“The natural world sustains us with clean air, unpolluted water, recreation, and natural resources. If we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves.” –Jim Posewitz, Beyond Fair Chase[1]   Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) mission is to ensure North America’s outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands, waters, and wildlife. Although our organization is formed around hunting and fishing, our members are also avid hikers, ...

On June 14, 2024 The New York Chapter submitted a comment to NY Department of Environmental Conservation in regards to OGC-9 Public Rights to Navigation and Fishing.  Access to some streams and rivers in NY have been contested over the years as to who has the right to navigate or fish stretches of these rivers.  The original draft of the policy was published in 1991 and since then has been updated a few times.  The latest update appears to have NYDEC stepping away from a prescriptive ...

Event Review 2023 New England Waterfowl   "I work in emergency services. Throughout my military career and the past six months at work, I have been involved in a series of traumatic events that have been affecting my ability to deal with life. Sharing duck boats and A-frame blinds with you over the last three days has been more helpful than you could imagine.  I can't explain it; we never talked about anything related to the things causing my anxiety or trouble sleeping, but all those ...

Pennsylvania BHA leaders and members - and all of our conservation organization allies - were hopeful earlier this year when there was not one, but two bills, one each in the Senate and House, that would finally do away with the ridiculous prohibition on Sunday hunting in the Keystone state. We have watched with dismay as the Sunday hunting bill in the senate has been sullied with an unnecessary and dangerous addition that would alter the makeup of the Pennsylvania Board of Game ...

  BHA Chapters are unique due to their abilities to cast a broad focus within the conservation world. Chapters identify and engage in important topics, issues, and trends that are localized to their specific state and region. BHA chapter leaders also simply know how to have a great time while engaging on important and impactful topics! That’s exactly what the Kentucky BHA Chapter did on June 8th in collaboration with Kevin Murphy of Small Game Nation and hosting Small Game Bootcamp! This ...