Facts
The statistics on the participation of sportsmen and their economic impacts used herein – from a State of Maryland perspective – come from the following sources:

National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Census Bureau

The Economic Contributions of Hunting. Southwick, Robert I. and Tom Allen.

International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Washington, D.C.

The Economic Contributions of Fishing. Southwick, Robert I. and Tom Allen.

American Sportfishing Association, Alexandria, Va.

The Eleventh Biggest Corporation in America

American Sportsmen

By any measure, American sportsmen are the most prominent and influential of all demographic groups. In fact, when you total their economic contribution, they pour $70 billion into the economy annually – with a whopping $179 billion in ripple effect. Which means a “corporation” of hunters and anglers would rank ahead of companies that are household names like Home Depot and AT&T.

Counting nearly 38 million Americans in their ranks, sportsmen are influential in other ways, too. There are more sportsmen than people who receive Social Security retirement benefits. Twice as many people hunt and fish as belong to labor unions. And if all sportsmen had voted in the 2000 presidential election, they would have equaled 36% of the entire vote. Moral of the story – never underestimate the size or importance of American sportsmen.

• Sportsmen contribute $54 every second, $3,420 every minute, $194,400 every hour, $4.7 million every day, adding up to $1.7 billion every year for conservation.
• Each year, sportsmen generate over 6 times -- $70 billion vs. $10.5 billion – more silver and gold than tinsel town’s top 40 movies of all time.
• More Americans start the day in a deer stand, on a bass lake, or in a duck blind than receive combined circulation of the top 20 daily newspapers in the U.S., including USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal – 38 million vs. 4 million.
• Sportsmen could fill every NFL and Major League Baseball stadium as well as every NASCAR track 6 times over – 38 million vs. 6.1 million.
• Sportsmen support more jobs nationwide than the number of people employed by Wal-Mart, the country’s largest corporation -- $1.6 million vs. 1 million.
• Five million more Americans fish than play golf.
• The $2.4 billion in annual federal income-tax money generated by hunters’ spending could cover the annual paychecks of 100,000 troops. That’s 8 divisions, 143 battalions, and 3,300 platoons.
• Hunters spend $605 million on their hunting dogs, well more than the $513 million skiers spend on ski equipment.
• A portion of taxes collected from anglers and boaters – as much as $70 million a year – is used to increase public access by improving or creating boating facilities and to educate new or young fishermen about conservation. Hunters and shooters pitch in about $36 million to teach safety and wildlife management to new hunters.

National Perspective
The latest studies show that annual spending by America’s 14 million hunters approximates $22.1 billion. By comparison, and if hypothetically ranked as a “corporation,” that revenue figure would put hunting in thirty-fifth place on the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest businesses, right between commercial giants J.C. Penney and the United States Parcel Service. The impact on the American economy of all that spending is extraordinary. When that spending figure was “crunched” recently by economic analysts to account for the “ripple” or economic-multiplier effect, hunters’ spending was shown to have:

• Created a nationwide economic impact of $61 billion.
• Supported 704,600 million jobs, or nearly 1 percent of America’s entire civilian labor force, in all sectors of the American economy.
• Created household income (salaries and wages) totaling $16.1 billion, which is roughly equivalent to 25% of America’s entire military payroll.
• Added $1.4 billion to state tax revenues, or nearly 1 percent of all annual state tax revenues combined.
• Contributed $1.7 billion in federal income taxes, which equates to almost half of the entire federal budget for commerce.
Noteworthy also is the following:
• Hunters’ license fees currently contribute $950 million annually to state fish and game departments.
• In 1937, the Pittman-Robertson Act on Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act was passed. This meant the receipts from 10% excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition was transferred from the general treasury to state wildlife conservation programs. This was increased to 11% during World War II. This tax now yields $130 million per year for wildlife conservation programs.
• In 1970, the Dingell-Hart Bill was enacted, creating a 10% excise tax on handguns. This Act now generates $40 million per year for wildlife restoration.
• In 1972, the Dingell-Gooding Bill was enacted placing an 11% excise tax on archery equipment, which amounts to $20 million annually for wildlife restoration.
• A levy on fishing equipment contributes $200 million annually to wildlife conservation.

NOTE: All of the aforementioned proceeds are divided among 50 states. The money is used to fund state programs, such as fish and wildlife restoration, research and the purchasing and development of wildlife management areas. It is important to note that the lands purchased with this money are not only for hunters and anglers, but for all outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy.

State of Maryland Perspective
145,000 Hunters
701,000 Anglers

Spend over $881 Million

THIS SPENDING SUPPORTS….
14,000 Maryland jobs

$340 Million Salaries and Wages
$ 51 Million State Tax Revenue
$1.36 Billion Ripple Effect on the State Economy

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK
• Maryland sportsmen could fill M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, more than ten times (752,000* vs. 69,084).
• There are twice as many sportsmen in Maryland than members of labor unions (752,000* vs. 353,000).
• Annual spending by Maryland sportsmen is 16 times the value of the State’s commercial seafood landings ($881 million vs. $54 million).
• Maryland sportsmen annually spend an amount equal to 59% of the Gross State Product from agriculture ($881 million vs. $1.5 billion).
• Sportsmen annually account for $51.4 million in State sales, fuel and income taxes which could fund 1,207 teachers’ salaries or fund the annual education expenses for 6,585 students.

For more information, please contact:
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (202) 543-6850

The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation works on behalf of current and future generations of Americans to protect the right and increase the opportunity to hunt, trap and fish by serving as the sportsmen’s link to Congress.

*The figure for sportsmen is less than the combined number of hunters and anglers because a respondent who is both a hunter and an angler is counted in each category above.