National Survey Sheds New Light on Outdoor Participation

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has followed trends in the outdoors since 1955 by conducting the National Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation Survey about every 5 years. It’s a massive, continuous effort.

Public conservation and wildlife agencies across the U.S. – including the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) – and commercial enterprises rely on the survey to reveal peaks and valleys in the numbers of hunters, anglers and others who participate in outdoor-related endeavors. The latest version, the 2022 edition, marks a departure from methods used in the past.

“Though the intent of the survey remains the same, because of changes in the sampling design and how questions were asked, the USFWS is adamant that we not compare the results from the 2022 survey to previous iterations,” said Jessica Feltz, an AGFC conservation social scientist. “The 2022 survey is now serving as the new baseline for estimates of outdoor recreation in the United States.”

The survey is paid for by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ Multistate Conservation Grant Program.

“Starting with the 1985 survey, individual state-level reports became available,” Feltz said. “On top of the national survey, every state automatically got results of a subsample from those who took the survey from their state.”

These state reports were no longer automatic with the 2022 survey, although Arkansas was one of 15 states that opted for a state-specific report. Fighting the urge to make comparisons with previous surveys isn’t easy, although changes in the way the latest survey was conducted make a clear case that such comparisons would not be valid.

According to the latest survey, about 15 percent of Americans 16 and older fished an average of 20 days during 2022. Sixty-seven percent of them were male, 75 percent were white and 36 percent were in the 25-44 age group.

“The average expenditure per angler in 2022 was about $2,500,” Feltz said. “This could have been trip expenditures, equipment, license fees or other expenses.” Feltz pointed out that among ethnic groups, Asian-Americans had the highest rate of fishing participation at 20 percent.

About 5.5 percent of Americans hunted in 2022, and 80 percent of those pursued big game such as elk, deer, bear or wild turkey. They averaged 12 days hunting big game and 8 days chasing migratory birds, and spent an average of $857 on hunting-related costs. Seventy-seven percent of hunters were male, and 35 percent were 55 or older. About 270,000 Arkansans hunted, or 19 percent of residents 16-34. Eighteen percent of men and 6 percent of women hunted; they spent about $1.7 billion.

Sport-shooting statistics were included in the survey for the first time, revealing that 47 million Americans participated in target shooting in 2021. Nineteen million people participated in target archery and 48 million took part in motorized pleasure boating (not fishing). These figures are just a glimpse of the statistics captured within the revamped national and state surveys, which will stand up to comparison in the future.

Visit the USFWS survey site to learn more about the results of the survey on a national level.

NASP and S3DA Raise Money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Two of the most popular youth archery organizations, the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) and Scholastic 3-D Archery (S3DA), partnered for a second year to host a virtual fundraiser to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The two programs partnered during the month of January and encouraged all schools, clubs and teams to participate. Donations were made by archers, parents, family and friends in the name of the school or team on the tournament website.

This virtual event raised an astounding $16,980.62 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This is yet another example of archery saving lives one arrow at a time!

NASP President Dr. Tommy Floyd said, “We continue to enjoy our collaboration with S3DA and again we worked together and provided a ‘win’ for the kids of St. Jude. We look forward to future opportunities to work together, and we certainly hope other youth shooting sport organizations will join us in future efforts to help the kids of St. Jude. We know that participants in the shooting sports love to help others.”

S3DA Executive Director, Holly Helton said, "It's always an honor to work alongside industry partners such as NASP for the recognition and support of great organizations like St. Jude. S3DA is proud to collaborate with them and we challenge all other organizations to join us in our efforts. When we work together, nothing is impossible!"

NASP archers can continue to participate in the St Jude E-Championship through April. Donations can be made in the name of the school or team by going to the tournament website. Click here for more information.

NASP Selects Winning Designs of 2024 Student T-shirt Contest

The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) is always looking for ways to celebrate its students, and this year’s student t-shirt design contest was a great example. Current NASP students were invited to design artwork that might become the official 2024 design for State and National NASP tournament shirts.

More than 80 student designs were entered from 24 states. Entrants included archers from 4th-12th grade using digital artwork, paintings, and drawings. There were no limits on what archers could create, and we were again impressed by the designs submitted. Many designs incorporated bows, arrows, and targets, while others thought outside the box with mascots, skylines and what NASP means to them.

The top 3 favorite designs were selected by a panel of NASP team members. The first-place design will be featured on the 2024 Eastern and Western Nationals T-shirt, and the second-place design will be featured on the 2024 State tournament T-shirts. Due to the amazing creativity of its students, NASP added a third category to be featured on the NASP Volunteer t-shirts at all national NASP events. The top 3 winners will win a standard color Genesis bow of their choice.

NASP would like to thank all student archers that entered, as well as the parents and coaches that assisted their students with the submission process. NASP looks forward to conducting the student t-shirt design contest again next year to see what its archers create! Look for updates on the 2025 t-shirt design contest coming next September.

USA Archery Launches Sweepstakes to Benefit Member Clubs

USA Archery has partnered with some of the biggest names in archery in launching the 2024 USA Archery Sweepstakes, which aims to benefit member clubs across the country.

Sweepstakes entries went on sale Nov. 1, 2023, and remain available for purchase through Aug. 1, 2024. Register early to be entered in all prize drawings through 2024!

Prize drawings will be made on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday of each week from January 1 through November 30, and daily in December in 2024, with hundreds of incredible prizes, thanks to more than 20 partners. The total value of all prizes is more than $100,000!

Among the prizes are bows, arrows, bowstrings, sights, stabilizer sets, binoculars, spotting scopes, tripods, gift cards, and a 10-day South African safari!

Sweepstakes entrants will be eligible for all prize drawings following their date of purchase and can win more than once. Visit the USA Archery Sweepstakes website to view the prizes and drawing calendar.

Fundraising is and always has been a key component in the growth of clubs and our sport,” said USA Archery CEO Rod Menzer. “In creating the USA Archery Sweepstakes, and through the enormous generosity of our industry partners, we see this as a truly amazing and unique opportunity to help generate revenue for the sport and our member clubs in a fun way.”

Proceeds from each entry will be split evenly between USA Archery and the USA Archery club selected at the point of purchase.

With each purchase, at a cost of $50 per entry, the buyer will have the option to choose where their money goes. With the click of a button on a dropdown menu the buyer may select a USA Archery club to receive half the proceeds from each purchase to support clubs to host tournaments, upgrade or maintain equipment or their range, support athletes, or however the club determines funds can best benefit and sustain their club. Alternatively, the buyer may select “no affiliation” to have 100% of funds support USA Archery to promote and grow the sport.

USA Archery would like to thank: American Whitetail, Athlon Optics, Easton, Elite, GAS Bowstrings, Hotel Planner, Hoyt, Lancaster Archery Supply, Mantis, Mathews, Maven, Morrell, RamRods Archery, Sandstone Safaris, Scott, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Steady Aim, TenPoint Crossbow Technologies, Trek, Truball/Axcel, Vortex, Win&Win.