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Our Passion
Hunting and fishing isn’t what we do – it’s who we are. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers celebrate the great American tradition of testing your personal boundaries amid the solitude of the wilds. We understand the urgent need to speak up for those irreplaceable experiences if we want that kind of opportunity for future generations.
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Protecting Habitat
As students of nature, hunters know that adequate and healthy habitat is the foundation of healthy wildlife populations. In the end, our freedom to hunt and fish depends on habitat. Native wildlife has both intrinsic value and is often reflected in the health and quality of habitat itself.
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Standing Up for Your Rights
We are “boots on the ground” hunters and fisherman, standing up for quiet experiences in wild habitats, entirely removed from the disturbances of crowds and machines. We enjoy the wonder and adventure of the pristine outdoors with our friends and families – and work to defend and expand quality opportunities for hunting and fishing.
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Engaged Membership
We help sportsmen around the country be effective, protective voices for the wild habitat essential to quality hunting and fishing opportunities. Our membership is actively engaged, and our voices are trusted and respected.
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Backcountry Guardians
We combat threats to the wild, quiet habitat that support our traditional hunting and fishing opportunities and access. We stand up to off-road vehicle abuse of public land and wildlife, as well as those who would abuse our habitat and water for commercial gain. Our networks of on-the-ground volunteers help report abuse and comment on issues impacting our public lands.
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Vigilant Advocates
We constantly identify critical projects to improve access and habitat, applying our values, and developing beneficial relationships with private property owners, local agencies and community leaders.
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Active Educators
We educate and inform our membership, the public and decision-makers through our website and our publications and one-on-one communication. Our quarterly magazine, Backcountry Journal is a forum for member stories, state activities, and the most pressing issues we face.
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Watch Our Videos
We speak for traditional hunting and angling interests, the voice of sportsmen who love truly wild places: the home of a real backcountry experience.
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Welcome to Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
4th Annual Rendezvous - Spokane, WA
Join us at BHA’s 4th Annual National Rendezvous, March 6-8 in Spokane, Washington - the premiere North American gathering of backcountry sportsmen and women as we come together for good conversation, informative seminars, and great giveaways.
Tickets are now on sale for BHA's 2015 North American Rendezvous at the Red Lion Hotel in Spokane, Washington, March 6-8.
This year we are excited to announce BHA member and supporter, Randy Newberg, as our keynote speaker! As the host of the Sportsman Channel's Fresh Tracks, Randy lives and breathes the lifestyle of the public land hunter and has earned a reputation as a well respected voice in the conservation and hunting community.
A Hunt for Wild Lands
A land that is facing ceaseless development. A people mired in obesity from their over-reliance upon technology and motorized equipment. A quality of life—particularly the sporting life—that is rapidly careening downhill. These are some of the basic tenants of our call to arms—for American and Canadian sportsmen and women to stand up for the wild country and wildlife that depend so much upon it. Now, more than ever before, we need wild lands: places to rekindle the depths of the human soul. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers is a non-partisan group of sportsmen and women who are standing up for wilderness and for the wildlife that depends upon it.
Our Public Lands: Not For Sale
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Releases Public Lands Report to Educate Sportsmen and Decision Makers on the Need to Keep Public Lands in Public Hands
For Immediate Release
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Contact: Land Tawney, BHA Executive Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 406-370-4325
Missoula, MT – Today, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) released “Our Public Lands-Not for Sale”, detailing how the proposed transfer, or sale, of America’s federal public lands would negatively affect 
sportsmen and women in the United States. A growing number of western state legislators and federal elected officials are advocating for the transfer or all out sale of federal public lands. This report highlights how these ideas are nothing new and if they come to pass, how detrimental they would be to America’s sportsmen and women, ultimately resulting in loss of access to quality habitat for hunting and fishing.
The report also illustrates the incredible potential harm to both the outdoor business community and sportsmen and women. More than two thirds of hunters in the 11 Western states depend on public lands for all or part of their hunting, including both resident and non-resident hunters. And, outdoor recreation supports $646 billion in revenue and 6.1 million jobs annually.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is 100% against the transfer, or sale, of our federal public lands. While we think that federal land management could be improved, this is no time to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We look forward to working with elected officials from both sides of the aisle to protect our outdoor heritage and keep public lands in public hands,” said Land Tawney, Executive Director of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
“Without public land we would be out of business, in fact, we would have never gotten into business because there would be no reason to make hunting clothes if only a select few could participate. The opportunity for individuals to access beautiful and wild places in an equitable manner is one of the core American values that enriches the quality of life for all,” said Kenton Carruth, Founder, First Lite, Idaho.
What America’s Outdoor Media says about “Transfer” of Public Lands
Outdoor Life Online: Dec. 31, 2014
“Stop this Silly Talk” ... instead of continuing to talk about shedding federal land in America, let’s talk about making what we have more accessible and productive.
Field & Stream Online: Dec. 31, 2014
“The ‘ultimate disaster’... The idea to sell or give away these lands... is now a major concern.”
Petersen’s Hunting Magazine. Dec. 2014-Jan. 2015
“But instead of adding more land, our Federal government, in most cases spearheaded by conservative Republicans whom we love so much for their pro-gun stances, is looking at reducing our public land (bowhunter/turncoat Paul Ryan just made my sh*t list by suggesting such).”
Land & Water Conservation Fund Report: From the Mountains to the Bayous
Nearly 50 years ago a far-sighted, bipartisan group in Congress established the Land and Water Conservation Fund, tapping a fraction of the royalties from offshore oil and gas production to give all Americans a lifetime of outdoor recreational opportunity. Congress intended the Fund to be used for “preserving, developing, and assuring accessibility to … outdoor recreation resources … and to strengthen the health and vitality of the citizens of the United States ….”
Despite the fact that Congress typically does not fund LWCF at the $900 million level authorized, every state has benefited from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It has built swimming pools and softball fields, improved hiking trails and campgrounds, and provided access to public land of incomparable beauty for the enjoyment of Americans of every age, background and place of residence.
From the high cool alpine meadows of Colorado to the muggy bayous of Louisiana, the Land & Water Conservation Fund has benefited a wide array of American landscapes and families. This report, "The Land & Water Conservation Fund: From the Mountains to the Bayou, Connecting America's Sportsmen for 50 Years", was developed by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation to highlight just a few of the lands and waters that have benefited from the Land & Water Conservation Fund.
Click here to learn more about how the Land & Water Conservation Fund has conserved valuable fish and wildlife habitat, and provided needed public hunting and fishing access near you.
