, and the natural world would be squeezed into zoos. 

A national push for education and legislation to protect lands and animals was set into motion with the Lacey Act of 1900, which banned interstate commerce of illegally taken fish, wildlife and plants. 

It was followed by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, signed by Canada, Mexico and the USA, to protect those animals that fly over borders. To foot the bill, the federal government in 1937 enacted the Federal Aid In Wildlife Restoration Act, which, to this day, provides funding through an additional tax on hunting tools to fund and carry out their conservation efforts in the states. 

Hunters still contribute to the cause through an additional tax on gear purchases.  

The original initiatives brought many species — like wild turkeys and whitetails — back from the brink. They established sound wildlife management practices based on biological surveys and science instead of emotions or special interests.  

Yet the work is not done, and it is far from it.  

Every day, there are assaults against proven conservation practices and its most effective tool, hunting.  

Emotion-based campaigns seek to stop hunting of species that need to be managed, like mountain lions in California. So-called “trophy import bans” attempt to stop hunters from bringing back a memento of the animal they sought overseas. Federal government overreach closed millions of acres of public land to hunters in the last 10 years.  

This is where conservation groups, like Safari Club International, step in.  

In fact, this month, as many as 100 SCI members, volunteer leaders and staff will crowd into the U.S. Capitol, urging senators and representatives to support bills that perpetuate hunting and defeat those that threaten it.  

When the dust settles, SCI remains in Washington, D.C., to fight for all hunters’ rights and wildlife conservation. The group’s headquarters — called the Hunters’ Embassy — is a stone’s throw from the U.S. Capitol and is well-situated for fast action on future bills and proposals.  

Around the country, staff advocates stay aware of the action in state capitals in case it’s time to turn up the heat on bad ideas like those recently seen in Denver, Harrisburg or Albany.   

Safari Club International is much more than just a national group. 

The organization boasts more than 150 chapters and has a presence worldwide. From Australia and Anchorage to Pretoria and Pakistan, SCI members watch out for the rights of all hunters wherever the threats emerge. True champions for sustainable use, supported by science and facts to help manage wildlife around the world. 

SCI does not take hunting for granted. 

Join the largest force that defends hunters’ rights and promotes wildlife conservation worldwide. Check out safariclub.org/join-today.  

John Geiger is the managing editor of SCI’s publications.