The Following article is written by Guest Blogger Keith “Catfish” Sutton.
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Did you ever wonder who’s hunting what in the U.S.? For example, how many deer hunters are there? How many people hunt doves each year? Are there more squirrel hunters or rabbit hunters? How do the numbers of duck hunters and goose hunters compare?
This information—at least some of it—is available in a document known as the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. The survey is conducted every five years at the request of state fish and wildlife agencies to measure the importance of wildlife-based recreation to the American people. The latest survey, conducted in 2006, represents the eleventh in a series that began in 1955. Developed in collaboration with the states, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and national conservation organizations, the Survey has become one of the most important sources of information on fish and wildlife-related recreation in the United States.
Additional information on hunters who pursue various migratory bird species also is available. Remember that HIP permit you were required to have last season? HIP stands for Harvest Information Program, and information obtained from hunters enrolled in HIP is used by the Division of Migratory Bird Management to prepare annual reports on migratory bird hunting activity and harvests that tell us the number of people who hunted everything from ducks to gallinules.
In 2006, 12.5 million people 16 years old and older enjoyed hunting within the United States. They hunted 220 million days and took 185 million trips. Hunting expenditures totaled $22.9 billion.
According to the information in the two reports mentioned above, here are the numbers of hunters who pursued each type of game in the U.S.:
Deer hunters: 10.1 million
Turkey hunters: 2.6 million
Rabbit and hare hunters: 1.9 million
Squirrel hunters: 1.8 million
Pheasant hunters: 1.7 million
Duck hunters: 1.1 million
Dove hunters: 1.2 million
Quail hunters: 1 million
Grouse/prairie chicken hunters: 800,000
Elk hunters: 800,000
Goose hunters: 700,000
Bear hunters: 400,000
Woodcock hunters: 121,000
Coot hunters: 39,800
Snipe hunters: 19,800
Sandhill crane hunters: 10,950
Rail hunters: 8,600
Gallinule hunters: 5,100
There are no specific figures for some species. The “Other Big Game Hunters†category, which includes those hunting pronghorns, moose, sheep and other big game besides deer, elk, bears and wild turkeys, included 578,000 hunters. People hunting “other animals†such as foxes, raccoons and groundhogs totaled 1,128,000. It would be interesting to know specifically how many antelope hunters there are, how many moose hunters, how many coon hunters and so forth, but for now those figures are unavailable. The numbers here, however, should help you gain a better understanding of who’s hunting what in our country.
