katqanna
Well-known member
The Responsive Management 2013 Final Report is out on Exploring Recent Increases in Hunting and Fishing Participation. Good news is that hunting and fishing are increasing. The reasons are varied, one of which involves economics. Interesting note, women are a part of this increase. I just hope this doesnt mean we are going to start seeing more pink sh*t on the market. Makita pissed me off when they came out with their women's tool line and they were in pink and lavender.
Whether temporary or not, there appears to have been an increase in participation. The analysis of the hunter and angler surveys conducted for this project examines who might be driving this increase. In hunting, a small, but perhaps not in substantial, percentage of hunters were either returning to hunting in recent years after taking a break or were new to the sport: 17% of hunters indicated that they have taken a break from
hunting at some time, with 2% of hunters having specifically taken a break that included the year 2006 (when the previous National Survey was conducted), and 1% of nascent hunters having taken up hunting since 2011. In fishing, the percentages are slightly higher: 26% indicated having taken a break from fishing, with 3% of anglers specifically having a break that included 2006 but had come back to the sport in recent years, and 2% being new to fishing. This can partly account for the greater numbers of hunters and anglers seen in both Federal Aid data and the National Surveys.
Compared to established hunters, these new/returning hunters are slightly more often female, somewhat younger, more often in the military or college, slightly more suburban, have not been living in the same state for as long,
and are more often hunting to be with friends (invited, perhaps?). Likewise, compared to established anglers, the group of new/returning anglers are again slightly more often female, are markedly more often retired with new free time, are slightly more often identifying themselves as homemakers, slightly more suburban, have not been living in the same state for as long, and are more devoted to fishing in freshwater (i.e., did not fish in saltwater as much as established anglers—because anglers could fish in both types of waters, established anglers fished in freshwater about as much as ne w/returning anglers, but they fished in saltwater much more often than did
new/returning anglers).