Louisiana Wildlife Federation has introduced a program in Louisiana to increase collegiate hunter participation by recruiting hunters, retaining them, and reactivating hunters with little experience. Academics Afield is being established at LSU in cooperation with the LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources. The program will recruit and introduce 10 sophomores and juniors on firearms safety, hunting opportunity, game biology/ecology, hunting tactics, all culminating in 4 mentored hunts.
Academics Afield focuses on a new generation of ethical hunters with a vested interest in conservation and sustainable harvest. The program seeks to build a community of skilled peers who become avid hunters and lifetime conservationists.
A report from North Carolina State University in the Journal for Wildlife Management offers encouraging survey results on the interest in hunting among college age students from diverse backgrounds. Read the article here: The Next Generation of Hunters Could Look Different | NC State News (ncsu.edu)
Georgia Wildlife Federation created the program model for Academics Afield and is expanding the program via a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Grant Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Elijah Wojohn, a senior at LSU, is LWF’s Academics Afield Coordinator.
