How Much Is A Hunter Worth?
A Closer Look at Sunday Hunting
By Thomas K. Remington
Tom Remington is an outdoor writer and published author. He is managing editor of U.S. Hunting Today.

Sunday hunting is a hot topic these days. Virginia and North Carolina are both debating the issues as Legislators wrangle with whether or not to lift the ban on Sunday hunting. Often the debates become heated, as there are so many issues that can have an affect on all of us.

Most of us have heard nearly every pro and con about hunting and in particular Sunday hunting. There are two reasons in my opinion why those opposed to a Sunday hunt, don’t want to see it happen. One reason is they are against hunting, period. The other reason is because they believe that Sundays are the Lord’s day, a day of rest, a day with the family or a day to do relaxing things. I’m not going to argue with either of those reasons.

There are what I would consider non-issues like, giving wildlife a break or an overused scare tactic like “errant” bullets. There are debatable issues with this topic beyond moral and personal values that can and should be addressed.
 

There is another aspect to this Sunday hunting that I have heard often but have never been able to get anyone to explain to me so that I could understand. This is the economic issue. I have heard from several people that states that don’t have Sunday hunting are losing valued revenue. What I wanted to know was if this is true how much.

Figuring nobody was going to help me out, I decided to do some research and see what I could find. I have uncovered some very interesting statistics that I find fascinating but I’m not totally convince will answer fully my questions.

First, let’s set straight some facts that play an important role in this examination of data. There are currently seven states that for all intent and purposes forbid hunting of any kind on Sunday's. They are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. There are four others that hunt on Sundays in some limited capacity. Those are Maryland that opens 2 Sundays to hunting during deer season only, North Carolina that allows limited hunting on some military installations, South Carolina where it is permitted on some private land and West Virginia where hunting is allowed on Sundays in 14 counties.

I used several sources for information but the bulk of it comes from the results of a survey done in 2001 for the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The title of the report is “Economic Importance of Hunting in America”.

I’ve put together a map for you to refer to. It is of the eastern United States, which shows in black the 11 states that I mentioned above that have either no or limited Sunday hunting. You can refer to this map in an effort to help you better understand how geography may play a critical role in the economy of Sunday hunting.

Most of the data I will share with you will be from three types of states – some that have no Sunday hunting, some next to states that have no Sunday hunting and states that have Sunday hunting and no state near it that prohibits Sunday hunting.

I will work mostly in percentages as this proves the easiest way to make comparisons. Please keep in mind that in no way does this data and my explanations take into account many unknown variables such as hunting desirability, cost of licenses and so forth. This is merely a compilation of statistics that provide for some interesting debate.

One of the biggest arguments about Sunday hunting and the economic factor is about the loss of non-resident hunters. It is believed that in states that ban Sunday hunting, non-resident hunters will not invest in a license because they cannot hunt Sundays. If this were true, wouldn’t there be some clear evidence of that? Let’s see if there is.

Below are listed five of the states that prohibit Sunday hunting. That is followed by the percentage of total hunting licenses for that state that belonged to non-resident hunters. One of the reasons I didn’t list all of the states is that no data was available because there was so few non-resident licenses sold it didn’t make the survey.

No Sunday Hunting States

Pennsylvania – 14%
Virginia – 21%
North Carolina – 9%
West Virginia – 20%
Maine – 25%

Below are the states that do allow for Sunday hunting followed by the percentage of non-resident hunting licenses.

Sunday Hunting States

Texas – 8%
New York – 11%
Wisconsin – 11%
New Hampshire – 33%
Vermont – 26%
Ohio – 8%
Georgia – 15%
Tennessee – 21%
Kentucky – 16%
South Carolina – 15%

Does this give us any clear indication of how non-resident license sales can be affected by Sunday hunting? Of these states listed, the average percentage of non-resident licenses is 16.9%. Three of the five states listed for no Sunday hunting are clearly above the average. Seven of the ten others are at or below the average. Is this refuting the theory that states with no Sunday hunting are losing valuable revenue from non-residents?

New York abuts Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, all states banning Sunday hunting, yet only 11% of all licenses sold there are to non-residents. I should also point out that New York borders Ontario, Canada that has very limited Sunday hunting.

Ohio offers Sunday hunting. They are bordered by Pennsylvania and West Virginia and only show an 8% accounting of non-resident licenses.

