Wisconsin Bill Will Put More Sportsmen In The Field
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Wisconsin Bill Will Put More Sportsmen In The Field





(Madison) - Legislators in Wisconsin have introduced a bill which seeks to eliminate barriers for people who wish to give hunting a try.

Part of a nationwide Families Afield campaign sponsored by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Assembly Bill 677 will aid in recruitment of new hunters into the sport in hopes of stopping an alarming downward trend in the numbers of new sportsmen going into the field each year in Wisconsin and nationwide.

“The bottom line is parents should have the right to decide when their children will be introduced to hunting and shooting,” commented Wisconsin Rep. Scott Suder (R- Abbotsford) who sponsored the bill along with Wisconsin Assembly Speaker John Gard (R- Peshtigo). “Our bill will give parents more choices in this matter and allow our youth the opportunity to be introduced to hunting before they become interested in other things.”

The core concept of AB 677 is the establishment of an apprentice hunting license allowing qualified, licensed adult hunters to introduce others to the sport prior to completing a hunter education course. The apprentice hunter would have to be within arm’s reach of the adult mentor while in the field and would be required to attend hunter education courses and become fully licensed should they elect to pursue hunting on their own.

Current Wisconsin law prevents parents from taking their kids shooting before age twelve. Assembly Bill 677 will also repeal this restriction.

Families Afield was developed after results of a study, called the Youth Hunting Report, showed that youngsters are less likely to take up hunting in states that have restrictive requirements for youth participation. However, states that permit parents to decide when their kids will begin to hunt have a much higher youth recruitment rate.

“It was obvious that by making the opportunity to hunt so difficult, we’re preventing potential hunters from trying the sport,” said Bud Pidgeon, USSA president. “There are so many activities available to our youth today, by the time they can legally hunt, they’re interested in other things and we’ve lost them.”

The Youth Hunting Report, funded by NSSF and NWTF, clearly showed that hunters in states without these restrictions are as safe as Wisconsin hunters. It also showed that the most important factor affecting youth hunting safety is the presence of a responsible, attentive adult hunter. When supervised, youth hunters are the safest in the field.

Wisconsin was chosen to be one of the first states to introduce the Families Afield Program for several reasons, but there is one key factor. Statistics show that for every 100 hunters that the state of Wisconsin loses, they are only replacing them with 53. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that this is a problem for Wisconsin sportsmen.

The three organizations urge Wisconsin sportsmen to contact their representatives and ask them to support AB 677. Let them know that unnecessary barriers to youth hunting should be removed. Educate them that the safest hunter is a mentored youth hunter. To find your representative, call (608) 226-9960 or use the Legislative Action Center at www.ussportsmen.org.

For more information about the Youth Hunting Report, call Steve Wagner of the National Shooting Sports Foundation at (203) 426-1320; Jonathan Harling of the NWTF at 1 (800) THE-NWTF or Beth Ruth of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance at (614) 888-4868.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs. For more information about the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and its work, call (614) 888-4868 or visit www.ussportsmen.org.
US Sportmens Alliance on Target

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