The number of American hunters is declining

Pavel Prikhodko, Ph.D. Machine Learning

Hunting in the United States is undeniably popular — some say that more Americans hunt and shoot than play baseball. In 2016, there were 14.84 million paid hunting license holders in the country. According to information published at Statista.com illustrating the number of hunters within the last 12 months in the U.S., a total of 16.55 million people went hunting in spring 2013. Autumn 2013 saw about 17.19 million hunters in the past 12 months, which increased slightly in spring 2014 (17.39 million hunters). This upward trend continued into autumn 2014, when 17.45 million people went hunting in the past 12 months.

However, the growth stopped in spring 2015; the number of people who went hunting in this period amounted to 16.67 million. The decline continued through autumn 2015 and spring 2016, both of which saw 16.61 million hunters in the previous 12 months. Autumn of 2016 saw an even smaller number of hunters: 16.42 million.

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Another interesting statistic to analyze is the gross cost of hunting licenses and permits in the country. In 2013, the gross cost of hunting licenses, tags, permits and stamps in the U.S. amounted to $790.11 million. By 2014, the gross cost of licenses and permits increased to $806.47 million. In 2015, the gross cost of hunting licenses approximated to $821.02 million. In 2016 and 2017, the gross cost reached $824.97 million and $853.04 million accordingly.

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The graph below shows us the average hunter expenditures in the U.S. In 2011, participants spent an average of $2,484 on hunting, while in 2006 the average hunter spent $2,050. In 2001, hunters spent an average of $2,001 on hunting.

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About Pavel Prikhodko

Pavel Prikhodko, Ph.D. Machine Learning

Pavel has worked for many years as a researcher and developer on a wide range of applications (varying from mechanics and manufacturing to social data, finance and advertising), building predictive systems and trying to find stories that data can tell.

In his free time, he enjoys being with his family.

Other posts by Pavel Prikhodko:

One thought on “The number of American hunters is declining”

  1. I think you should change your headline to “the number of hunters applying for permits has decreased” the number of hunters has not.

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