Block Targets, a FeraDyne Outdoors subsidiary, unveiled the Block Backyard Range Target, a 34" x 34" dual-sided archery target designed for long-range practice, bow tuning, and backyard competition. Built with layered foam technology, it accommodates field points and broadheads while featuring built-in aiming T's and a dartboard game side for versatile shooting.

CZ and Guns.com are launching a benefit auction on June 16 featuring a restored 1935 CZ 175 motorcycle and new CZ 75 Legend pistol to support Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. (C.O.P.S.), a nonprofit serving families of fallen law enforcement officers.

Guns.com and CZ launched a benefit auction featuring a restored 1935 CZ 175 motorcycle and CZ 75 Legend pistol to support C.O.P.S., a nonprofit serving families of fallen law enforcement officers. All proceeds benefit the organization's mission across 53 nationwide chapters.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved acquisition of a 370-acre property in Goshen County to enhance the Table Mountain WHMA. The parcel includes 84 acres of water rights and will expand wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities while maintaining agricultural production in the area.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is urging residents to exercise extreme caution during outdoor activities due to elevated wildfire risk across northern Michigan. With high to very high fire danger ratings, limited rainfall expected, and low moisture levels in vegetation, the DNR has suspended burn permits in the northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula.

By order of the Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission, Black Bear Management Unit 440 is closed to all black bear hunting effective one-half hour after sunset on Monday, June 1, 2026.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department reminds hunters that applications for 2026 fall hunt permit-tags for deer, turkey, javelina, bighorn sheep, bison, and sandhill crane are due by Tuesday, June 2 at 11:59 p.m. Applicants must have a valid hunting license and their Customer ID ready when applying at draw.azgfd.com.

NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, is promoting Gun Storage Check Week June 1–7 with the message "Make Sure It's Secure" to encourage responsible firearm storage practices. The campaign aims to prevent accidents, thefts, suicides, and unauthorized access, offering resources through GunStorageCheck.org and a sweepstakes featuring a B.O.S. Lock Fusion biometric device.

Rock River Arms, founded by brothers Mark and Chuck Larson in 1994, celebrates 30 years of American firearms manufacturing in 2026. The Illinois-based company evolved from custom 1911 components to producing AR-platform rifles and innovative systems like the LAR-9, LAR-8, and LAR-47, maintaining its commitment to precision and performance.

Crow Wholesale's exclusively distributed Challenger and Clever ammunition brands earned top five positions in Scope DLX's 2026 shotshell market share analysis. The rankings highlight growing momentum among clay target shooters, hunters, and retailers seeking dependable performance and competitive value.

Legacy1846 Outdoor Group, based in Aurora, Ohio, is hiring a Controller to oversee financial operations across its portfolio of businesses including sales and marketing services, digital marketing and commerce, and global sourcing operations. CEO Andrew Sibble seeks an experienced financial leader to support the company's growth initiatives.

Orion Wholesale, a fast-growing hunting and shooting sports distributor based in Jeffersonville, Indiana, is hiring an experienced Sales Trainer to develop and implement comprehensive training programs for their expanding sales team. The position offers a salary of $65,000-$75,000 annually with relocation reimbursement available.

The Wild Sheep Foundation and its chapters pledged $213,500 at their summit to combat cheatgrass invasion in Wyoming's Mullen Fire burn scar, protecting the Douglas Creek bighorn sheep herd. The funding supports habitat restoration efforts targeting approximately 12,000 acres through 2028, with support from multiple WSF chapters including Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation, Texas Bighorn Society, and Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society.

The Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundation (OSCF) is hosting the Ultimate Louisiana Duck Hunt for Conservation to celebrate America250, offering $20,000 in prizes from sponsors including Lipsey's, Beretta, Grosse Savanne, Winchester Safes, Aerial Resupply Coffee, Avian-X, and Fiocchi Ammunition. Proceeds support OSCF's mission to connect the outdoor community with the next generation of hunters, anglers, trappers, and shooters.

FFLGuard and Gearfire announced a strategic partnership combining firearms compliance leadership with eCommerce and retail technology solutions. The collaboration will integrate FFLGuard's compliance expertise with Gearfire's AXIS Point of Sale platform and RetailBI reporting to support Federal Firearms Licensees nationwide through educational initiatives and operational best practices.

SHIELD Sights announced its 2026 consumer promotion offering up to 25% off its entire product line at participating dealers from June 1 through July 5, 2026. The UK-designed and manufactured micro red dot optics promotion aims to help shooters prepare for peak shooting season.

Silencer Central partnered with BANISH to launch the Ameri-CAN 250 Giveaway, featuring five custom-engraved suppressors honoring American historical figures and Mount Rushmore. The promotion runs through July 6, 2026, and includes a $150 rebate offer on select BANISH and Dead Air suppressors.

