The Future of Hunting and the Shooting Sports Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Introduction

The purpose of this project is to better understand the factors related to hunting and sport shooting participation, identify strategies to better meet the needs of current and potential participants, and more effectively communicate to the public about these activities. Data suggest that the future of hunting and the shooting sports is precarious. The number of active hunters and sport shooters has decreased in the U.S., and fewer young people are entering these sports. However, while data indicate that participation in the U.S. has been declining, there are strategies that fish and wildlife agencies, non-governmental organizations, and industry can pursue to retain hunters and shooters in these sports, to get them to hunt and shoot more often, to recruit new hunters and shooters into these sports, and to gain wider public acceptance of these activities among non-participants.

Chapter 2 - Participation in Hunting and the Shooting Sports

Differing figures have been presented regarding the number of hunters and shooters in the U.S. These differences usually stem from the different sources of data and the differing operational definitions of hunters and shooters in the data sources. "Operational definitions" include, for instance, the timeframe of participation, with some studies asking about people's participation within the previous 2 years, and other studies asking about participation in the previous 1 year. Other differences in operational definitions include the level of participation (whether doing something only once fits the definition of participant or whether an activity must be done more than once). Finally, for hunting, there is a difference between determining participation based on surveys (which measure participation regardless of whether a license is required) or on number of licenses sold.

Chapter highlights:

• Regression analysis has identified three major factors impacting hunting participation: 1) housing units per square mile, 2) overall geographic distribution of federal hunting lands in a state, and 3) the percent of available hunting lands in a state that are leased.
• Hunting and shooting sports participation trends need to be put into context of larger trends regarding declining participation in outdoor recreation as a whole.

Chapter 3 - U.S. Demographic Trends and Characteristics of Hunters and Shooters

The U.S. population is becoming more urban and suburban at the expense of rural areas. Indeed, most of the U.S. population now lives in non-rural housing, with increasing urbanization expected to continue in the foreseeable future. As late as 1950, 36% of the U.S. population lived in rural housing, but that proportion has dropped to approximately a fifth of the population (22% in 2000; expected to drop to just above 20% by 2010).

Chapter highlights:

• There are 3 major demographic trends that impact hunting participation: 1) increased urbanization, 2) the aging of the American population, and 3) the declining proportion of the U.S. population that is white/Caucasian. All three run counter to an increase in participation.
• There are four important aspects of urbanization: 1) the dilution of the hunting culture itself (less rural land and a lower rural population = fewer people growing up in hunter-friendly environments. 2) Urbanization contributes to a deterioration of a hunter's "social network" important for continued participation,  3) urbanization takes away hunting lands as well as "buffer zones" around new developments, and 4) hunters have farther to travel to find hunting lands creating a constraint and greater cost to participation.

Chapter 4 - Hunting and Shooting Initiation, Recruitment, Retention, and Desertion

HUNTING INITIATION - Most hunters start hunting in childhood, with younger initiation correlated with greater avidity and retention. Hunters most commonly first went hunting during the 10-12 year-old range, and a majority (58%) had hunted at least once by the age of 12 years (Phase III--RM 2007a). The current Phase III research reinforces research by others. For instance, Applegate (1977) found that initiation needs to occur by the age of 20 to instill a long-term love of the sport. Leonard (2007) found in an analysis of National Survey data that 67% of hunters were initiated at 20 years old or younger, and 18% of first-time hunters in 2006 were 10 years old or younger.

Chapter highlights:

• Being in a "hunting culture" (such as having family and friends who hunt or shoot or at the very least approve of and support hunting and shooting) is vital in successful recruitment. Experienced shooters help initiate new participants into the shooting sports.
• Many of the top-factors causing dissatisfaction with hunting and shooting are outside the control of wildlife agencies, including health and age, time obligations, family or work, and loss or lack of interest.
• A large majority of active shooters (76%) said that they had been invited to go shooting by a friend. A third of those invited said their shooting participation increased afterwards.
• Most hunters and target shooters begin at a young age (typically younger for hunting compared to target shooting) and initiation closely involves male family members.

Chapter 5 - Motivations for and Satisfaction with Hunting and the Shooting Sports

An illustration of changing satisfaction parameters is found in "specialization theory," where, for instance, hunters move from activities of low specialization to activities of high specialization, such as where a beginner hunter may hunt small game and then eventually move on to large game and/or more specialized equipment. Satisfaction parameters may change as the hunter becomes more experienced, especially in that the aesthetic and appreciative-oriented components of hunting may become more important with more hunting experience.

Chapter highlights:

• Lack of access is an important constraint to hunting participation but it is also one of the top-constraints which agencies and other organizations have considerable influence.
• Data suggests that the quality of a hunting or target shooting experience is dynamic, that is, it is dependent on multiple satisfactions being met at once. Recognizing that different motivations exist for each shooting segment at different stages of their specialization is vitally important to program development.

