Pope and Young Club to Sponsor National Hunting and Fishing Day
OutdoorHub 09.06.11
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. September 1, 2011 –The Pope and Young Club will be a key sponsor of National Hunting and Fishing Day, the official federal commemoration of hunters, anglers and conservation.
NHF Day continues to grow and reach new outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen each year with the continued support of generous sponsors. Through licenses, permits and special taxes, hunters and anglers generate $100,000 every 30 minutes–totaling more than $1.75 billion per year–for fish, wildlife and habitat. No one contributes more for conservation.
NHF Day is set to take place Sept. 24, 2011.
The Pope and Young Club is one of North America’s leading bowhunting and conservation organizations. Founded in 1961 as a nonprofit scientific organization, the Club is patterned after the prestigious Boone and Crockett Club. The Club advocates and encourages responsible bowhunting by promoting quality, fair chase hunting, and sound conservation practices.
The sponsorship by the Pope and Young Club supports the Wonders of Wildlife museum–the official home of National Hunting and Fishing Day. The Springfield, Mo., facility oversees educational initiatives to help the American public understand the indelible relationship between hunting, angling, healthy habitat, and wildlife and fisheries conservation.
Each year National Hunting and Fishing Day chooses an honorary chairperson, and this year T. Boone Pickens is serving in that capacity and will deliver the message of NHF Day.
A strong advocate for alternative energy in the United States, his renowned “Pickens Plan” is designed to decrease dependency on foreign oil while harnessing domestic energy alternatives such as wind power. He is the author of “The First Billion is the Hardest” and “Boone Pickens: The Luckiest Guy in the World.” Pickens also is a noted philanthropist, his gifts to charitable causes exceeding $700 million.
“In our 50th Year of ensuring bowhunting’s existence for future generations, the Pope and Young Club is proud to continue our support of National Hunting and Fishing Day,” noted P&Y President Roger Atwood. “NHF Day is a great opportunity to remind folks of the many cultural values that the hunting lifestyle provides, including patience, perseverance, skill development and mastery, the value of practice, applying personal ethics, and woodscraft, as well as a true understanding and appreciation of the natural world.”
“The Pope and Young Club has been a proponent of conservation from the day it was created,” said Misty Mitchell, director of Conservation Programs, Wonders of Wildlife. “They are exactly why NHF Day is such a big day for sportsmen around the country. Through our combined efforts we will continue to conserve our heritage.”
In 1972, Congress formalized NHF Day to remind the public that conservation depends on funding and leadership from hunters and anglers. Every president from Richard Nixon through Barack Obama has issued official proclamations of support for the annual commemoration, now recognized as one of the most effective grassroots campaigns ever undertaken to promote traditional outdoor sports.
Sponsors for NHF Day 2011 continues to grow, and includes Wonders of Wildlife, NSSF, Bass Pro Shops, Smith & Wesson, Sportsman’s Channel, Realtree, Cabela’s, GunBroker.com, Yamaha, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Izaak Walton League of America, Pope and Young Club and Fresh Air Educators.
For more information about NHF Day, visit www.nhfday.org and check out our Facebook page.
