On August 27, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced the final 2025-26 Hunt Fish Rule – an annual rulemaking undertaken by FWS intended to increase access and opportunity for hunters and anglers within the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS).
The final rule does create 42 new hunting and fishing opportunities across 16 refuges and 87,000 acres. However, the new ‘opportunities’ are only available to hunters and anglers not using lead ammunition or tackle. Under the Biden administration, FWS adopted a ‘no new lead’ policy for its hunting and fishing ‘expansions,’ and the Trump administration has maintained that policy.
“Yet again, the Fish and Wildlife Service is touting expanded access and opportunity on paper, while that access and opportunity looks very different to sportsmen in the field,” said Todd Adkins, Senior Vice President at the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Opportunities to hunt and fish new acres and species is always a win, but we will not pretend that this rule is the ground-breaking ‘expansion’ the service claims it is. Simply put, any new ‘opportunity’ that excludes or eliminates the use of lead ammo or tackle is not a true opportunity.”
The current science – which hasn’t evolved in recent years, and which FWS does not cite in its proposed rule – on the environmental impacts of lead ammunition and tackle does not warrant a full ban on their use across the entire NWRS. In fact, an outright ban is neither logical nor feasible, and expansions that arbitrarily limit or ban the use of lead ammo and tackle hardly qualify as new opportunities. Options and availability for non-lead ammo and tackle are limited, and when they can be found on store shelves, they’re significantly more expensive than lead-based options.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation does appreciate FWS’ yearly effort to expand hunting and fishing on the NWRS – a system financed by hunter dollars and designed for wildlife-dependent recreation. But we also call a spade a spade, and this is no expansion. This rule opens 60 percent less acreage than the 2024-25 rule. We’ll continue to educate and aid FWS in making new opportunities truly accessible, both in terms of allowable ammunition and tackle and true expansions in access to species and acres.
“We have litigated lead-ammo restrictions on the refuge system in the past, and we will continue to do so in the future,” said Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel at Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation. “Hunter dollars are the primary source of funds for acquiring new lands in the refuge system. Hunters should be able to use and enjoy the refuge system that they paid for—unburdened by arbitrary restrictions.”
Sportsmen have been bullied long enough by animal extremists and unlawful government actions. The Sportsmen’s Alliance will no longer allow it to happen. Join us or donate to the Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund to help stand up against the relentless assault on our values and lifestyle by animal extremists. Present and future generations are depending on your willingness to fight to protect the future of hunting, fishing, and trapping.
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
