Verifiable Data on the Number of Licensed Hunters - All 50 States

[elkmaster]

While reading through a Rokslide discussion with >155 replies recently, although the original topic was not about +/- hunter numbers, the discussion veered into whether or not the decline in hunters is true or some sort of misinformation or tactic for some nefarious purpose.

The ideal data to verify this would be number of big game licenses sold over say the last 5-10 years for either every state (ideal, that is if a person could get that data and if that data was validated, say for ease of argument only counting 1 tag per individual) or if all 50 states isn't possible for a representative group of states.

Regarding representative states - for example:
I have heard it said that PA, NY, WI and MI have historically had the highest number of hunters, dating back to let's say the early 1900's. These were states where that entire state closed school for deer season, then maybe add in the big western states (if we couldn't get all 50 states).

I'd be interested in hearing folks out on this subject.

Not trying to start a discussion about this state vs that state, just if we can get to the truth about whether big game license sales are up or down, which should directly correlate to whether hunters are increasing or decreasing.

For ease of discussion I picked big game, however I realize we could include folks that only small game hunt, waterfowl, turkey, predator etc.

And to keep it simple and keeping in the spirit of Rokslide being founded on western big game hunting.

I had heard numbers were down, but then I started hearing all these conspiracy theories that this was a lie and numbers are up. Thanks


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So my kickoff question is this - anyone KNOW FOR SURE if that data is available from their state wildlife agency?

 

[Bubblehide]

There are plenty of animals rights activist buying licenses and tags, with no intention of hunting.

 

[elkmaster]

Perhaps although I highly doubt that number is a significant percentage of overall sales. I personally know folks that purchase tags and don't use them for reasons other than an anti-hunter would, they just can't/don't go and also don't get the refund/forfeiture. But that is not what the intent of this discussion is - thanks for the alternate viewpoint though

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

Honeslty think its pretty straightforward. And has been talked about a few times on here.

Overall liscense sale is down across the US. Small game hunting is diminishing. Lack of publicland on the east coast, plus with an increase in leasing, and outfitting across the US. Has declined overall hunter participation.

But the west has seen an increase in participation in the process. Due to public land availability and image.

Know in my area, less locals chasing ducks and geese and more nonres being guided. Land that used to be open is now closed.

More people calling coyotes, due to ease of access and thermals.

More guided fishing than ever before.

IMO. Think it's driven down the participation of the casual hunter. And has resulted in an increase of target focused individuals. Big game, waterfowl, upland etc. Spending more time in the field than ever. Across a larger area.

Edit: want to add. Liability is also something that people just don't want to deal with. People are sue happy, and has driven away some landowners who's door used to be open.

 

[Will_m]

I don’t understand how license sales can be down unless license sales do not directly relate to field pressure. As in, x number of years ago everybody bought a license and maybe most hunted casually on the family farm.

Now less people buy a license but everybody is hunting the shit out of everything. Traveling out west, taking every opportunity to inundate the nearest public ground or waterway and then telling everybody how hardcore they are. To those that don’t know how it was even 20 years ago, it’s a totally different world now. It sucks and people are loving it to do death.

 

[Macintosh]

That info is readily available from the US fish and wildlife service reports. It takes time to get into their reports and get published so data may be a few years old, but its there and its all verifiable. The states have to report this in order to get Pittman Robertson funding, so it’s compiled every single year. I would need to find again but I posted links on this site—the OP sounds like they are referencing a post I made.

The short answer is license #’s overall ARE down nationally since the peak, may appear flat if you cherry-pick the years you look at, but that trend is reversed in the “western hunting” states where significant population growth is fueling consistent growth in hunter numbers. So BOTH things are true. Also note that even if hunter numbers are flat for a time period, the overall population during that time increased, so as a percentage of the population hunter numbers are down significantly. This is very noteworthy when it comes to public opinion and the political aspect of hunting and wildlife management.

There’s the numbers in this post, which are pulled from usfws info. In the past I have also found the usfws “state of hunting” reports directly as well.
Post in thread 'Is the current high tag demand a bubble that will crash in the next 10 years?'
https://rokslide.com/forums/threads...rash-in-the-next-10-years.391944/post-4004498 I didnt check but would imagine the link in this post contains the ref material, ie names the usfws reports as a reference, might be the easiest way to find them with the actual titles.


To answer the OP’s question directly, yes, my state publishes license data every year, and it is also available by request.

 

[Macintosh]

I don’t understand how license sales can be down unless license sales do not directly relate to field pressure. As in, x number of years ago everybody bought a license and maybe most hunted casually on the family farm.

Now less people buy a license but everybody is hunting the shit out of everything. Traveling out west, taking every opportunity to inundate the nearest public ground or waterway and then telling everybody how hardcore they are. To those that don’t know how it was even 20 years ago, it’s a totally different world now. It sucks and people are loving it to do death.

This is precisely true in my state.

I’ve had a couple of lengthy conversations with the guy in my state who compiles the license data and draws out trends, etc. He claimed this was true in other states as well, but basically what he saw was that a much higher proportion of hunters now compared to the past are reporting that they hunted during multiple seasons, as well as bought multiple different tags, i.e. not just a hunting license, but also a waterfowl stamp, a fishing license, a muzzleloader tag, and archery tag, etc. so while hunter numbers is in my state are down, the number of hunter days in the field has remained relatively constant or even increased a little bit, depending on the timeframe. Ie fewer hunters overall, but more of them are active hunters more likely to be out for the duration of the seasons, not just a couple days per year.