COVID-19 and Hunting License Sales Report

[hutty]

Reports throughout 2020 highlighted the impact COVID-19 had on Americans and spotlighted their pursuit to get outdoors, connect with nature and escape the effects of the pandemic. Participation in outdoor recreation activities soared and as previous media coverage indicated, early reports suggested hunting license sales increased as well. The Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports initiated a study in early 2021 to investigate how COVID-19 impacted hunters’ rates of purchasing licenses. The Council worked with Southwick Associates to collect license data from more than 40 state fish and wildlife agencies and review monthly license sales for residents and nonresidents for 2019 and 2020.

The data collected for this study indicate an approximate 5% increase in hunting license sales year over year between 2019 and 2020. Resident sales increased by 5.4% and nonresident sales increased by 1.6% during this same period.

https://cahss.org/covid-19-and-hunting/

 

[Gobbler36]

All this tells me is we had to many people outside.

make video games great again!

 

[elkyinzer]

A lot of inside people outside last year. I am looking forward to getting a steal on a used boat in 2-3 years when all the covid purchases flood the market.

 

[timekiller13]

COVID definitely impacted many outdoor activities, not just hunting. My family has been avid campers/RVers for the last several years. Our favorite camping destinations were booked up months in advance last year. Places we normally could get a reservation just 2-3 weeks in advance were booked solid 6-9 months out!!! Also, you could go to any of your local city/county or state park and see the increase in outdoor users. Parking lots full 7 days a week. Trails that normally were vacant, especially during weekdays, were packed with people. I remember going to one of my favorite hiking trails on a Tuesday morning back in May, and passed no less than 50 people on the trail. In years past, you might see one or two people on that trail during a weekday.

Our turkey harvest was a record high in NC during 2020. Of course, the turkey season corresponded perfectly with all the shutdowns. I do not turkey hunt, but I heard public land was PACKED during turkey season. I know the trout streams were shoulder to shoulder in many areas.

Things seemed to have leveled out by the time deer season came around. My public spots didn't seem to have any more hunting activity than normal, although I did notice a slight increase in non-hunting recreational users in these areas during hunting season. Hikers/bikers don't bother me, but I did get really irked when a young couple, that was walking their dog, took them off the leash and let the dog run rampant through a beautiful food plot the state had planted. The couple commented about "How nice it was that the state had cut the grass in that spot so their dog could play." I politely told them that it was a food plot planted for wildlife, not a dog run.

 

[CooperHunts]

Thanks for sharing Hutty. Very interesting to see the numbers on it.

Now the real question comes in: how many of these new hunters will continue to buy licenses this year now that they've gotten a taste?

 

[Ucsdryder]

These numbers are actually significantly lower than I expected. It was crazy how many people were out all summer and during hunting season. I passed a couple of trail heads that were 20 miles from the nearest paved road where I usually would see one pick up. You couldn’t even find a parking space. There were 20+ vehicles at Trail head’s that were usually abandoned.

 

[def90]

Where I elk hunt, in order to get to it you have to cross a small stream and then there are no public marked trails on the other side so there are rarely any recreational hikers over there. Usually during elk season at the beginning of Sept there is no trail of any kind on the other side but by the end of the month you will see a trail begin to form in a couple places where you get funneled through some spots. This past year there was a well worn trail at the beginning of Sept showing that people had been using the area pretty heavily all summer. Hope it goes back to normal this year and that the recreationalists haven’t “found” a new spot.

 

[nettereo16]

 

[Unclemoe]

People are generally lazy we all know that, once everything is fully open and people are back to work normally people will do what takes the least effort and the woods will be back to normal

 

[FLAK]

My predator calling was quite limited this year.
Our local WMA is open to bowhunting all season long, but
the gun hunts are scheduled 3-5 days.
I can usually get out and do some calling between those gun hunts.
Not this past year. Seemed to be a bowhunter every 100 yards or so.

 

[Fridaythe13th]

The lake were full and the biggest thing around here was side buy sides. My local insurance man said he went from insuring 2-3 a month to 4-5 a week. Going to be some sales in a couple of years.

 

[AZ8]

A lot of inside people outside last year. I am looking forward to getting a steal on a used boat in 2-3 years when all the covid purchases flood the market.

Exactly. There's going to be alot of travel trailers, side x sides, atv's, boats, tents and quality camping gear for sale. We'll see great prices as people realize camping is hard work! lol