2021: The State of American Game, Thanks to America’s Hunters

2021: The State of American Game, Thanks to America’s Hunters

by J. Scott Olmsted - Monday, February 22, 2021


For well more than a century, it’s safe to say wildlife and the wild places it inhabits have benefited because of hunters—and, by extension, NRA members.

That last part is not a stretch. Next to self-defense hunting is one of the primary ways Americans exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Indeed, across the expanse of the 19th century, hunting was perhaps the primary way Americans exercised that right while our society stretched coast-to-coast and in large part fed itself off game.

But toward the end of the 19th century, unregulated hunting, unregulated development, poor land-use practices, pioneer settlement of the West and ongoing Native American/U.S. government conflict all coincided to devastate game and its habitat.

Then something remarkable happened.

2021 marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). This column is the first in a series of 12 that highlight during this celebratory year the people, trends and firearms NRA members have witnessed over the past 150 years—and in some cases when NRA members have been part of historical achievements firsthand. This month, we celebrate the restoration of America’s wildlife thanks to visionary hunters.

[link to www.americanhunter.org (secure)]