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Selected Articles from our
newsletter
The C.A.S.H. Courier
ARTICLE from the Fall 2008 Issue
The Pittman-Robertson (P-R) Fund
Top 10 Hunting States
As we tell you in almost every issue of the C.A.S.H. Courier, the
Pittman-Robertson fund is what supports federal and state wildlife
management agencies in large part, and what links the firearms industry
inextricably to wildlife management agencies. Excise taxes on firearms and
ammunition, and bows and arrows comprise the Fund. The taxes are transferred
from the Treasury — in their entirety — to the Conservation Fund. The U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service keeps a portion to administer the Fund, and the
rest is apportioned to the states based, in part, on the number of hunting
licenses they sell. This puts state game agencies in competition with each
other to sell the most hunting licenses to gain a larger share of the
Pittman Robertson Fund.
What should be particularly galling to citizens is that the State’s General
Fund has to contribute a 25% matching amount to the P-R money apportioned to
the game agency.
Every year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publishes the Final
Apportionment of Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Funds . The Fiscal
year 2008 report shows that the top 10 states in order are:
TEXAS
ALASKA
PENNSYLVANIA
MICHIGAN
WISCONSIN
MINNESOTA
TENNESSEE
CALIFORNIA
MONTANA
NEW YORK
As always, TX and AK are a quantum leap higher than PA, but it’s no surprise
to the people of PA or to those who track such information that Pennsylvania
is in one of the topmost positions in the heap of filthy lucre.
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[Editor’s Note: On October 12th, the editor of the Courier counted 97
shots in a period of 5 minutes – and that’s only what she could hear! I
imagined the money that was pouring in to this fund as the lives of animals
were being snuffed out…and I thought that there must be a better way. We
believe that wildlife watching is a better way and the same model can be
used, with far more funding coming in from wildlife watching equipment.]
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Your generous contributions will help us to promote wildlife watching as an
economic replacement for hunting!
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