5+ Reasons To Buy a Hunting & Fishing License (even if you don’t hunt or fish)
If you can support environmental causes, buy a hunting/fishing license.
There are not many purchases in this world that –
- provide tangible, immediate & long-term personal benefits
- provide intangible immediate & long-term personal benefits
- provide immediate & long-term benefits for all humans, animals, and plant life
- provide benefits for everyone for basically forever
- are leveraged (i.e., you get 10x what you pay for)
I argue that buying a hunting & fishing license in the United States is one of those rare purchases – even for someone who does not hunt or fish.
Thanks to the North American Model of Conservation, the United States (and Canada) have dedicated annual funding for wildlife conservation. One key to this funding is the purchase of a hunting/fishing license, which unlocks dedicated Federal funding for projects that, yes, benefit hunters but mainly benefit wildlife. Here are reasons why it’s worth a $15 / $30 purchase yearly (vs. a donation to an environmental charity).
All The Money Gets Spent on Actual Projects, Not Overhead
100% of your purchase goes to fund wildlife conservation in your state. America’s conservation funding structure has been around for 100 years. It’s changed and evolved (and yes, it needs to evolve even more. I’d argue that we need a hiker act), but it’s predictable and solid. The spending is efficient. The overhead is paid for separately. And all the projects are pretty straightforward (almost all go to habitat purchases).
The Money Is Leveraged for Local Benefit
The short version is that the Federal government collects a giant pot of money on various gun & boat taxes. That pot of money provides matching funds based on license purchases. If your State needs more public land and wildlife habitat, you should purchase a license. Your license “unlocks” much more money than your license fee for your State to buy more land and build out more habitat. In Georgia, a license purchase of $15 brings back $50 in additional public land spending.
Public Land Has Leveraged Benefits
Wildlife habitat and natural processes compound their benefits over the size of land. Animals and ecosystems work best when there is a lot of contiguous habitat that is stable over long periods of time. Large tracts of protected habitat provide cleaner water, cleaner air, healthier wildlife, better recreation, and better science – for all, every year, year in and year out. It’s not a one-and-done benefit. It’s a benefit that keeps paying every year forever. State Parks and State Wildlife areas established in the 1930s have provided massive benefits for nearly 100 years.
Hunting & Fishing License Gets Immediate Benefits Now
Even if you don’t hunt or fish, a license does provide access to public land normally blocked off for hiking, birding, exploring, picnicking, and more. It’s like a State Park fee…but for land that is not crowded with lots of other people. Every hunting or fishing license also gives you access to all of your State’s Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), Public Fishing Areas (PFAs), and WRD shooting ranges.
In Georgia, at least, Wildlife Management Areas are nearly empty for most of the year (i.e., outside of peak deer & turkey season). They have roads, trails, ponds, boating facilities, incredible scenery, and more. But instead of paying for a State Park parking pass, you just have to buy a hunting / fishing license.*
*Technically, you can buy a “lands access pass,” but that’s not worthwhile since it’s the same price and does not unlock federal funding like an actual hunting/fishing license.
You’ll Be Part of a Serious Voting Block
Few voter blocks actually scare oil & gas companies, and that’s hunters & anglers. President Roosevelt’s genius idea was that environmentalists and hunters/anglers share much more in common than they realize. And when politicians consider whether to use rivers as a sewer or abuse land for short-term cash, the giant voting block of hunters/anglers is usually the only one big enough to pay attention to (example). By purchasing a license, you become part of that voting block without having to join any organization. Better laws protecting our environment follow.
