Big Bucks for Wildlife in ’26, Courtesy of Hunters & Shooters
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service just announced their 2026 apportionments to the states for wildlife restoration and conservation efforts, and the overall total comes to a staggering $842,403,264, which is being distributed to state fish and wildlife agencies to support such things as hunter and trapper education programs, range development and improve public access.
It’s a story which often gets overlooked by the establishment media, perhaps because it puts gun owners and hunters in the spotlight as the nation’s top conservationists.
The revenue comes from what is known as the Pittman-Robertson fund, established by Congress in 1937. Since then, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, “more than $31 billion has been distributed through annual apportionments to states for managing wildlife resources.”
The money comes via special excise taxes on the sale of firearms and ammunition, paid by manufacturers.
This year’s top recipients are Texas, which receives $38,857,809, Alaska with $35,595,455, and Pennsylvania, which is getting $30,594,626. Other states will receive lesser shares, but it is a very big pie, and even non-hunters who shoot competitively, recreationally or use up lots of ammunition in training all contribute. To see the full list, click here.
According to FWS, “These funds have also supported operations and maintenance of over 800 target ranges, over 9,000 fishing access areas and the opening of over 36 million acres of state land to hunting and angling.”
Here’s how the program works, as described in an NSSF announcement Tuesday: “The excise tax is set at 11 percent of the wholesale price for long guns and ammunition and 10 percent of the wholesale price for handguns. The excise tax, paid by manufacturers and importers, applies to all firearms and ammunition imported or sold domestically to the commercial market and federal law enforcement sales, whether the purpose is for recreational shooting, hunting or personal defense.”
This funding is only part of the picture, which also includes private organizations that raise additional millions of dollars for wildlife, upland birds and waterfowl protection and enhancement.
Among the groups involved in this conservation effort are Ducks Unlimited, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Safari Club International, Delta Waterfowl, Ruffed Grouse Society, Mule Deer Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail Unlimited, Whitetails Unlimited, Wild Sheep Foundation and many others.
This is the kind of news gun prohibitionists and anti-hunters routinely ignore, for a very good reason. Without gun and ammunition purchases, without the sale of hunting licenses and game tags, wildlife conservation in the U.S. would wither, and they know it. They just don’t care to acknowledge it.
But then along comes Joe Bartozzi, NSSF president and CEO, with this observation: “Our industry is at the forefront of wildlife conservation. Each time a recreational shooter or hunter purchases a firearm or ammunition, they are helping to support wildlife conservation through the excise taxes paid by our industry on the sale of those products. The American model of conservation funding is the gold standard throughout the world for sustainable conservation and wildlife management.”
There are threats to hunting, like there are threats to shooting and mere gun ownership.
A few days ago, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a federal lawsuit against FWS “challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s refusal to develop a national gray wolf recovery plan under the Endangered Species Act.” In a news release, the organization complained, “Under the first Trump administration, the Service stripped gray wolves of their federal safeguards. Before a federal court in 2022 restored wolves’ Endangered Species Act protections, hundreds of wolves were hunted and trapped while under state management.”
However, the statement explained, “In 2024 the (FWS) under the Biden administration announced that a national recovery plan for gray wolves would be a central feature of its approach to conserving gray wolves.”
There are various studies, pro and con, along with anecdotal information on wolf predation of elk and deer, and that’s just part of the picture. Black bears, grizzlies, mountain lions and coyotes also prey on elk and deer populations, especially during late winter/early spring when calves and fawns appear. This underscores the importance of spring bear hunting and winter coyote hunting.
Looking online, the FWS has posted a message about hunters as conservationists, and it opens thusly: “Hunters are among the most ardent conservationists around. Theodore Roosevelt, the founder of the National Wildlife Refuge System and a hunter himself, knew it.
“In a civilized and cultivated country, wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen,” the 26th president of the United States said years ago. “The excellent people who protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wildlife, are ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman is by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more valuable wild creatures from total extermination.”
That’s a truth anti-gunners and anti-hunters may run from, but they can’t hide.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
