Image: Howard Communications
As 2020 progressed, Americans’ demands for outdoor recreation and escape became apparent. “Lockdowns” increased rates of unemployment and working from home boosted leisure time and a desire to be outside — plus reduced competition from indoor and group recreational activities. Combined with hunting’s natural social distancing characteristics, hunting license sales increased, but to what extent?
To quantify this trend, the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS) teamed with Southwick Associates in early 2021 to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted hunters’ rates of purchasing licenses, and therefore drove hunting participation and related sales.
To gain these insights, resident and nonresident hunting license data was collected from more than 40 state wildlife agencies to quantify and compare 2020 trends to 2019’s rate of hunting license sales. Results were produced nationally, as well as by region.
Overall, 2020’s hunting license sales increased approximately 5% over 2019. Resident license sales drove the increase with a 5.4% increase. Considering 2020’s travel restrictions, nonresident license sales experienced lower growth of 1.6%. Thirty-five of 40 states saw an overall increase in the number of licenses sold in 2020 compared to 2019.
While 2020 license sales were up overall, sales decreased in November 2020 compared to 2019, suggesting the pandemic may have encouraged many hunters to purchase earlier than normal. Such shifts indicate the number of hunting days increased in 2020, generally verified by reports of increased hunting-accessory sales last year. The spike in firearms and ammunition can only be marginally tied to increases in hunting.
License sales were up in all four regions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West), though at different levels for each region. The charts presented here illustrate 2020 license sales trends varied substantially across regions. While regional license sales normally vary based on season openings, weather and many other factors, license data alone do not identify how much of the difference is related to COVID-19.
Additional insights into 2020’s hunting license sales trends are also available from a free hunting and fishing license sales dashboard from the American Sportfishing Association. This complimentary dashboard, developed over the past several years via a partnership of states, industry and sportsman’s organizations, provides an interactive way to explore sales trends (asafishing.org/data-dashboard).
Source: Southwick Associates
• Total hunting licenses sold: Purchases by women grew 15%; but only 4% for men.
• First-time hunters: Up 26%.
• The number of new female hunters was up a remarkable 41%; men increased by 23%.
• License renewal rates: Surprisingly, 4% more hunters did not renew their licenses in 2020 compared to the renewal rate in 2019. Reasons why are not yet known.
• Women reduced their churn rates in 2020, but the increased rate by men drove the overall renewal decline.
Overall, younger hunters, especially in the 18–35-year-old range, purchased licenses at greater rates than others in 2020. Along with the increase in women buying licenses, this is welcome news as the number of women and people under 35 buying licenses had declined from 2016 to 2019. Importantly, 2020’s gains were greater than the 2016–19 losses.
The change in hunting license sales during the COVID-19 pandemic varied among states and regions. When COVID-related lockdowns and restrictions began in March 2020, the outlook for hunting and its associated sales was initially negative. But, as the year progressed, the picture improved and hunting participation increased over 2019 levels. Whether as a way for people to escape outdoors or as a result of greater time on hand, there are certainly many reasons why COVID-19 positively impacted license sales.
The challenge now facing the hunting and conservation communities is how to retain 2020’s new hunters and the probable participation increases among our regular hunters.
Be sure to support initiatives by CAHSS, state fish and wildlife agencies, the NSSF and others to expand and improve recruitment, retention and reactivation efforts to ensure a stronger future for hunting and conservation.