Chapter 6 - Target Markets

Marketing is a deliberate and orderly step-by-step process that begins with people (markets) and ends with programs, products, services, and strategies. This chapter focuses on the various potential markets for hunting and shooting recruitment and retention. The data from Phase II and III suggest that there are 11 distinct "markets" that should be considered in hunting and shooting recruitment and retention efforts (note that these are markets, not target markets, as some perhaps should not be targeted at all).

• One size does not fit all in terms of recruitment and retention efforts. Each shooting segment requires a tailored message. This chapter presented distinct "target markets" for hunters and target shooters based on three participation levels (active, inactive, non-shooters).

Chapter 7 - Hunting and Shooting Recruitment and Retention Programs

Fish and wildlife agencies, non-governmental organizations, and sportsmen's organizations have developed numerous programs over the years designed to introduce newcomers to hunting and shooting and to rekindle participation among inactive hunters and shooters. However, while there exists a wealth of research on hunting and some on sport shooting, there is only limited research on the myriad hunting and shooting recruitment and retention programs. The information presented in this chapter comes from two primary sources: the series of 20 focus groups involving active hunters and shooters, inactive hunters and shooters, and non-hunters and non-shooters, as well as participants in various recruitment and retention programs (such as First Shots, Becoming an Outdoors Woman, Alabama's youth dove hunt, and the National Archery in the Schools Program), and the two major surveys conducted under Phase III of this project.

Chapter highlights:

• Among the general population of hunters and target shooters there is little overall awareness of specific programs that encourage participation, even less awareness among non-shooters.  The industry needs to promote a unified message to build awareness and recall of such programs.
• Data suggests that programs sponsored by local hunting or gun clubs or shooting ranges appear to be among the more effective programs at increasing hunters' and shooter's levels of participation.

Chapter 8 - Public Opinion on Hunting and the Shooting Sports

The large majority of adult Americans--about three quarters--support or approve of hunting.

Studies suggest that approval of hunting has increased slightly over the past decade (Figure 8.2). In 1995, 73% of Americans approved of legal hunting, while 22% disapproved (RM1995); in 2003, 75% approved and 17% disapproved (RM 2003d); and in 2006, 78% approved and only 16% disapproved (RM 2006a).

The large majority of Americans (79%) approve of legal recreational shooting, with most of them strongly approving (53%), and only 13% disapprove (Figure 8.17) (RM 2006b). Also, even a majority of non-shooters support target and sport shooting: 67% support target or sport shooting, while only 16% of non-shooters oppose (Phase III--RM 2007a).

Chapter highlights:

• The large majority of adult Americans (78%) support or approve of hunting and the shooting sports. Approval has trended upward but support still varies based on motivations for participation. The industry must continue to educate and inform the public regarding hunting's positive impact on wildlife habitat management and conversation.
• American's awareness of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is very low. We must educate the public about how wildlife projects are funded via the contributions of sportsmen.

Chapter 9 - Implications and Action Items

This chapter presents the industry with 196 action items that can be implemented immediately and seamlessly into our current efforts and built into our new initiatives. These actions items were designed to put the industry on the same page in terms of information and if used correctly will also yield a substantial return in terms of increased participation and retention. A few examples include:

• Action Items #12 -31 (Recruitment) - the natural path of hunting and shooting initiation occurs at a young age, and the social context (especially male family members) is very important.
• Action Items #51-64 (Target Markets) - several distinct markets coexist for retention and recruitment efforts. One size does not fit all. Each market requires an appropriate strategy and message.
• Action Items #81-85 (Coordination of Programs) - there are a ton of different shooting programs out there each doing their own thing. We must call for a better system of coordination.

Chapter 10 - Methodology

Four primary components made up this study.

Phase I entailed a literature review of past research pertaining to hunting and the shooting sports. Phase II entailed a series of focus groups in diverse geographic areas of active hunters and shooters, lapsed hunters and shooters, non-hunters and non-shooters, and anti-hunters and anti-shooters.

Note that half of the focus groups were conducted after the surveys described in Phase III below; these focus groups were conducted specifically to obtain more information about topics identified in Phases I, II, and III of the project.

Phase III entailed two nationwide telephone surveys: the first on a sample of hunters and shooters, and the second on a sample of the general population (the latter sample containing non-hunters and non-shooters). Throughout the report, these surveys are referred to as "Phase III" when they are referenced. The methodologies for the focus groups and telephone surveys are discussed in "Chapter 10. Methodology."

Phase IV of this study entailed a compilation and examination of all the data obtained in the previous three phases of the project, as well as the production of the final report. This project was funded under Multistate Conservation Grant CT-M-6-0, awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.