March giveaway from NRA Hunters Rights upgrades your aim with riflescope

Every month, the staff up in NRAHuntersRights.org comes up with a great giveaway for their ever devoted readers. Last month, it was Bushnell's “The Truth” laser rangefinder. This month? How about a Panorama EV 4-12x50 from Hawke Sport Optics?

Usually found on the store shelves for $249.99, the Hawke Panorama EV is something every shooter out there can use. Here's the rundown from NRAHuntersRights.org:

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NRAHuntersRights.org giving away a Side Focus 4-16x44 Riflescope

Fairfax, Virginia - In the final month of the year, about halfway through to be exact, and you haven't entered the NRAHuntersRights.org giveaway?

What are you waiting for?

Seems the boys upstairs decided to close out the year with a real winner. All it took was a couple of phone calls to their friends over at Hawke Sports Optics and next thing you know, there's a brand new Hawke Varmint Side Focus 4-16x44 in the mailroom.

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More then a million youngsters learn the hunting basics with NRA

NRA YHEC Reaching Kids in the Heartland

After years of declines, the number of hunters in the United States is once again increasing.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, the number of hunters nationwide increased by 9 percent—from 12.5 million to 13.7 million—between 2006 and 2011. During that same time period, the number of youth hunters also increased from 1.6 million to 1.8 million participants—a 13 percent jump.

Similarly, between 2008 and 2009, the USFWS reported a 3.6 percent increase in hunting license sales nationally—the largest year-over-year increase since 1974.

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Have a shot to win a Benjamin Trail XL 1100 air rifle from the NRA

Fairfax, Virginia - Almost halfway through November and it's time to get on the NRAHuntersRights.org giveaway bandwagon! This month, we've got a special from Crosman Corporation — the Benjamin Trail NP XL1100 air rifle.

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Has the funding of public ranges been put into question?

Above is a picture of the Belfast Wildlife Area rifle range in Kindards, South Carolina. Belfast was the first public unmanned shooting range opened and paid for completely with funds raised by NRA Grants and the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program ... an act made possible through Pittman-Robertson grants.

Several other state Natural Resource Departments (Georgia and West Virginia to name a few) have followed suit. Opening such facilities throughout the United States provides hunters and shooters with a convenient, low cost location to sight in their firearms and get in some long needed trigger time. Now that may be in jeopardy.

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Fairfax, Virginia - Only a week into October and there's so much to do. Start stocking up on goodies for the trick-or-treaters, unpack the coats and sweaters for the chilly temperatures to come and find out what NRAHuntersRights.org is giving away for the their monthly prize.

Fresh on the heels of handing out a Bushnell HuntTrack GPS to one Greg O’Connor of Harvard, Illinois, they go back to the Bushnells well for a Trophy Cam HD.

So what does the Trophy Cam HD do for you? Plenty.

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Win a Bushnell HuntTrack GPS and never be lost on the Hunt

Fairfax, Virginia - As September's weather turns from warm to chilled, it's time to remind everyone about the NRAHuntersRights.org monthly giveaway. This time, the prize comes from the good people over at Bushnell. I know, I know, you're thinking Bushnell so you're thinking scope. Well you'd be thinking wrong.

The right thought would be the HuntTrack GPS device. Not sure what that is? Let me roll it out for you:

Your a hunter of routine. Park in the same location, set up in the same collection of tree stands, honker down outside the same hog hole. So why do you need a GPS? Plenty of reasons.

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After injuries in Afghanistan, solider regains focus through hunting

NRAHuntersrights.org correspondent Tron Peterson tells the story of Dustin: a Wounded Warrior who found a calling through his love of hunting:

When Spc. Dustin Morrison woke up on the morning of April 11, 2011, he had no idea that his life was about to change forever.

Dustin, an infantryman with Company B, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Division, had joined the Iowa National Guard when he was 17 years old. In late October 2010, his unit was deployed to Afghanistan. Their job was to provide full-spectrum operations in a combat theater, including lethal and non-lethal capabilities, support to Afghan National Army and Police units, as well as assistance to humanitarian relief initiatives.

On the morning of April 11, Dustin and his unit expected it would be business as usual. They loaded up in the MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle) and headed out on a mission in the Paktia Province of eastern Afghanistan. The mood in the MRAP was tense. Everyone was focused on the mission and what they were trained to do. The sound of the loud diesel engine filled their ears as the vehicle moved steadily along the dirt road. The smell of wood smoke and the stench of the city penetrated their nostrils.

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Think you can follow animal tracks while on the hunt? These kids at NRA's YHEC competition can!

NRAHuntersrights.org correspondent Justin McDaniel was in Pennsylvania this year for the 2012 Youth Hunter Education Challenge. Here's his report on the Wildlife Identification stage of the competition:

Mansfield, Pennsylvania - Identifying a gray squirrel, raccoon or Canada goose sounds pretty easy, right?

Most hunters—and even non-hunters—know what these animals look like.

But what if you were given 30 specimens and asked to identify them all by just their skulls, pelts, wings or tracks? Sounds a bit more difficult, doesn’t it?

That’s exactly what the participants at NRA’s International Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) are asked to do in the Wildlife Identification event.

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