National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife ... - All About Birds

Hunting on Public and PrivateLandsmillion hunters, 23 percent, hunted onboth public and private lands.of all hunters pursued other animals onpublic land for over 5 million days.In 2011, 13.7 million hunters 16 yearsold and older hunted on public land,private land, or both. Of this number,4.9 million or 36 percent hunted onpublicly owned lands compared to 11.5million or 84 percent who hunted onprivately owned land. Some huntershunted exclusively on public land andothers hunted exclusively on privateland—1.7 million, 13 percent of allhunters, used public lands only, and 8.4million hunted only on private land,61 percent of all hunters. Nearly 3.2During 2011, 4.9 million hunters usedpublic lands on 61 million days, whichrepresents 22 percent of all huntingdays. Thirty-three percent of big gamehunters pursued big game on publicland for 39 million days. Thirty-onepercent of all small game hunters, 1.4million, pursued small game on publicland for 14 million days. An estimated923 thousand migratory bird hunters,36 percent, hunted migratory birdson public lands for 8 million days.Twenty-four percent, 523 thousand,Percent of All Hunting in State of Residence and in Other States(Total: 13.7 million participants)In state of residenceand other states8%In other states only6%In state of residence only86%The percent of hunters on private landis similar among different types ofhunting. Eighty-four percent of biggame hunters hunted on private land,which compares to 83 percent seekingsmall game, 77 percent seeking migratorybirds, and 87 percent seeking otheranimals.Of all days hunting, 78 percent or219 million were on private land. Thepercent of hunting days on private landvaried slightly more among types ofhunting than the percent of hunters.Seventy-nine percent of big gamehunting days, 73 percent of small gamehunting days, 57 percent of migratorybird hunting days, and 79 percentof other animal days were on privateland. Total hunting days pursuing thesespecies on private land were as follows:big game 167 million, small game 37million, migratory bird 13 million, andother animals 27 million.Participation in Target ShootingPeople Hunting on Public and Private LandsUndetermined0.4 millionIn preparation for hunting, 7.2 millionhunters, 52 percent of all hunters, wenttarget shooting. Twenty-two percent ofall hunters, 2.9 million, used shootingranges. The most commonly used firearmsat a shooting range were shotgunsand rifles (2.3 million hunters) andhandguns (1.1 million).Public and private3.2 millionPrivate only8.4 millionPublic only1.7 millionNumber of Hunters Who Target Shoot and Use Shooting Ranges(Total hunters: 13.7 million)Target shooting in preparation for hunting7.2 millionUsed shooting ranges2.9 million28 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Census Bureau