Message from the Executive Director
A Partnership for American Wildlife
On September 2, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, now the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act, which went into effect on July 1, 1938. At a difficult time in the country’s history when it was still reeling from the economic crash of 1929, Senator Key Pittman from Nevada and Virginia Congressman A. Willis Robertson co-sponsored the Pittman-Robertson bill for wildlife restoration, a new and unprecedented law at a time when many species were in trouble due to overhunting and habitat destruction. Using an excise tax on firearms, ammunition, and hunting gear, the act paved the way for a stable, secure program of wildlife conservation applied across the United States for the past 85 years.
Pittman-Robertson has fostered partnerships among federal and state fish and wildlife agencies, the sporting arms industry, conservation groups, and sportsmen and sportswomen to benefit wildlife and has been key to implementing the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation www.fishwildlife.org/landing/north-american-model-wildlife-conservation. In 1950, the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act passed, now known as the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act. Together, the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program (known at NH Fish and Game as WSFR) has contributed millions of dollars annually and a record $1.5 billion in 2022 to fish and wildlife conservation in the United States.
This is a good seque to the changes beginning this fall to the hunting rules in New Hampshire. Read this digest for all the specifics, but overall we have been able to add hunting days for deer, bear, and turkey. We are also implementing online registration for deer, in addition to online turkey registration which we started a few years ago. We are also removing the requirement that hunters register their first deer before taking a second one, and hunters have a new option for reporting harvested bears, at a specified registration station, with a Conservation Officer, or with specified Fish and Game personnel.
So, thank you for your support of our important work, and have a safe and enjoyable hunting season.
Scott R. Mason
Executive Director
N.H. Fish and Game Department
N.H. Fish and Game — Our Mission
As the guardian of the state’s fish, wildlife, and marine resources, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department works in partnership with the public to:
- Conserve, manage, and protect these resources and their habitats;
- Inform and educate the public about these resources; and
- Provide the public with opportunities to use and appreciate these resources.
Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration: Over 85 Years of Restoring, Managing and Researching Fish and Wildlife
Our thanks to hunters, shooters, anglers, boaters, and our industry partners! With the purchase of firearms and ammunition, archery equipment, fishing equipment, and motorboat fuels, hunters, anglers, boaters and manufacturers pay excise taxes that are distributed to state fish and wildlife agencies for approved projects.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service joins state fish and wildlife agencies, private industry, and the public in a partnership to conserve fish and wildlife resources.
With millions in federal aid funding over more than 85 years, N.H. Fish and Game has been able to:
- Gain knowledge through research
- Manage fish and wildlife populations
- Acquire Wildlife Management Areas
- Improve and protect fish and wildlife habitat
- Restore fish and wildlife populations
- Conduct Hunter and Aquatic Education programs
- Construct, upgrade, and maintain more than 140 public access sites for boating and fishing.
Your purchase of hunting and fishing equipment and motorboat fuels supports wildlife and sport fish restoration and boating access facilities.