To throw confusion into this equation, here sits New Hampshire and Vermont with 33% and 26% respectively. Massachusetts and Connecticut sit to the south of them and Maine to the east and they clearly sell more out of state licenses but wait. Maine doesn’t have Sunday hunting yet they have non-resident license sales that make up 25% of total sales.

Other states that offer Sunday hunting that border states that do, show no significant gains from non-resident license sales. Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky are such states but only have 15%, 21% and 16% non-resident sales.

I don’t think there is anything here that can clearly show one way or the other that Sunday hunting does or does not have an affect.

If we look at other trends like how many hunting days non-residents spend in each state, will this tell us something? Below you’ll find a list of the same non-Sunday states and Sunday states followed by the average number of days a non-resident hunter takes to the woods.

No Sunday Hunting States

Pennsylvania – 6.98 days
Virginia – 5.88 days
North Carolina – 7.44 days
West Virginia – 9.83 days
Maine – 8.16 days

Sunday Hunting States.

Texas – 6.55 days
New York – 4.93 days
Wisconsin – 9.08 days
New Hampshire – 12.27 days
Vermont – 7.43 days
Ohio – 7.42 days
Georgia – 10.23 days
Tennessee – 8.24 days
Kentucky – 4.12 days
South Carolina – 5.86 days

Does this show us anything definitive? I don’t think so but something interesting shows up. Look at New Hampshire. The average number of days non-resident hunters take to the woods is 12.27 days. Why? Are there so many hunters in Maine and Massachusetts who live close enough to commute to their hunting grounds? Perhaps but next door in Vermont, it drops way off to 7.43 days. Maybe this is all in the numbers and population density has to be factored in.

As I said from the onset, I’m not sure I am going to prove anything but I will show you some interesting things that will stir conversation and probably create more questions than get answered.

I do want to share some other very interesting facts and figures with you. The title of this story asks, how much is a hunter worth? Let’s find out. It might surprise you.

One thing that we should all keep in mind in the economic debate is whether a state with Sunday hunting is making more money than the neighboring state without the Sunday hunt. For the most part there is a given number of hunters in America. It fluctuates up and down as the result of certain factors like bad weather, chronic wasting disease outbreaks and big jumps in license fees to name a few.

What is clear is there is not an increase of new hunters entering the marketplace each year. States are beginning programs in efforts to retain hunters and recruit new ones. These programs haven’t been around long enough to know if they will work. At best the total number of hunters is holding steady and in many states the number of days in the woods by each hunter is going up. This is a good sign.

When one state opts to go after more hunters who are not new recruits, they end up just borrowing the hunter for a period of time. One state reaps and the other loses.

Is it worth the effort to boost a state’s economy and go after existing hunters? You tell me. Take a look at these staggering numbers.

In 2001, there were 13,034,000 hunters in America. According to the survey I referred you to before, in retail sales of equipment alone, hunters spent $24,708,970,000 (yes that is billions of dollars). That averages out to each hunter spending $1895.73 on hunting gear per year.

When factoring in effects of what the hunting community does to a local economy, it is even more staggering. Jobs that are created total well over half a million. For every 25 hunters who go in the woods, one new job is created. When you add in the salaries and wages paid to employees necessary for hunting, along with gas dollars spent and all state, local and federal tax dollars generated, hunters contribute $67,568,137,514 to the United States economy. That’s only for one season. My friends a fellow hunters. I would like to be the first to announce that you are contributing $5,183.99 to our economy each year you buy a hunting license and go into the woods to hunt.

In conclusion I would like to say that although I can’t tell you that Sunday hunting makes that much of a difference I can tell you that you are an extremely valuable asset to our economy.

I think there are just too many variables in trying to determine how Sunday hunting effects us economically. It is too difficult a task - one that I am not up to. I think demographics, costs of licenses, availability of guides, lodging and restaurant prices, quality and availability of game and many, many more come into play. There are just some places hunters want to go to and hunt where many of these factors don’t become a factor.

Should states battling the Sunday hunting issue do so because of economic reasons? That is up to the individual states but these numbers are pretty enticing. I don’t think luring more hunters to your state can be achieved simply by offering Sunday hunting. There’s much more to it and I’ll leave that for another story.

Tom Remington