It was in 1900 that the very first federal law to protect game, The Lacey Act, was passed, and in 1929, the Migratory Bird Conservation Act was passed, furthering efforts to protect wildlife. While both of these laws were beneficial to wildlife, neither addressed the issue of funding conservation efforts. Finally, in 1937, the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act was passed, and it established the guidelines to fund future conservation efforts through a tax on sporting arms and ammunition. (It might be interesting to note that previously, there had been a tax on sporting arms and ammunition that was used to pay for World War I debts).

Initially, the act was written to raise money for state wildlife agencies. The money is collected from the various manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and hunting equipment, who pay a 10% to 11% federal excise tax on those goods. For states to receive these federal allocations, they must pay a 25% match of nonfederal funding. Most states, including Pennsylvania, use money generated by hunting license sales to pay the matching funds. Then, the state agencies use the funds, through grants, to pay for conservation initiatives such as habitat restoration, restocking programs, hunter-education programs, and public land access and acquisitions. As such, the Pittman-Robertson Act was the first sustainable source of federal revenue for state wildlife management in the United States. Additionally, in the 50s and 60s, the late Fred Bear (a well-known and well-respected member of the archery business) watched the act’s success and suggested that the archery industry could also contribute, thus making a good system better by being part of it. Starting in 1972, archery equipment such as bows and arrows and accessories that attached to bows were subjected to the federal excise tax.

Since the inception in 1937 of the Pittman-Robertson Act, hunters have thus generated through their purchases 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. Consequently, animal populations that were once threatened or in danger of extinction, such as bison, beavers, elk, deer, pronghorn, wild turkeys, and wood ducks, are now flourishing. At one point, bison populations were reduced to only about 300 wild bison roaming in North America in the 1860’s. Still, today, more than 30,000 wild bison roam the continent, and an additional 400,000 bison live in captive herds.

When European settlers first arrived in America, they cleared the land for farming, cut trees for home and shipbuilding, and began hunting and trapping for the European commercial fur and meat markets. Habitat was lost, and unregulated hunting and trapping began reducing various wildlife populations, such as the bison and beaver. As the human population expanded westward, animals were often overharvested. Market hunting killed off wildlife that was sold for meat and hides, and some species were slaughtered to near extinction. Then, in the late 1800s, people began to recognize the need to better conserve our natural resources, including wildlife. Americans began to realize that the unrestricted killing of wildlife for commercial use in the food and fur market was resulting in the destruction of irreplaceable resources. Many state wildlife agencies were established in the late 1800s, but their focus was on law enforcement, fish hatcheries, and fish stocking. Initially, there were no efforts to address conservation, no biologists to conduct research, and very little land acquisition for refuges, sanctuaries, or wildlife management areas. It was the passage of the Lacey Act in 1900, the Migratory Bird Conservation Act in 1929, and then the Pittman-Robertson Act in 1937 that set in motion today’s growing efforts in the field of conservation of all game and non-game wildlife species.

As hunters and firearms owners, it is important to be aware that the success of wildlife conservation is largely due to the financial contributions we each make when purchasing firearms, ammunition, equipment, and archery equipment. This is critical information to share the next time you are in a discussion with someone who might lean toward a stance of anti-hunting or be against the private ownership of firearms. Educating folks who are not members of the hunting community or are not currently owners of firearms as to the massive financial support of conservation by hunters and shooters will cast a favorable light on who we really are.