Setting the Bar for Our Hunting Heritage: NWTF Education and Outreach Programs Update

“It is an honor to be part of an organization that so fully supports our hunting heritage,” said Mandy Harling, NWTF national director of education and outreach. “To be backed by an entire nation of volunteers and members who host outreach events all year long, eager to pass that tradition on to the next generation is incredible. Every event hosted opens the door for someone new to experience the outdoors.” 

The NWTF has several programs within its larger education and outreach department, each dedicated to the preservation of our hunting heritage. Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship (JAKES) programs engage youth with the outdoors, Women in the Outdoors (WITO) programs offer women an opportunity to participate in hunting and shooting sports, and Wheelin’ Sportsmen programs provide hunting opportunities to those with injuries, mobility impairments or those needing additional assistance.  

In total, NWTF chapters delivered 999 events across 41 states in fiscal year 2026. This includes Conservation Field Days, JAKES Days, Women in the Outdoors Events, Wheelin’ Sportsmen Hunts and more.  

Hosting successful events wouldn’t be possible without a passionate network of volunteers across every region of the country who are all supported by the NWTF education and outreach staff. Together, they build strong partnerships with sponsors, state and federal agencies, and communities.  

Strong partnerships and support from a wide variety of public and private sponsors ensure that the NWTF can achieve mission delivery. State agencies remain the most significant partners of the NWTF, both in terms of its conservation and hunting heritage efforts. From cooperative staff roles to collaborating on R3 — recruit, retain and reactivate — efforts, partners work together to ensure that participants who want to learn to hunt or participate in shooting sports have both the opportunities and resources.  

For example, this year, the Ohio Division of Natural Resources partnered with the NWTF to host the annual Gene Goodwin Memorial Scholarship Hunt, where the top ten local NWTF scholarship winners from across Ohio gathered for a spring turkey hunt.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife partnered with the NWTF Washington State Chapter for a JAKES Day that welcomed 55 kids and their families for an afternoon of hands-on learning, outdoor discovery and conservation education. 

The NWTF Gem State Chapter partnered with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to host a JAKES Day that welcomed youth ages 7 to 16 to try activities like clay target shooting, rimfire shooting, archery, fly casting and outdoor survival skills.  

The Missouri Governor’s Youth Turkey Hunt was hosted in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the NWTF Missouri State Chapter, and it gave young hunters a weekend full of turkey biology, conservation, and hunting heritage.  These are just a handful of events that exemplify the impact partnerships with state agencies have nationwide. 

NWTF outreach events are also possible through access to federal land. In Illinois, NWTF volunteers partnered with the USDA Forest Service to host a Wheelin’ Sportsmen hunt in the Shawnee National Forest. This partnership extends into conservation, with the NWTF and the Forest Service collaborating to influence more than 5,100 acres of the Shawnee. In Maine, the NWTF Southern Maine Strutters chapter partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to host a habitat planting day. This event was funded in part by L.L Bean.  

Corporate partners like L.L bean play a significant role, too. L.L. Bean has been supporting the NWTF’s education and outreach efforts since 2005. This past year, L.L. Bean provided funding to engage more families across the country with Conservation Field Days, including the NWTF Double Eagle Chapter’s 27th annual JAKES Day and the Washtenaw County Conservationists Chapter’s Conservation Field Day at the Pittsfield Preserve in Michigan. 

The NWTF also partnered with the Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports (CAHSS) and the Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to launch a new Hunt for Good campaign in the Southeast. The two-part marketing campaign aimed at young urban adults will start with a six-week push in the fall and will be followed by a second phase during the 2027 spring turkey season.  

The NWTF has also partnered with Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund, which recently granted the NWTF $350,000 to support conservation delivery, hunting heritage and wild turkey research across the country. 

Through the Outdoor Fund, the NWTF is able to host an inaugural regional training for volunteers that will invite volunteers and collegiate chapters to learn more about how to run grassroots conservation and hunting programs. This includes private-land habitat management, hunting heritage, field archery and hands-on management tours. 