Beretta USA will sponsor the Super Sporting competition at the 2026 NSCA Southeast Regional Championship at Quail Creek Sporting Ranch in Okeechobee, FL, June 2-7. Attendees can experience Beretta's premium shotguns including the 694 Black DLC, DT11 Super Sport, SL2, AX800 Suprema, and A400 L Sporting, while watching Team Beretta athletes Anthony Matarese Jr., Joe Fanizzi, Desirae Edmunds, Zachary Kienbaum, and Diane Sorantino compete.

Burris Optics announced a partnership with Coyote Down, a popular YouTube channel focused on predator hunting. Coyote Down host Josh Shepherd and his family will exclusively use Burris optics, including the Eliminator 6 riflescope, with content rolling out across YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook throughout the year.

Southeast Michigan students can participate in free outdoor learning programs this summer through the DNR's Stepping Stones program and Detroit Outdoors partnerships. Programs include the Harsens Island Research Adventure at Algonac State Park, Pigeon River State Forest Camping Trip supported by B.O.A.T., and the Outdoor Adventure Center Teen City Explorers Day Camp featuring collaborations with Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and Detroit Parks and Recreation.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Allegan County Parks, Recreation and Tourism invite the public to a guided lupine bloom and Karner blue butterfly walk at Allegan State Game Area on June 6. Participants will explore Michigan's rare oak savanna habitat and learn about the federally endangered Karner blue butterfly from a DNR wildlife biologist.

Outdoor Channel's "American Wild" block launches every Friday at 7 p.m. ET, featuring shows including Renovation Hunters with Hal Shaffer and Kevin Tarkovich, Nick's Wild Ride with Nick Hoffman, Dropped: Arctic Drift with the Keefer Brothers, Dr. Bob's Wild Diaries with Dr. Bob Ledda, Wardens, and Wardens: Case Files showcasing conservation officers and game wardens.

The High Road with Keith Warren releases a new episode featuring host Keith Warren and co-host Johnny Piazza hunting Spanish Goats with Angry Goat Outfitters in northwest Texas. The episode follows the San Angelo Safari Club International Banquet and showcases an unusual free-range archery hunt in rugged West Texas terrain.

For years, many of America’s largest sportsmen’s organizations and media brands have carefully cultivated the image that they stand above politics. They present themselves as guardians of conservation, wildlife habitat, public lands, and the future of hunting and fishing traditions — principled, nonpartisan voices focused solely on what is best for sportsmen and women.

But over time, their actions have revealed something very different.

The pattern has become impossible to ignore. Whenever Republicans accomplish something meaningful for hunters, anglers, recreational shooters, or public lands access, many of these organizations suddenly go quiet. Press releases disappear. Social media outrage evaporates. Fundraising emails dry up. The “urgent calls to action” stop altogether. Organizations that claim to represent sportsmen nationwide somehow cannot muster the enthusiasm to acknowledge policies that materially benefit the very people they supposedly exist to serve.

Yet the moment a controversy emerges that can be used against Republicans, those same groups spring into action with remarkable speed and coordination.

The latest example could not illustrate the double standard more clearly. This week, the Department of the Interior announced what it described as the largest expansion of hunting and fishing opportunities in the history of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The proposal would open or expand more than 1,450 hunting and fishing opportunities across 111 stations in 32 states within the National Wildlife Refuge System. If implemented, more than 92 million acres — over 95 percent of refuge lands and waters — would be available for hunting and fishing access.

That is not symbolic politics. That is tangible access for sportsmen.

Access remains one of the biggest issues facing hunters and anglers today. Declining access is routinely cited as a major reason participation in hunting and fishing continues to erode. Without places to hunt, fish, shoot, and recreate, outdoor traditions eventually disappear. It really is that simple. Expanding access on this scale should have been celebrated across the sporting community regardless of party affiliation.

Instead, many of the loudest voices in the outdoor advocacy world responded with little more than silence.

The reason is obvious: the policy came from Republicans.

Had the exact same announcement been issued under a Democratic administration, many of these organizations would already be flooding inboxes with celebratory fundraising appeals while producing hype videos praising the achievement as a landmark victory for conservation and public access. Outdoor media outlets aligned with the activist wing of the industry would be applauding the administration’s “historic leadership” on behalf of hunters and anglers.

But when Republicans deliver measurable results for sportsmen, many organizations suddenly become incapable of acknowledging success where it exists. That silence says more than any carefully worded mission statement ever could. For a growing number of groups operating under the sportsmen’s banner, the mission is no longer centered first on sportsmen. The mission is politics.

The evidence has accumulated for years. Consider how aggressively many outdoor organizations mobilized around the recent public lands sell-off controversy. The response was immediate and hysterical. Fundraising operations kicked into overdrive. Dire warnings spread across social media. Activists portrayed the issue as an existential threat to America’s hunting and fishing heritage. Anyone watching the rhetoric unfold would have thought Yellowstone National Park itself was moments away from being bulldozed.

Now compare that reaction to the response surrounding the largest expansion of hunting and fishing access in modern history.

Crickets.

