“You could be shooting with someone from Wisconsin, or you could be shooting with someone from Fayetteville, Indiana. You never know. I just love it!”
That sentiment came from an excited young archer, one of 15,000 participants competing at the 2025 National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) National Tournament in Louisville, Ky., which is among the largest archery gatherings in the world.
In addition to its ongoing conservation work, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has invested heavily in NASP, contributing to 340 projects in 37 states, with a direct investment of $434,045 that leveraged $1,761,344 in partner dollars. Furthermore, over the years RMEF has contributed more than $1.8 million in hunting heritage funding to about 800 school-based projects safely teaching shooting sports, leveraging $5.7 million in partner matching funds.
In the fall of 2023, RMEF and its members sent more than 8,200 messages to Capitol Hill to restore federal funding to schools that include archery and hunter education in their curriculums.
NASP also receives funding support from the Pittman-Robertson Act (P-R), legislation passed in 1937 that has since generated more than $17 billion doled out by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to state wildlife agencies to benefit conservation, public access and public recreational opportunities, including hunting and shooting programs.
“It’s a self-sustaining system. Manufacturers pay excise taxes on the equipment that they produce and provide public opportunity at firearm ranges, wildlife management areas and things of that sort,” said Dan Stoelb, USFWS biologist.
Click here to watch a video.
(Video credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)