I had a terrible dream the other night. Not a Stephen King-style horror that haunts you in the dark, but a different kind of nightmare. In it, hunting simply didn’t exist. No rifles, no bows, no shotguns. No hunters wandering the woods. A world without one of America’s oldest traditions.
I thought about how lucky we are to live in a country where, with few exceptions, nearly anyone can hunt. There are safety courses, age requirements and regulations to follow, but for most Americans, the freedom to hunt remains. It is a gift, one that many, including hunters themselves, often take for granted.
But what if we couldn’t? What would happen to wildlife populations and the millions of acres of habitat maintained today in large part because of hunting?
Hunting is not just a pastime. It is a major driver of conservation and economic support. In 1937, Congress passed the Pittman-Robertson Act, which imposed an 11 percent tax on sporting arms and ammunition. Amendments later included pistols, bows, arrows and crossbows. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the funds, more than $22 billion has been collected since the act’s creation. In 2020 alone, over $601 million was allocated to states and U.S. territories.
If not for hunters, much of that money would not exist. In 2020, Alaska would have missed out on about $25 million, California more than $19 million, Texas over $27 million and Pennsylvania nearly $21 million. Maine lost more than $7 million in fiscal year 2021. Those funds support vital wildlife and conservation programs for everyone, not just hunters.
This does not include revenue from hunting licenses. In 2020, more than 15 million licenses were sold in the United States, generating over $1 billion. Combined, these funds are the lifeblood of wildlife agencies, in some states covering more than 80 percent of the revenue used to support programs for game and non-game species alike.
The economic impact extends beyond government coffers. Hunters spend millions annually on clothing, ATVs, game cameras and more. Those dollars fuel jobs for guides, outfitters and sporting goods retailers. According to a report by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, hunting generates 680,000 jobs and adds over $9 million to the U.S. economy every day. Remove hunting, and those jobs and revenues disappear.
Yet few Americans give hunters credit for the bounty of wildlife around them. In the early 1900s, barely half a million whitetail deer existed in the country. Today, that number exceeds 30 million. Elk, pronghorn, turkeys, bears, waterfowl and other game species thrive because hunter dollars have financed research and conservation for more than 80 years. Even songbirds, raptors, amphibians and reptiles have benefited.
It is difficult to imagine what America’s wildlife and habitats would look like today had hunting and its financial contributions vanished. Federal agencies might pick up some of the slack, but considering how things work in Washington, the gap would be significant.
As Theodore Roosevelt said, “In a civilized and cultivated country wild animals only continue to exist when preserved by sportsmen. The excellent people who protest against all hunting and consider sportsmen as enemies of wildlife are ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman is by all odds the most important factor in keeping wild creatures from total extinction.”
I don’t know if hunters are born or made, but the passion runs deep. Hunting means different things to different people. For me, it is about putting meat on the table, but it is also much more. The woods and fields are my cathedral, a place where I find peace, rejuvenation and a sense of being whole. Those opposed to hunting might find that elsewhere. I have yet to see it. I feel sorry for those who never understand the need or passion as I do. I hope I never find out.
