Hunting Economic Impact - Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

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Mark LaBarbera, Outdoor Heritage Education CenterIntroductionKelly Heath of rural Millston, Wisconsin,drove 80 miles round trip to the GanderMountain store in Eau Claire to buy theRemington 870 that best fits her. Shemade the trip many times, once to purchaseher new Mathews bow and accessories,and another time to buy Flambeaudecoys. Her spending is driven by herdesire to spend her spare time relaxing inpeaceful natural surroundings with theadded anticipation of getting close enoughto game to get a clean shot. As she gearsup to step outside with her hunting partner,Pat, she creates a sale, which providesprofit for the store’s corporate headquartersin Bloomington, Minnesota and formanufacturers in places like NorthCarolina, Wisconsin and Ohio. In turn,these companies buy supplies and payemployees. Kelly’s money helps salesmen,distributors and truck drivers who deliverthe hunting gear. Add together what Kellyspends by the number of times each yearshe stops at that Gander Mountain store,or the Flying J Truck Stop & Restaurantup the road, where she buys food and fuel,and her expenditures add up. Now multiplyit by 13 million hunters and you comeup with a major boost for the economy.Purchases by hunters like Kelly touch allparts of the nation, from oil field workersin Oklahoma to the wheat growers of thecentral plains, plus all their employees andsuppliers everywhere.Hunting in America is big business, generatingmore than $67 billion in economicoutput and more than one million jobs inthe United States. The vast majority ofAmericans embrace hunting lock, stockand barrel for its social, cultural andconservation contributions.Like baseball and apple pie, hunting isan American tradition shared by youngand old, rich and poor, regardless of socialor economic status. Hunting is notDemocratic or Republican; it knows nogeographic or congressional boundaries.Its history and heritage crosses all racialand ethnic boundaries.Yes, it is big business, which generates$25 billion in retail sales, $17 billion insalaries and wages, and employs 575,000Americans, creating sales tax, stateincome tax and federal income taxrevenues for government agencies andthe people they serve. But hunting ismore than a positive economic force.It is also a strong, wholesome influenceon American society. It is a healthyAmerican activity, steeped in heritage,which touches the most important aspectsof our lives, like families and friends,and a sense of stewardship for allthings wild.ABC’s of aHunting EconomyA is for Archers and other hunters, but“B” is for Billions of Big Buck itemsBought from Businesses that Benefitfrom Buying by Bowhunters and othershooting sports enthusiasts. Yes, “B”is for Billions, as in the $5.3 Billionhunters spend on hunting-relatedtravel, and $6.4 Billion on huntingequipment, plus $8.4 Billion on otherbig-ticket items. So, then, is “C” forCash, Check or Credit Card?Hunting Is Good for Body and SoulAs the speed of business increases, andthe pressures of global competition andconsolidation in our high tech society putmore demands on working women andmen, hunting provides a healthy escape.It offers relaxation and affords qualitytime with family and friends. Whether in adeer or duck blind, farm field or ridgeline,hunting provides a peaceful, fun settingwhere people re-connect with each otherand with nature.It is no wonder that more than 13 millionAmericans age 16 and older hunted in2001. When you look at hunting andtarget shooting combined, a 2001 RoperStarch study verified that more than26 million Americans participated in allshooting sports. That same independentscientific researched revealed that thepublic accepts the shooting sports just asit accepts tennis and golf.2
Mark LaBarbera, Outdoor Heritage Education CenterMark LaBarbera, Outdoor Heritage Education CenterHunters—An Economic PowerAnd hunters are good for the economy.They not only purchase hunting gear,trucks and boats; they also fill their gastanks and coolers. They stay at motels andresorts. They buy hunting clothes andthose goofy hunting hats with sayings thatare sometimes funny and always a conversationpiece. On average, each hunterspends $1,896 per year on hunting, whichis 5.5% of the typical wage earner’s annualincome. These expenditures then “ripple”through the economy generating threetimes more impact for the U.S. economy.For many communities, hunting dollarskeep them afloat.Hunters also pay a truckload of specialexcise taxes. The Wildlife RestorationFund under the Pittman-Robertson legislationcollects these excise taxes on certainhunting equipment and apportionsthem to state natural resource agencies forconservation and education, whichincludes habitat restoration, shooting■ A hunter’s best friend is his dog and they show it—hunters spend $605 million onhunting dogs, well more than the $513 million skiers spend on ski equipment.■ Each year hunters spend more money on food for hunting trips than Americansspend on Domino’s pizza. Business generated by hunters is often the lifebloodof rural communities.■ Over a half million jobs in America are supported by hunters. That’s more jobsthan the combined employees of all the top U.S. based airlines includingAmerican, United, Delta, Northwest, Continental, US Airways, Southwest, AlaskaAir and American West.■ The $2.4 billion in annual federal income-tax money generated by hunters’spending could cover the annual paychecks of 100,000 troops. That’s 8 divisions,143 battalions, 3,300 platoons and some major money.Source: Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundationranges, wildlife research and more. Forfiscal year 2002, this program deliveredmore than $481 million to the states andterritories of the United States, with morethan $292 million of it for sport fishrestoration and more than $188 millionof it for wildlife restoration. Together,hunters and anglers may very well be themost important source of conservationfunding in the United States.Economic Impact Continues to GrowIn good times and bad, hunters set theirsights on spending more time in the fieldsand forests. Even when economic recessionand uncertainty over homeland securityhave the nation and the economyrecoiling, hunters continue to aim theirleisure time and money toward shootingsports activities. For example, since 1991,when the nation was mired in a similarrecession and war, retail sales have grownnearly 17% (adjusted for inflation).Many just do not realize the positiveimpacts generated by hunters. A recentreport released by the CongressionalSportsmen’s Foundation highlights thatAmericans spend more on hunting dogsthan they do for ski equipment. If that’snot enough, the $2.4 billion in federalincome tax revenue generated by hunterscould cover the annual paychecks for100,000 U.S. Army troops. At the statelevel, the hunter’s economic effects canbe especially important. In Georgia, forexample, hunting expenditures wereone-third greater than the value of thisstate’s famous peanut harvest, providing atremendous boost to rural areas. Those arethe kinds of numbers that should turn thehead of any state legislator or politician.And that’s just the point.3
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