99 Ways to Celebrate National Hunting and Fishing Day 2024 — 9.28.24

Today, celebrate you! Shooters, hunters, anglers, and archers don’t have a national holiday, but the National Hunting and Fishing Day — a nearly 50-year-old tradition—is close enough. Occurring every year on the fourth Saturday in September, National Hunting and Fishing Day is an official day as declared by Congress in 1972 to honor the legacy of sportsmen and sportswomen’s contribution to conservation. Events happen all over the United States on National Hunting and Fishing Day encouraging people of all ages and skill levels to get outdoors and try hunting, shooting or fishing. September 27, 2014 is the perfect opportunity to get your family, neighbors and friends involved in your favorite hobby.

When signing the first proclamation of National Hunting and Fishing Day on May 2, 1972, President Nixon said, “I urge all citizens to join with outdoor sportsmen in the wise use of our natural resources and in insuring their proper management for the benefit of future generations.” Carry on the tradition this weekend and shoot, hunt, fish or do all three!

Here is a list of 99 fun things you and your family can do over the weekend to promote the great American tradition of hunting, shooting and fishing.

Hunting

1. Take the kids to a hunter’s education class
2. Take a hunter’s safety course
3. Learn the basics of game calls
4. Teach the kids about tracking game
5. Clean up your duck blind
6. Invite a friend to the hunting lease
7. Scout for hogs
8. Set out game cameras
9. Make your own primitive bow and arrows
10. Try a new game recipe
11. Go dove hunting
12. Train or work with your hunting dog
13. Build a blind with the kids
14. Donate to Ducks Unlimited
15. Go fill your feeders
16. Work on your waterfowl decoys
17. Brush up on the latest hunting regulations
18. Start tracking when and where deer are on your property
19. Wash your camo with scent elimination
20. Sharpen your skinning knife
21. Eat the rest of last year’s harvest out of the deep freeze
22. Make your own camo patterns with spray paint
23. Brush up on the latest hunting regulations
24. Find free public hunting land near you
25. Sight in your hunting rifles
26. Take an AR-15 hog hunting
27. Hunt varmint
28. Buy the right rounds for hunting with your AK-47
29. Try archery—go bow hunting
30. Plan an African safari
31. Visit one of the 35 best hunting and fishing towns in the United States
32. Find free public hunting land near you
33. Practice stalking and tracking in the woods

Shooting

1. Teach your children firearm safety
2. Start building an AR-15
3. Participate in a local shooting competition
4. Sign up for IDPA, 3-Gun or USPSA
5. Take a self-defense pistol class
6. Thoroughly clean all your firearms
7. Teach your children how to shoot a .22 rifle
8. Rent the most expensive gun at the shooting range
9. Take a date to the gun range and shoot game targets
10. Record yourself shooting your favorite firearm and post it on Facebook
11. Take a concealed carry certification class
12. Register to vote
13. Shoot clay targets with a shotgun
14. Reload your own ammunition
15. Volunteer to be a range safety officer at your local shooting range
16. Dry fire
17. Attend a gun show
18. Wear ear and eye protection
19. Read gun and ammunition reviews on the Shooter’s Log
20. Stop reading this article and go shooting!
21. Join the NRA or other pro-gun organization
22. Reread your firearm’s manual
23. Disassemble and reassemble your AR-15 until you can do it in 40 seconds or less like a boss
24. Upgrade your optics
25. Print out free targets to see how you can be a better shot
26. Make homemade shooting targets and then hit the rang
27. Buy a surplus rifle and start a firearms collection
28. Buy a suppressor
29. Introduce someone new to shooting
30. Take a few different boxes of ammo to the range. Record your results.
31. Shoot single-action revolvers
32. Buy a surplus rifle and start a firearms collection
33. Reread your firearm’s manual

Fishing

1. Get a fishing license
2. Teach your children or spouse how to bait a hook
3. Clean your own fish
4. Have a fish fry and invite the neighbors
5. Buy your little one a youth fishing pole
6. Teach the kids fish identification through colorful pictures
7. Practice survival fishing with a homemade rod
8. Try bowfishing
9. Explore a new fishing hole
10. Go noodling
11. Hire a guide and try deep-sea fishing
12. Go fly fishing for the first time
13. Make a survival fishing kit
14. Organize your tackle box
15. Go bass fishing
16. Take your father fishing
17. Visit one of the Top 100 Places to Fish
18. Make your own fishing lures
19. Have the kids make a minnow trap
20. Fish with live bait—use worms, minnows, grasshoppers or locust
21. Dig for clams
22. Sign the petition to fight against the ban on lead fishing tackle
23. Make your fishing flies
24. String new line on your reels
25. Practice boating safety
26. Donate to the Take Me Fishing Campaign
27. Start a worm garden
28. Enter a fishing tournament
29. Learn or practice tying fishing knots
30. Visit your local aquarium
31. Take a first aid kit on your fishing trip
32. Learn how to remove a hook even if the fish swallows it
33. Frame a picture of your children holding up their first fish

What will you be doing on National Hunting and Fishing Day 2014? Tell us about it in the Comment section.