Among hunter-conservationists the story of the decimation of wildlands and wildlife during the 1700s-1800s followed by a remarkable recovery during the 1900s-2000s is well known. However, a week prior to the start of the 2024 spring turkey hunting season Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) Habitat Watch Volunteer Rick Hooley forwarded me a new YouTube documentary (“The Colonel & The Fox”) about two of turkey hunting’s foremost protectors and proponents.[1] During 2018 I wrote about ...

In a quick turn of events, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) Commission announced their final candidates for the next ODFW Director, allowing a short turn around for stakeholder input. In a swift and organized effort, various organizations rallied behind Debbie Colbert, the preferred choice among hunting and fishing groups. The Oregon Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), working alongside partner organizations, launched an action alert that resulted in over 360 ...

The opportunity to hunt shouldn’t just be for the wealthy. So why should Montana’s special, statewide tags be any different? This was our pitch to the Fish & Wildlife Commission last summer. We argued there was a better, more equitable way than auctions to raise funds for conservation efforts: a raffle. Montana offers five highly prized statewide tags: bighorn sheep, elk, mountain goat, mule deer, and Shiras moose. They’re valid for any open season, any legal weapon, and anywhere in the ...

In early 2022, a private landowner illegally blocked access to a popular public hunting and fishing destination in East Texas known locally as “The Cutoff”. A group of local sportsmen who hunt and fish there have challenged the move in court, and Texas BHA is rallying behind them. The Cutoff, also called Creslenn Lake, spans 12 miles along the boundary for Navarro and Henderson Counties. Originally part of the Trinity River, the waterway was separated from its main channel by a levee ...

Earlier this year New England BHA’s Rhode Island Team announced that we would be sponsoring the 2024 RI Youth Mentored Wild Turkey Hunt coordinated by The Light Foundation and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s Fish & Wildlife Division. The hunt occurred in late April, during RI’s special youth wild turkey season, and by all accounts 2024 was another successful season for the program, which has been supported by RI BHA volunteers for the last several years.   Prior to ...