| to buy any firearms, guns, or ammunition. This | | | | food, shelter, and space is available. Migratory |
| 11% excise tax is sent to the Department of | | | | animals move from one place to another in |
| Natural Resources of each State to protect the | | | | search of food, better climate, or other |
| wildlife habitat and food plots. Over two billion | | | | environmental factors. Winter food shortage is |
| dollars of funding to preserve wildlife habitat has | | | | the most important limiting factor for many |
| financed wildlife welfare since 1937. | | | | wildlife species. Wildlife food plots of nut trees and |
| Animals and birds can only live if their energy | | | | fruit trees are termed, "hard mast." The fruit |
| levels are met to grow, to escape predators, to | | | | trees include apple, persimmon, crabapple, pear, |
| reproduce, to survive long migrations, or to | | | | plum, and quince; nut trees include pecan, hickory, |
| survive severe winter temperatures. Wildlife | | | | chinquapin, walnut, oak, and beech. Wildlife |
| animals and birds must have shelter to protect | | | | browsing for food is termed "soft mast," include |
| them from bad weather or to hide them from | | | | fruit and berry food from dogwood, viburnum, |
| predators. Dense foliage and vegetation are the | | | | mulberry trees, elderberry, blueberry plants, |
| most common shelter retreats, but some animals | | | | muscadine and scuppernong grape vines, |
| burrow in holes in trees, logs, and in the ground or | | | | raspberry bushes, and blackberry bushes. To |
| in log or rock piles. | | | | establish deer food plots, wildlife shrubs, trees, |
| Serious competition to wildlife for food and habitat | | | | and vines are best planted along fence lines on |
| can only lead to overcrowding that weakens | | | | the dense edge of woods, bushy pond edges, or |
| wildlife resistance to disease and wild predators. | | | | near plots of thick grass. |
| Wildlife cannot survive unless sufficient water, | | | | |