Financial Returns To Industry From The Federal Aid - Wildlife and ...

was occupied by turkeys. By 2000, this increased to more than 31,000 square miles.
Not only were there more turkeys to hunt, but turkey hunters did not have to travel far to
find them.
During the spring of 1977, the first year of mandatory harvest reporting, 144 wild turkeys
were reported taken. Over the next 28 years the growth in the reported harvest mirrored
the growth in wild-turkey population levels in the state. In 1985, the reported harvest
topped the 500 mark (509); in 1988, it topped 1,000 (1,032); in 1999, it topped the 5,000
mark (5,340); and in the spring of 2008, 10,404 birds were reported taken.
Surveys indicated that in 1977 approximately 4,800 hunters hunted 33,000 days. This
increased to approximately 41,000 turkey hunters and more than 211,000 days in 2001,
and to 72,609 hunters and 400,489 days in 2008.
Hunting effort over the last 19 years (1990 through 2008) is highlighted for the
estimation of a return on investment. During this period, current estimates of tax-related
equipment item sales for turkey hunters over the last two decades range between
$405,000 and $3.8 million per year (Table 3). Annual spending on all items totaled
between $2.0 million and $29.0 million.
These total and tax-related equipment item purchases are calculated from National
Survey state-level reports for North Carolina for 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006. 11 An
assumption is made that turkey hunters are most likely to be reflected by migratory-bird
hunters and their purchases given the regulatory guidelines for hunting turkey in the
state. Online state-level reports do not provide the same level of detailed hunting
equipment purchases that is reported at the national level but can be estimated
following another assumption that the purchasing pattern for the average big- game
hunter in North Carolina is similar to other migratory-bird hunters across the nation. 12
As a result, equipment related purchases are estimated for North Carolina using the
national percentage of total hunter spending which is allocated to tax-related equipment
items relative to total spending (1991: 26%, 1996: 22%, 2001: 21%, and 2006: 17%). All
purchases from 1991 through 2006 are inflated to 2009 dollars. Average tax related
equipment item purchases per hunter-day range between $5.18 and $10.89 in 2009
dollars, after adjusting for a 30% market chain markup. Total spending per hunter per
day ranges between $31.53 and $72.62. In order to estimate a return on investment,
annual per-day purchases and hunter days were interpolated using a simple straightline
assumption between two survey years.
11 State-level data for 1991 is not available online. As a result, national estimates are utilized for per-day hunter
purchases.
12 Wild turkeys are typically considered to be part of the big-game category. A recently release addendum to the
2006 National Survey, which looks specifically at turkey hunters relative to other quarry categories such as big
game, small game, and migratory birds, indicates that turkey-hunter purchases are comparable to migratory-bird
hunter spending at the national level. For example, total spending (trip and equipment) per hunter day is $61 for
turkey hunters and $68 for migratory-bird hunters; while big-game hunters spend roughly $71 per day.
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