The Sportsmen's Voice | Hunting, Fishing and Conservation Advocacy with Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation

A major win for hunters in Tennessee collides with rising policy fights over hunting, trapping, and outdoor traditions nationwide. Momentum for hunting and fishing access continues across the country, but not without resistance. This week’s roundup breaks down the policy battles shaping the future of the outdoors, from hunter education in schools to constitutional protections for hunting and fishi...

A high-stakes fight over Sunday hunting reveals how policy decisions shape opportunity for hunters nationwide. Access to the outdoors often hinges on legislation. In Maryland, the long-running debate over Sunday hunting is back in the spotlight, and the outcome could shape hunting opportunity for thousands of sportsmen. Fred sits down with Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation Kaleigh Leager to bre...

A radical ballot initiative could criminalize hunting, fishing, and farming across Oregon overnight. A sweeping ballot proposal in Oregon is raising alarm across the hunting, fishing, and agricultural communities. Initiative Petition 28, known as IP 28, would remove long-standing legal exemptions within the state’s animal abuse statutes. Those exemptions currently protect lawful activities such as...

A billion-dollar salmon fishery hangs in the balance as Pebble Mine resurfaces. The long-running fight over the proposed Bristol Bay mine is back in the national spotlight, and hunters and anglers should be paying attention. At the center of the debate is the Pebble Mine, a massive open-pit mining project slated for the headwaters of the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon run. For decades, Bristo...

A sweeping ballot initiative could outlaw hunting, fishing, and wildlife management in Oregon. Oregon’s IP 28 is more than another anti-hunting proposal. It is a direct attempt to eliminate exemptions within the state’s animal cruelty statutes, effectively banning hunting, angling, trapping, ranching practices, and even common wildlife management tools. If passed, the measure would restrict predat...

A decades-long fight ends, opening new opportunity for hunters across Pennsylvania.   Pennsylvania has officially expanded Sunday hunting, marking one of the most significant conservation policy wins in the Northeast. After years of stalled efforts and narrow defeats, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation along with the Pennsylvania Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Members, the Pennsylvania Game Comm...

Longer red snapper seasons could transform South Atlantic fishing opportunities this year. Momentum is building for South Atlantic red snapper anglers from Florida to North Carolina. After years of frustrating two-day federal seasons, state-led data collection reforms may finally open the door to significantly expanded access. Florida is requesting a 39-day season, while Georgia, South Carolina, a...

The fight for hunting heritage is happening in classrooms and state capitols. The future of hunting, fishing, and America’s outdoor traditions depends on more than recruitment. It hinges on smart conservation policy, access to quality land, and educating the next generation about their role on the landscape. Leaders from the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation break down proactive legislation sha...

Wildlife policy battles are reshaping hunting access, conservation funding, and forest management nationwide. Fred breaks down the most consequential conservation news impacting hunters, anglers, and the broader outdoors community. From prestigious recognition in the hunting world to legislative fights that could redefine wildlife management, this conversation goes beyond headlines and into what i...

License fees, fish hatcheries, and hunter education collide in Michigan’s high-stakes conservation debate. Michigan’s outdoor heritage runs on a model many hunters and anglers take for granted: user-funded conservation. Michigan DNR Deputy Director Shannon Lott and State Senator John Bumstead pull back the curtain on how hunting and fishing license dollars actually keep fisheries stocked, wildlife...

From classrooms to statehouses, the future of hunting access is being decided right now. State legislatures are moving fast, and the decisions being made right now will shape hunting and fishing access for decades. This nationwide conservation roundup breaks down the most important policy fights affecting sportsmen and women, from the Southeast to the Great Plains. The conversation opens with Tenn...

Behind closed doors, lawmakers decide the future of hunting, fishing, and access to public lands.   Host Fred Bird sits down with a panel of seasoned policy experts to unpack one of the most consequential issues facing hunters and anglers today: the fight over public lands and wildlife management. This isn’t surface-level debate—it’s a clear-eyed look at how decisions are actually made, who influe...

A once-in-a-generation vote could decide the future of hunting, fishing, and wildlife management in New Hampshire.   Across the country, hunting and fishing traditions face mounting pressure from declining participation and well-funded opposition. In New Hampshire, that reality has sparked a pivotal effort to amend the state constitution and permanently secure the right to hunt, fish, and trap usi...

