Wildlife watchers outnumber hunters and anglers
The US Fish and Wildlife Service released in early August a preliminary report on participation in hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching in 2006.
The report, which is published every five years and will be finalized in November, is interesting, particularly because of the staggering economic impact of participation in these activities: 87 million Americans, or 38 percent of the United States’ population spent $120 billion in 2006. Of those, 71 million (or 31 percent) spent $45 billion observing wildlife.
Also noteworthy is the larger numbers of people who reported just watching wildlife rather than hunting or fishing said wildlife last year.
Not surprising, Michigan and Wisconsin were among the top five states with the most hunters, age 16 and older, with 756,000 and 698,000 respectively. In Wisconsin, 15 percent of the population hunted and 13 percent of Minnesotans hunted, according to the report.
Fishing is even more popular among Minnesotans and Michiganders, with more than 1.4 million anglers in each state. In Minnesota, that’s 28 percent of residents compared to 23 percent of Wisconsinites who fish.
But both figures are trumped by the state percentages who reported “wildlife watching,” which includes observing, photographing and feeding wildlife. Forty-eight percent of Iowans and Minnesotans participated in these activities in ‘06. Only the people of Maine, Montana and Vermont did more wildlife watching.