Flexible, community-specific programming is what makes hunting and shooting sports accessible — an event that works in Arizona won't necessarily work in Maine. That mindset has shaped the NWTF's three core outreach programs — JAKES, Wheelin' and WITO — each designed to give people a safe avenue into hunting, fishing or shooting sports. 

At the CAHSS 2026 National R3 Symposium, the NWTF joined the broader conversation on equitable access to hunting opportunities. Morgan Evans, NWTF national R3 and relevancy coordinator, spoke on a panel with representatives from Pheasants and Quail Forever and the National Field Archery Association, sharing NWTF’s nationwide access work. 

“Being a part of the conversation at the R3 Symposium was such an honor, especially since it was about access” Evans said. “Here at the NWTF, we are always working to provide access, not just through recruitment, but also by focusing on the retention and reactivation of hunters. Our volunteers and partners help us with this by providing opportunities for anyone to try in a safe environment.” 

The NWTF’s education and outreach team also works closely with the NWTF policy team to track legislation that could affect hunting access.  

Over the course of the last year, the NWTF’s policy team has been monitoring several pieces of legislation and administrative actions on both a national and regional scale to ensure our hunting heritage is protected.  

Notably, the NWTF is celebrating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2026 and 2027 Refuge-Specific General Public Hunting Conditions, also known as the Hunt-Fish Rule, which were published in August 2026. The Rule opened hunting opportunities across 95% of USFWS refuges and fish hatcheries across the country, which is around 92 million acres of public land that will now be open to hunting and fishing.  

“This is a historic expansion of hunting and fishing opportunities that includes opening 14 new stations to hunting and 1,450 expanded opportunities that total more than 53,000 days of extended opportunity,” said Matt Lindler, NWTF director of government affairs. “[The Rule] also rescinds the lead bans imposed by the previous administrations on the nine refuges opened in 2023 and 2024 and removes the mandatory lead restrictions on all new openings.” 

The NWTF is also celebrating the Trump administration’s recent Reinvigorating America’s Hunting Heritage Executive Order which rolls back red tape that hinders recreational and hunting access on federal lands and expands hunting opportunities. This order also opens the door for the NWTF and its members to help guide the administration through the implementation of this executive order. On a regional scale, there have been several policy wins. In the West, the NWTF was opposed to Oregon’s IP28 Initiative that would have removed long-standing legal exemptions protecting hunting, fishing, trapping and farming from Oregon’s animal abuse statutes. 

In the Northeast, Pennsylvania announced that hunters can legally hunt on Sundays beginning during the 2027 spring turkey season, allowing more hunters the opportunity to get out into the woods.  

NWTF is encouraging experienced hunters to help preserve America’s hunting heritage by taking the Mentor Pledge — a commitment to take a new hunter afield and share safe, ethical traditions of hunting. Mentors who report their hunt to NWTF are entered to win a prize package including Vortex binoculars and a YETI cooler. 

The pledge complements the NWTF’s Mentored Hunts and Learn-to-Hunt Clinics, through which NWTF chapters connect new and novice hunters with experienced mentors. Mentorship matters most for adult-onset hunters and others without a family member to show them the ropes. Research consistently illustrates mentorship, knowledge and access are key to keeping people engaged, often well beyond a single hunt.  

Since the New York NWTF State Chapter launched its own mentorship program this spring, more than 100 mentors have signed up so far. There are still opportunities to participate during the fall hunting seasons, and the program will run until the end of 2026. 

The NWTF is also honored to be a part of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Great American Expedition, a Freedom 250 celebration for America's public lands, waters and the people who care for them. NWTF events planned on DOI lands, whether they are mentored hunts, JAKES, WITO or Wheelin’ Sportsmen events will be featured in a series of media releases.  

Moving forward, the education and outreach team is excited to continue creating resources for volunteers, such as the upcoming inaugural regional training. This follows R3 training seminars that were hosted during NWTF’s national convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Over 100 volunteers attended to share ideas, ask questions and learn more about the R3 movement.  

NWTF staff will continue to add valuable resources for volunteers to help them conduct education and outreach events across the country. Current resources are available here.