SCI Advocacy Team 2025 End-of-Year Report

2025 will be a “year to remember” for new hunting opportunities.  In Florida, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission green-lit a black bear hunt for the first time in a decade—a milestone SCI helped make possible.  SCI’s state advocacy team was instrumental from start to finish: in guiding SCI Foundation’s biologist and SCI volunteers who served on the Commission’s technical advisory group, rallying members in support, testifying twice in person, and driving media engagement.  SCI’s legal team successfully defended the hunt in court, helping defeat an attempted injunction just days before the season opened.  This hunt represents a critical step in managing Florida’s booming bear population and reducing the nation’s second‑highest rate of human‑bear conflicts.

But Florida was not the only state to see new opportunities.  Hunters in Connecticut and Pennsylvania gained new days afield thanks to SCI’s years‑long push for the opening of Sunday hunting.  SCI President Jeff Meyerl and his grandson were among the first to seize the opportunity—contributing to state wildlife management objectives, especially for managing white-tailed deer.

SCI published our Priorities for the New Administration in January 2025.  We were hopeful but unsure of what to expect.  Twelve months later, SCI’s Advocacy team can report momentum on seven major policy areas, along with progress on ten of thirty‑four specific implementation steps.  The Department of the Interior has shown a strong commitment to conservation through hunting, and we plan to build on that progress in 2026.

We continue to press key regulatory reforms. We are still waiting for a response to our petition requesting a long‑overdue update to Endangered Species Act implementation regulations to reduce barriers to international conservation efforts.

In addition, following the decision of the 184 Parties to CITES to delist the bontebok, SCI petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the species from the Endangered Species Act as well—another important step toward reducing trade restrictions that impede conservation.

SCI made real progress on key legislative priorities in 2025.  In May, SCI’s Advocacy team hosted the largest “Lobby Day” in SCI history, bringing over 100 members to Washington, DC, to meet with lawmakers and advocate for suppressor deregulation, wolf and grizzly bear delisting, and ESA reform.

Those efforts have paid off.  One of SCI’s top priorities, gray wolf delisting, passed the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote.  SCI is now working with our champions in the Senate to get a vote in that chamber.  Three of our top priorities—grizzly bear delisting, traditional ammunition protections, and comprehensive ESA reform—have cleared the House Natural Resources Committee and await a full House vote.  Another item, deregulation of suppressors, advanced when the reconciliation bill eliminated the $200 excise tax.  And SCI staff provided expert testimony in a Congressional subcommittee on another priority: reforming the Equal Access to Justice Act.

The Hunters’ Embassy continues to draw Congressional staff and Members of Congress, as well as industry partners and other dignitaries.

Our “Lunch and Learn” program has become a cornerstone of engagement by offering a monthly educational program on issues of conservation concern, frequently taught by industry experts.  In 2025, topics included: ESA delisting to public lands access (with the Public Lands Council), the Wildlife Habitat Recovery Credit (with Wildlife Mississippi), regulation of suppressors (with American Suppressor Association), state wildlife management (with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies), Equal Access to Justice Act reform (with Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation), and U.S. regulation of foreign species.  Attendance for these programs has swelled from 20 to nearly 70 lunch attendees.  These educational efforts led directly to Advocacy staff testifying before a House Subcommittee on EAJA reform—proof that our outreach drives real policy impact.

We also extend our thanks to the many Members of Congress who visited the Hunters’ Embassy in 2025.  From fundraisers to receptions, we welcomed hunting champions from around the country, representing both chambers.  These Members have celebrated alongside Ambassadors, key Department of the Interior staff, and state wildlife agency directors—strengthening relationships that foster pro-hunting conservation policies.  We look forward to many more events in 2026!

In 2025, SCI launched the Center for Conservation Law and Education, a 501(c)(3) organization designed to unify our litigation and education missions.  Support surged from both members and non‑members, fueling high‑impact legal efforts nationwide.  For more information or to donate to the Center for Conservation Law and Education, please visit https://ccle.safariclub.org/

SCI’s Legal Advocacy team secured eight victories in (or outside of) state and federal courts.  In addition to preserving Florida’s black bear hunt, we helped preserve access to non-resident brown bear tags in Alaska.  We defended hunting rights on private property in Maryland.  We safeguarded the confidentiality of hunter data in Texas.  And we defended science-based wildlife management in Colorado.  Three additional cases successfully concluded through settlement or the withdrawal of harmful agency rules by the National Park Service and Department of Labor.

We faced two defeats.  First, a Montana federal court ruled against SCI and partners in a case seeking to put gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains back under federal management.  The decision came as no surprise, and we are optimistic about the chances of a full reversal on appeal.  Second, SCI’s Benelux Chapter challenged a trophy import ban adopted by the Belgian legislature.  Belgium’s Constitutional Court dismissed this challenge, finding the import restrictions did not infringe on constitutional rights.  While also a disappointment, each setback has sharpened our strategy and strengthened our resolve.  An appeal of the wolf case and continued advocacy is already underway.

Beyond expanding new hunting opportunities, SCI’s advocacy efforts have helped ensure that decisions by state legislatures and agencies were grounded in science and not emotion.  Through testimony, grassroots advocacy, and education, we helped defeat a proposed ban on the use of traditional lead ammunition in Maryland—a mandate that would have hindered deer and coyote management and severely restricted hunting access in the state.

We also helped advance responsible predator management nationally by originating and supporting a key resolution adopted by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

And SCI successfully pushed back against state restrictions on Second Amendment rights and imports of African wildlife products, including defeating New York’s “Big Five African Trophies Ban” for another year.

Internationally, SCI’s intervention in Newfoundland prompted a full environmental review for a proposed wind project that threatened caribou, moose, and other wildlife: a meaningful win for habitat protection and Newfoundland’s hunting industry.

SCI’s International Advocacy team experienced tremendous growth in 2025.  We welcomed a new Africa Liaison to provide technical assistance and promote hunting and sustainable-use conservation in national governments and international meetings.  He is based in SCI and SCI Foundation’s newly opened South African office, a strategic hub for conservation issues.  We also significantly increased our collaboration with the Southern African Development Community in advance of the CITES Conference of the Parties.  And we deepened relationships with professional hunting associations across southern Africa, Canada, and New Zealand through our new Guide and Outfitter Liaison, who attended the Annual General Meetings of these organizations.

In Canada, SCI co‑founded the Canada Wildlife Conservation Partners, a coalition that rapidly expanded beyond its four founding organizations to build a unified national voice for sustainable use and conservation.

SCI has also seen progress in Europe.  The European Union, driven by concerns about predation impacts, changed the wolf’s status from “strictly protected” to “protected” under the Bern Convention and Habitats Directive—allowing for more flexible management of wolves and signifying that our educational efforts and engagement are shifting perspectives.

SCI’s Women Go Hunting (WGH) initiative continues to energize female hunters and hunting supporters through events, contests, and communications.  For the first time in 2025, WGH hosted a “Learn to Hunt” program at Legends Ranch.  Six attendees won their places at the WGH sweepstakes conducted at convention; eight were SCI employees.  Four monthly WGH Newsletters have been sent to a growing list of 900+ women, promoting the SCI Convention and encouraging women to participate in hunting opportunities.  And online engagement continues to expand.  The SCI Women Go Hunting Facebook Group is approaching 600 members.