Behind the scenes of fisheries policy shaping how anglers fish, access bait, and protect opportunity nationwide. Live bait fishing, artificial reef habitat, and red snapper seasons are some of the big flashpoints of the day shaping the future of recreational angling. Fisheries leaders from the American Sportfishing Association and conservation policy experts sit down with Sportsmen’s Voice host Fr...

Momentum matters in outdoor policy, and this week’s roundup captures how quickly access, conservation, and sporting rights can shift. The conversation opens with live congressional action around the EXPLORE Act, one of the most comprehensive outdoor recreation laws in decades. With implementation now underway, hunters and recreational shooters get a clearer look at how federal land agencies may be...

Are drones redefining ethical hunting, or quietly eroding fair chase traditions across America?   Modern hunting and fishing live at the intersection of tradition and technology; and few debates expose that tension like drones in the field. Corey Mason, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Conservation for the Wild Sheep Foundation and CSF Board Member, sits down with Sportsmen’...

What happens when offshore rigs become thriving fisheries and why lawmakers are finally paying attention. Kicking off 2026, The Sportsmen’s Voice Roundup goes straight to Capitol Hill for a timely update on one of the most important fisheries conservation tools in the country: the Rigs to Reefs program. Fresh off congressional testimony, Chris Horton, CSF's Sr. Director of Fisheries Policy, breaks...

How bipartisan state leaders quietly protect hunting, fishing access, and outdoor traditions nationwide.   The NASC Summit isn’t just another legislative conference—it’s where policy concepts and strategies to shape the future of hunting, fishing, and outdoor access are developed. In this episode of The Sportsmen’s Voice, host Fred Bird takes listeners inside the 2025 NASC Summit in Memphis, Tenne...

Behind the scenes of 2025’s biggest federal decisions shaping access, seasons, and the future of hunting and fishing. As the final feature episode of 2025, this conversation takes a clear-eyed look at how federal policy quietly shaped the year for hunters, anglers, and public-land users nationwide. Host Fred Bird sits down with Chris Horton, Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation Sr. Director of Fis...

Michigan just changed how the next generation learns to hunt and it could reshape hunting nationwide. In this year-end edition of The Sportsmen’s Voice Roundup, Fred Bird delivers a concise but consequential policy update for hunters, anglers, and public-lands advocates across the country. The headline story comes out of Michigan, where legislation to allow hunter education in schools has passed b...

What happens when common-sense hearing protection collides with outdated laws and misinformation?   Suppressors have quietly become one of the most misunderstood and transformative tools in modern hunting, and this week Fred sits down from NASC with Knox Williams, President of the American Suppressor Association and Brent Miller to unpack what the removal of the federal suppressor tax means for hu...

Major changes in hunting access, fisheries policy, and fall opportunities every outdoorsman should hear. This week’s TSV Roundup delivers a packed briefing on the biggest conservation and policy developments shaping hunting, fishing, and outdoor access across the country. We open with Massachusetts’ sweeping new gun laws—and what those changes mean for hunters, sportsmen, and future access on Bay...

Major wins for wildlife management and new hunting opportunities highlight a pivotal week for outdoorsmen. This week’s Sportsmen’s Voice Roundup covers one of the most encouraging conservation wins of the year. Fred opens with a deep dive into Washington’s wolf-management shakeup, where a court dismissed a lawsuit that blocked lethal removal authority during active livestock depredations. CSF’s As...

A groundbreaking new film exposes the real fight shaping America’s wild places—and every hunter should hear this. In this feature edition of The Sportsmen’s Voice, Fred Bird sits down with filmmaker and conservation advocate Tom Opre to break down The Real Yellowstone—a revealing new documentary that dives straight into the conflicts shaping modern wildlife management, ranching, predator recovery,...

From California’s new firearm restrictions to reef fish recovery and deer disease alerts—this week’s roundup covers it all. Host Fred Bird breaks down the latest hunting, fishing, and conservation headlines shaping the outdoor community. Broadcasting from deer camp in New Hampshire, Fred covers California’s controversial Assembly Bill 1127, what many are calling a backdoor striker-fired handgun ba...