NYDEC: New Report Released on Deer Hunting

[HuntingNY]

US Fish and Wildlife Service economists just released a report confirming that deer hunting is by far the most popular type of hunting in the U.S.

According to the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, there were 10.1 million deer hunters in 2006, which is nearly four times great than the second most hunted species: wild turkey. This report, available at http://library.fws.g...natsurvey06.pdf (1.5Mb), presents a wide array of information on deer hunter behavior and demographic patterns, from general participation levels to bag rates. USFWS is currently conducting the 2011 National Survey to continue tracking demographic and participation trends, and they expect the results will be available in early 2012.

Since 1991 wildlife-related recreation participation as a whole has declined by 20% nationwide, but deer hunting has bucked this trend staying rock steady at over 10 million participants.

Deer hunting is by far the most popular type of hunting, representing 80% of all hunters in the U.S. and 60% of all days afield.

In 2006, deer hunters nationwide spent $8.9 billion on trip and equipment purchases with an average of $885 per participant.

The average deer hunter is a married white man between the ages of thirty-five and forty-four. There were a significant number of female deer hunters too; over 900 thousand in 2006.

The report highlights some numbers specifically for New York.

92% of NY hunters hunt deer.

NY hunters spent over 5,700,000 days hunting deer in 2006, roughly 60% of their total hunting time.

On average, NY hunters spent 13 days hunting deer in 2006; 11 days for unsuccessful deer hunters and 17 days for successful hunters. This finding is a bit lower than results from our 2007 and 2010 NY deer hunter surveys which indicated that deer hunters spent roughly 18-19 days afield per year.

For additional insights on deer hunter participation and demographic trends in New York, see our deer hunter surveys at www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/74971.html.

[wdswtr]

Wow just think it only took them 5 years to come to a conclusion lol.

[nyantler]

A conclusion based on 4000 hunters... thats out of what? 800,000... I still have never gotten surveyed.

[Doc]

I'm still trying to understand why it requires a survey to determine how many deer hunters there are? What the heck..... every state sells licences. I would guess that every state tallies up those sales. What is the problem with collecting and using real license sales figures? These people are so enthralled with the black art of statistics that even when real honest to goodness numbers are available, they still rely on some miniscule statistical sampling.

[nyantler]

With all the money spent on meaningless surveys to such small ssmples of hunters... they could have just one questionaire.. that comes each year with your license that can be run through a computer for results... that could also have a yes/no report on your previous years hunting success. That might be too simple though