Delta Waterfowl University Hunting Program Receives Funding

Delta Waterfowl will offer its University Hunting Program (UHP) at Virginia Tech this year, thanks to the support of the 2021 Virginia Wildlife Grants Program through a partnership between the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and the Virginia Tech Foundation. Virginia Wildlife. The $6,604 grant covers program costs for a UHP course to be delivered in the fall semester of 2022.

Delta’s UHP was designed to address a looming crisis: As many as 70 percent of today’s wildlife management college students have never hunted and may never have been given the chance. Delta believes that future wildlife management professionals who understand the relationship between hunting and conservation, and have the opportunity to experience waterfowl hunting firsthand, are more likely to maintain a strong position within the community of the wildlife management as professionals.

Delta launched UHP in 2017 as a hunter recruitment program. It provides students with classroom training, firearms safety, and first-hand hunting experience, equipping them with a more holistic view of hunting and conservation. Delta Waterfowl covers all costs and organizes all activities associated with the program.

Delta’s ultimate goal is to offer UHP at every North American university and college that offers a wildlife management program.

“We are very grateful for this support from the Virginia Wildlife Grants Program. That’s why Delta can add Virginia Tech to the growing number of schools in North America that offer UHP,” said Joel Brice, director of conservation for Delta Waterfowl. “This program is a perfect fit for Tech Wildlife Conservation major students who are interested in finding new and better ways to conserve, use, and maintain the world’s vital wildlife resources. Even if participants decide not to continue as hunters, they gain an understanding and appreciation for it and for the efforts waterfowl hunters are making to conserve birds and protect the future of hunting.”

For more information, visit deltawaterfowl.com.