Statistics and Findings from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife National Surveys
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department National Surveys of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation have shown some alarming trends.
Nationally, the number of hunters reached at peak in 1975 at 17,094,000. By 1991, we had declined to 14,063,000. We stayed about the same in 1996 (13,975,000) but by 2001 we had dropped to 13,034.000 and by 2006 we had dropped to 12,500,000. That's a drop of 4,594,000 hunters in 31 years or almost 27%!
The good news is hunters in the west south central remain at 9% of the population (1,843,000 in 1991 and 1,988,000 in 2001).
The 2001 Survey showed that 38 million U.S. residents 16 years old and older went fishing and/or hunting. This includes 34.1 million who fished and 13 million who hunted.
The overall number of people who hunted in 2001 dropped 7 percent from the 1991/1996 level, and their days afield tended downward as well. However, looking at the various types of hunting, big game and migratory bird hunting did not see this drop in hunting participation—either in the number of hunters or the number of hunting days. The number of big game and migratory bird hunters stayed roughly the same throughout the three surveys, and the number of days hunting these animals increased from 1991 to 2001. The drop in hunting participation can be traced to small game and other animal hunting, which saw significant drops in both hunters and days.
Of the 13 million participants who hunted, 91 percent (11.8 million) were male and 9 percent (1.2 million) were female. While 6 percent of the U.S. population went hunting in 2001, participation among races varied. Seven percent of the nation’s White population hunted, 1 percent of the Black population hunted, and 6 percent of the other races hunted. Of the 13 million hunters, 96 percent were White, 2 percent were Black, and 1 percent were of other races.
The survey noted that men, whites, and young adults are on the decline while women and Hispanics are on the increase.
The 1980 – 1995 Survey showed the number of Americans who fished and hunted increased 12 percent. The number of anglers increased by 16 percent but the number of hunters declined by 8 percent.
The number of Americans who hunted was stable from 1980 to 1990 and fell 8 percent from 1990 to 1995.
For hunting, 18-34 year olds and males were two groups that had significant drops in participation levels over the 1980 - 1995 study period. 6-11 and 18-24 year olds declined by approximately 30%. Males declined by 9%.
The number of whites who hunted was stable from 1980 to 1990, and then dropped 9 percent from 1990 to 1995. The Midwest saw a slight increase and the other regions experienced decreases of 10 percent to 19 percent in white participation. The number of blacks who hunted dropped steadily from 1980 to 1995. Other races’ participants more than doubled in number.
Males and 18-24 year olds sustained drops in their participation rates for fishing as well, while the fishing participation of children 6-11 years old increased more than any other demographic group.
The 2001 Survey for Texas showed that we held our own in Texas, the west south central and the west north central, while the overall number of hunters in the USA are declining rapidly.