What – another acronym? Let’s discuss a new movement in promoting Hunting and Shooting Sports – it’s called R3, and stands for Recruitment, Reactivation, and Retention. R3 is a concept developed several years ago by the outdoor community to bring together state agencies, non-profit organizations, and industry partners and create plans and strategies to increase participation in hunting and shooting. A national organization called the Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports (www.cahss.org) helps spearhead the R3 movement.
R3 is about creating new hunters, getting folks who stopped hunting to “reactivate”, and ultimately retaining the active participation of both new hunters and those who have come back to hunting. Sounds a lot like what we do in the Texas Youth Hunting Program, doesn’t it? In fact one could argue that TYHP has been doing R3 since before R3 was “invented!”
This exact message was delivered at a recent R3 National Symposium attended by TYHP staffer Bob Barnette. Folks from all over the U.S. gathered for this biennial event in Broken Arrow, OK to share ideas, present research, and network with the common goal of continuing to move the proverbial needle on R3 initiatives.
One of the sessions at the Symposium was an informal “competition” of 22 presentations where organizations could highlight their efforts/results regarding R3. But there were some strict ground rules – the presenter was limited to one PowerPoint slide, and only 3 minutes of time to speak! This was a play on the R3 name – it was called the R3 Minutes game. A panel of judges evaluated each presentation to determine a winner.
Organizations had to submit proposals for this competition. Bob was chosen to be one of the presenters, and drew on the theme of TYHP being one of the early groups in the R3 movement, even before there was a movement. With the limitation of only using one slide for a subject on which hours could be spent, Bob chose a format that included a few fun facts about TYHP but mostly allowed some great photos to do the “talking” for us. Here is the slide:
While the R3 Minutes was a fun little competition, and Bob didn’t win, TYHP had some impressive data to share and the take-away was clear, with many positive comments received afterward from folks who commended the scale and impact of TYHP. We have been recruiting, reactivating, and retaining hunters since 1996 with immeasurable impact across the hunting community in Texas, changing lives of both youths and adults, and we plan to continue our leadership on R3 efforts. If you want to help us out, please call us at 210-930-2177 and we will help you get started!