The Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundation is working to improve public perceptions of hunting and shooting.
Image above: The “Fill a Bag while Filling your Tag” initiative encourages hunters to pick up any trash they find in the field as a way to bolster our image as responsible stewards of the outdoors.
Hunters, anglers, trappers, and recreational shooters are the backbone of conservation in North America. We know this, but most of the rest of the world does not. And that may be part of the reason that the public’s attitude toward what we do is trending more toward disapproval all the time.
“Hunters and shooters are good at a lot of things, but we are not good at communicating what we do,” said Jim Curcuruto, Executive Director of the Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundation (OSCF).
The decline in cultural acceptance of hunting and shooting is a huge potential problem for the future of our outdoor traditions, and that’s the reason Curcuruto launched OSCF, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Its mission is to work with all facets of the outdoor industry to improve the public’s perception of traditional outdoor pursuits using research-based communications and engagement programs.
Curcuruto’s decade-plus stint leading research, market development, and recruitment efforts for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) gave him a close-up look at the problem and spurred him to start OSCF in 2021. While the majority of non-hunters are still not overtly opposed to hunting, a survey in 2023 conducted by OSCF and Responsive Management showed an alarming 4 percent decline in the general public’s approval of these activities.
OSCF is working to buck this trend by publicizing and celebrating all the good things done by hunters, anglers, trappers, and shooters, which it refers to with the shorthand HATS. “It was definitely time for an organization dedicated to promoting everything that we do,” he said.
OSCF has several major initiatives. First and foremost is “Connecting with Conservation,” a communication program formed with a wide range of industry and agency partners to spread the word about how conservation is funded in America. Through a series of professionally produced videos and social media postings that can be used and shared, OSCF explains how HATS fund conservation through excise taxes and license fees.
Further, through its newly formed Outdoor Industry Communication Council (OICC), OSCF is working to amplify these communications efforts through coordinated partnerships with outdoor gear manufacturers, state fish and wildlife agencies, and conservation groups. Curcuruto points out that all these entities share the common goal of increasing participation in hunting and angling, but they rarely work together. The need for coordinated messaging was recently recognized by the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies and the US Fish & Wildlife service, which awarded a multistate conservation grant to OSCF to develop an integrated communications strategy to educate the masses on conservation topics.
Through this, OICC has made available a series of free articles written by professional outdoor writers that they are encouraging their partners to reprint and share on websites, social channels, e-newsletters, podcasts, and printed publications.
Articles available for immediate distribution include an overview of the outdoor industry’s $80 billion economic impact, details of the 400,000 American jobs that are created or sustained by the outdoor industry, and how a single hunter’s seasonal purchases help fund wildlife management. Additional features profile a production-line manager at a firearms manufacturer, how to get started in recreational shooting, and how to recruit the next generation of hunters and target shooters.
OSCF is also currently developing public service announcements that explain how conservation is funded. These 60-second and 30-second TV spots will be provided to 11,000 TV stations in a pilot project this year.
A second OSCF initiative, “Fill a Bag while Filling your Tag,” focuses on the unsung ways that HATS are stewards of nature. “So many hunters and anglers pick up trash when they’re out in the woods,” Curcuruto said. “In fact, 80 percent of HATS say they clean up nature on a regular basis, versus 60 percent of general outdoor users.”
OSCF works with its industry and agency partners to distribute reusable, biodegradable bags all over the country, encouraging people to take the bags with them while out hunting, fishing, trapping, or target shooting and use them to take out any trash they find while outdoors. Bags are preprinted with messages that ask HATS to post photos or short videos of themselves with their bag and trash to their social media accounts to show others who the true stewards of conservation are. (Posters should include the hashtag #TrophyTrash to be tracked on social media sites such as Instagram.) It’s another way to bolster our image as responsible, caring stewards of the outdoors.
The third initiative, which OSCF calls, “Come With!” is a challenge to all of us to invite someone new to come along with them to the range, field, or lake. Millions of dollars have been spent by agencies and organizations over the past decade trying to figure out how to recruit new hunters and anglers to our ranks, but Curcuruto says it all boils down to a very simple concept.
“The number-one way to recruit new people is not through a youth program—it’s to have somebody who is experienced in outdoor pursuits invite someone who isn’t experienced,” said Curcuruto. “Some 25 million Americans say they have an interest in these pursuits—they are just waiting for someone to invite them.”
To learn more about OSCF’s work, or to donate and receive a “Trophy Trash” bag, see outdoorstewards.org.—Diana Rupp
