This is a three-part series about hunting as a conservation tool.

Conservation is the action of conserving something. It is the preservation, protection or restoration of the environment, natural ecosystems, vegetation and wildlife. Hunting is a tool for conservation.

Say what? Shooting deer, elk and turkey is conservation. Well, yes, but there is much more to the idea.

Here are some figures from the National Shooting Sports Foundation:

In 1901, few ducks remained. Thanks to hunters’ efforts to restore and conserve wetlands, today there are more than 44 million ducks.

In 1937, hunters actually requested an 11 percent tax on firearms and ammo, and later for bows and arrows to help fund conservation.

In 1950, only 12,000 pronghorns, the animals many of us call antelope, remained. Thanks to hunters, today there are more than 1.1 million.

In 1900, only 100,000 wild turkeys remained. Thanks to hunters, today there are over 7 million. Dennis note: Some would say, 6.5 million live in Northeast Washington.

Today’s hunters and conservation

It is easy to see how hunters have helped the populations of various wildlife, even the species we don’t hunt. When a wildlife habitat area is established, it helps the song birds and other critters we don’t hunt.

Turkeys are not native to this state. They were introduced and have established a viable population. Wild turkeys are a great example of hunters helping with conservation. The figures above show how many we have today, thanks to hunters’ efforts.

Today Washington hunters can notch several turkey tags each year, six in Eastern Washington. If the population of a species of game animal or bird is expanding to the point they are damaging crops or otherwise become a problem, give the hunters another tag to help control the population.

The bag limit for turkey in the beginning was one tom. The early fall general turkey season allows the taking of three birds in some units. Two of the birds must be hens and the last can be either sex.

Some landowners are given kill tags to get rid of more birds. A hunting partner and I counted a flock of 300 turkeys two years ago, which demonstrates the population numbers.