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R3

Providing Opportunities in the Outdoors – Facilitating Age-Old Heritage and Growing the Trapping Community

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The 2025 Women’s Trapping Workshop participants pose for a group photo during their three-day trapping education experience.

Trapping is about more than catching furbearer animals, the centuries-old pursuit is also about understanding ecosystems, practicing conservation, and preserving knowledge that has been used to keep landscapes in balance. Trapping practices continue being passed down through generations and today a growing number of new outdoor enthusiasts are taking an interest in the pursuit. Many newcomers are getting involved in trapping through workshops and courses hosted by state fish and wildlife agencies. 

A New Era for Aquatic Conservation and Education at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center

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Texas Parks And Wildlife 2

The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) in Athens, Texas, is a hub of aquatic education, fish production, and conservation in the Lone Star State. Since opening in 1996, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) facility has drawn over 1.1 million visitors, offering an in-depth look at the diverse world of Texas’ freshwater ecosystems and how state agencies manage fisheries resources.

First Motorized Boating Addendum Report Records Public Participation Across U.S.

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Midwest Association Of Fish And Wildlife Agencies

Motorized boating is a popular American outdoor pastime, an economic force, and funds conservation efforts across the Nation. To capture metrics on the time spent outdoors along with the economic impacts of recreational boating, the 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation included motorized boating survey questions for the first time in the Survey’s 67-year history.

Pittman-Robertson, Trapping, and Furbearer Conservation

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Fur trappers inspecting their goods

Trapping is highly regulated by the state fish and wildlife agencies; biologists set harvest rates, trapping seasons, bag limits, and restrict trap types. Pittman-Robertson dollars, the federal excise taxes paid by firearms, ammunition, and archery manufacturers on select goods, fund furbearer management.

Report Offers a Snapshot of Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation of Hunters and Anglers in the U.S.

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Three Boys Upland Game Hunting With Two Dogs

Released last year, the 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation indicates that hunting and fishing remain highly important outdoor pursuits in the United States. However, there are a number of indications that participation in fishing and hunting has been declining over the years. To address this decline Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation, also known as R3, efforts have been implemented across the nation to increase hunting and fishing access and participation.

Categories R3

From a Coupon to Olympic Gold

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Darrell Pace standing on the Olympic Podium after winning a gold medal

“It started with a coupon,” Darrell Pace told me via a telephone interview from his home in Hamilton, Ohio. “It was a buy an hour, get one-hour free teaser to shoot a bow. I had BB guns and liked to target-shoot, so I thought I would try it out.”

Path to the Olympic Games Goes Through Service Supported Archery Range

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Recurve bow archers line up and aim at targets during the 2024 Arizona Cup.

To select the U.S. archers for the 2024 Olympic Games, athletes are chosen based on their performance at specific Olympic Trial Qualification events. These trials, known as stages, take place around the country with six Olympic stages and three Paralympic stages. Stages for both Olympic and Paralympic qualification take place at the Arizona Cup hosted at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

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