The same dynamic played out with the Boundary Waters mining controversy in Minnesota. According to many activist organizations, the proposed mine represented an imminent environmental apocalypse. The issue became politically useful because it combined emotionally charged imagery with a convenient villain. Never mind that the mine faced massive regulatory hurdles and likely was never going to move forward in the catastrophic form critics portrayed. Never mind that nuanced conversations about domestic mineral production, jobs, supply chains, and realistic environmental safeguards were discarded in favor of simplistic slogans and apocalyptic messaging.

The outrage itself became the product.

That increasingly appears to be the business model for many modern advocacy organizations: identify a boogeyman, manufacture urgency, raise money, repeat. And Republicans make particularly useful villains because much of the outdoor nonprofit ecosystem now exists culturally and politically adjacent to broader progressive activist networks. Their staffs, consultants, media allies, and donors often overlap with left-leaning political circles. While these organizations insist they are “nonpartisan,” their behavior frequently tells another story.

None of this means every concern raised by these groups is illegitimate. Public lands matter. Conservation matters. Wildlife habitat matters. Responsible oversight matters. Hunters and anglers absolutely should remain vigilant when it comes to protecting access and preserving natural resources.

But vigilance is not the same thing as reflexive partisan opposition.

If an organization truly exists to represent sportsmen, the standard should be simple: praise good policies regardless of party and criticize bad policies regardless of party. Instead, what sportsmen increasingly see is selective outrage driven less by principle than by politics.

When Democrats restrict domestic energy development, expand federal bureaucracy, support gun control initiatives, or impose regulations that negatively impact sporting traditions, many organizations either tread lightly or remain conspicuously silent. Some even contort themselves into defending policies that plainly undermine the interests of hunters, shooters, and rural communities.

Yet when Republicans stumble — or are merely accused of stumbling — the response becomes all-consuming outrage theater.

That inconsistency erodes credibility. Worse, it reveals that many organizations have evolved from advocacy groups into partisan actors wrapped in camouflage branding. They are no longer simply conservation groups; they are political operations. And like all political operations, they require enemies to survive. Fear drives donations. Crisis drives engagement. Villains drive clicks.

A Republican administration expanding hunting and fishing access across 92 million acres is not useful to that model because it disrupts the preferred narrative. It complicates the simplistic storyline that one political party perpetually threatens the outdoors while the other nobly protects it.

Reality has always been far more complicated than that.

Republicans have often delivered major victories for sportsmen, particularly regarding Second Amendment protections, hunting rights, recreational access, and resisting federal overreach that limits outdoor participation. Democrats, meanwhile, have frequently championed conservation funding, habitat restoration, and public land acquisition. Neither party owns conservation, and neither party owns sportsmen.

But many advocacy organizations increasingly behave as though only one side deserves credit while the other deserves permanent suspicion. That is not principled advocacy. It is partisan branding disguised as conservation.

Sportsmen should ask themselves a straightforward question: if these groups were truly focused first and foremost on outcomes, wouldn’t they enthusiastically celebrate the largest expansion of hunting and fishing access in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service history? Wouldn’t they recognize the significance of opening millions of acres to public use? Wouldn’t they acknowledge the officials who delivered measurable results for hunters and anglers?

Apparently not, because doing so would interfere with the political script.

At some point, sportsmen and the outdoor brands that financially support these organizations need to recognize what many of these groups have become. Increasingly, they resemble carnival barkers for perpetual outrage — roaming from controversy to controversy sounding alarms, cultivating fear, and raising money while carefully avoiding any acknowledgment that might politically benefit the wrong people. Their interest often seems less focused on practical outcomes than on maintaining a permanent state of emotional mobilization among their supporters.

Meanwhile, too many outdoor companies continue funding this ecosystem without asking whether these organizations genuinely reflect the priorities of their customers. Hunters and anglers are not ideological monoliths. Most care deeply about conservation and public access, but they also care about firearm rights, affordable energy, rural economies, reasonable regulation, and preserving traditional outdoor lifestyles without constant political litmus tests.

Many sportsmen are growing tired of being treated as foot soldiers in broader partisan battles disguised as conservation campaigns.

What hunters and anglers actually need are organizations willing to apply standards consistently. If Republicans propose genuinely harmful public lands policies, criticize them. If Democrats support restrictions that undermine sporting traditions or constitutional rights, criticize them too. If either party expands access, improves habitat, protects wildlife populations, or delivers tangible benefits for sportsmen, acknowledge it honestly.

That should not be controversial.

But honesty becomes difficult when outrage has become institutionalized.

The Department of the Interior’s historic access expansion should have been a unifying moment for the sporting community. Regardless of political affiliation, opening more opportunities for hunting and fishing is objectively good for participation, recruitment, and the long-term future of America’s outdoor traditions.

Instead, the muted response from many prominent organizations revealed something else entirely. It revealed who is truly focused on sportsmen — and who is simply playing politics in blaze orange.

– Chris Dorsey

Chris Dorsey is a 30-year media veteran and conservation thought leader who is the founding partner of Dorsey Pictures, a Global 100 Production Studio, and Mission Partners Entertainment Group, a leading IMAX/giant screen natural history producer.