Federal Ammunition is continuing its support of the 134-year-old Boone and Crockett Club (B&C) through a Trailblazer in Conservation sponsorship. B&C is the oldest conservation organization in the country, it supports all forms of big-game hunting and recently released its 2025 Poach and Pay research. The program’s webpage includes handouts and posters developed to promote the research and to continue educating the public on the serious impact of game violations.
“We have long known that poaching is a major problem in the United States, but we didn’t truly understand the magnitude of the problem until this Poach and Pay research,” said B&C’s Chief Executive Officer Tony A. Schoonen. “With this defensible assessment, we can clearly describe the conservation cost of poaching and prove that poaching is not a victimless crime—not only do we lose individual wildlife, we are also losing a valuable public resource with a high cost.”
The loss is a lofty one, according to the report’s findings. Only 4 percent of game and fish law violators are caught and cited. The minimum cost of poaching, including the loss of $302.6 million in fines, comes to $1.4 billion annually. Were officials able to replace the wildlife taken illegally every 12 months they’d be writing a check for $1.13 billion.
“Trailblazers in Conservation continues to represent a commitment from industry partners and others that support the mutual interests of science-supported wildlife management and conservation, as well as hunter ethics and advocacy,” commented Federal’s Conservation Director Jon Zinnel. “However, this year, we appreciated the organization’s focus on building more assets to promote the Poach & Pay project. We believe this commitment to finding the real cost of wildlife crimes and helping develop policies that will deter future crimes is essential to show the difference between law-abiding hunters and poachers clearly.”
