Pope and Young Club & National Hunting and Fishing Day to Help Educate Public
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- -(AmmoLand.com)- Demonstrating its commitment to help educate the American public about the value of hunting to wildlife conservation today, the venerable Pope and Young Club has renewed its sponsorship of National Hunting and Fishing Day.
NHF Day, set for Sept. 25, 2010, was formalized by Congress in 1972 as an annual reminder that conservation depends on leadership and funding from hunters and anglers.
Presidential proclamations, public celebrations, skills demonstrations, welcoming opportunities to try sporting pursuits, and more helped make NHF Day the most effective grassroots effort in history to educate citizens about hunting, fishing and conservation.
Pope and Young Club’s sponsorship supports the continuing educational efforts of Wonders of Wildlife, the official home of NHF Day in Springfield, Mo.
Wonders of Wildlife develops communications tools, PSAs, posters and other promotional items, event planning guides, event handouts and much more–all designed to help deliver the message that, even today, nobody does more for conservation than hunters, anglers and sport shooters. Hunting and fishing licenses, along with excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, bows, arrows, rods and reels, together generate $100,000 every 30 minutes–totaling more than $1.75 billion per year–for fish, wildlife and habitat.
Denise Wagner of Wonders of Wildlife said, “We’re grateful for this renewed partnership with Pope and Young Club. Bowhunting has deep connections to not only outdoor traditions, but also to conservation and management of the wildlife resources that all Americans enjoy. We’re pleased to include the voice of archers among the sponsors of our educational initiatives.”
“Hunting–and bowhunting in particular–provide many significant cultural values. Among those values are practice, patience, perseverance, skill development and mastery, application and enhancement of personal ethics, woodscraft and outdoorsmanship, as well as understanding and appreciating the natural world,” noted Pope and Young Club Executive Secretary Kevin Hisey.
“In the years to come, public awareness of hunting’s cultural values will be integral to the survival of our hunting heritage.”
The entire USA Shooting Team is serving as honorary chair for NHF Day 2010. With 103 Olympic medals for rifle, pistol and shotgun marksmanship, the U.S. excels in few sports more than shooting. Only track and field, swimming, diving, wrestling and boxing have been more prolific medal producers for Americans. In fact, shooting ranks ahead of gymnastics, figure skating, volleyball and more than 30 other Olympic sports. Most members of the current USA Shooting Team are active hunters and anglers, blending a passion for the outdoors with winning on the world stage.
The growing list of sponsors for NHF Day 2010 includes Wonders of Wildlife, National Shooting Sports Foundation, Bass Pro Shops, Smith & Wesson, Sportsman Channel, Realtree, Cabela’s, GunBroker.com, Yamaha, Pope and Young Club, Izaak Walton League of America, and Academy Sports + Outdoors.
For more information about NHF Day, visit www.nhfday.org.