Economic and social benefits of hunting in North America

Abstract

Hunting is an integral part of North American cultures, providing a powerful connection to the outdoors for millions of people and generating billions of dollars to local and national economies. Socially, hunting has been part of hominid cultures since very early in the fossil record; a tradition that contemporary North American hunters tend to pass down to subsequent generations through family and community networks. The 13.7 million American hunters and 2.1 million Canadian nature-recreationists spend more than $38.3 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, on non-commercial hunting-related expenses each year. Hunting activities also yield hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in tax and other revenues in both countries. The contributions of hunters serve as the fundamental foundation for a social and economic support system for conserving wildlife and habitats for future generations.

Keywords:

• Economics
• Hunting
• North America
• Social values

Acknowledgements

We thank S.P. Mahoney for stimulating our interest and inviting this manuscript. Earlier drafts of this manuscript benefited greatly from reviews by T.M. Franklin, S.P. Mahoney, C.E. Soulliere, and J. Weir. We thank the Mule Deer Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ruffed Grouse Society, and the Wild Sheep Foundation for sharing their organizations’ financial contributions to wildlife conservation, management and research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.