MAGA – Make Access Great Again?!?!

I grew up hunting on public land as a kid and have continued to do so now for nearly 40 years. My family has guided and outfitted on public land, forests and wilderness for decades. I understand better than most that public land recreation is a special opportunity granted to us all. Recently our public lands have had heavy loads of much needed publicity, and that’s a good thing. However, we believe there is another area of our hunting and fishing opportunity that has not received as much publicity but is a very key component to our outdoor heritage; public access on and through private land holdings.

The “Access Yes” program in Wyoming is without a doubt the gold standard for public access programs through a full spectrum of individual custom-tailored concepts such as the “Walk-In” program and “Hunter Management Areas.” Through these programs in 2018 the Wyoming Game and Fish opened up nearly 2.8 million private acres to hunting and fishing access. While that number may be staggering to some, we believe we can do even more and we have a plan.

Through the months of April and May we will donate a large share of the proceeds from subscription sales for EHJ or EBJ to the Access Yes program in Wyoming. For each subscription, we sell or renew during this time, we will give $5 to Access Yes, opening almost 16 additional acres of precious hunting access with each donation.

My personal goal for this program is to open up more than 100,000 additional acres of public access in sixty days. I know this is lofty, but I honestly think we can get there together. I don’t often ask for your help, but I am now.

This is a time when the future of our sport and hunting heritage is in dire need of broadened opportunity in hopes of catching the eye and passions of a generation that has so many distractions pulling at its pant leg. What a legacy to leave for our kids, the next generation, who will probably decide the ultimate future of hunting as we now know it.

Go to eastmans.com for more details on how we can work together to get the ball rolling on this lofty and worthy goal.

– Guy Eastman