Facts about the sports of fishing and hunting

Sometimes it is interesting and, yes, fun to just absorb facts, but facts are educational as well. Proving my point is easy by simply checking with the National Hunting and Fishing Day people and the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation people. Read on.

Fun fishing and hunting facts, gleaned from the National Hunting and Fishing Day people and the 2006 National Survey sponsored by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation in partnership with the National Shooting Sports Foundation:

Hunting Facts

The contributions, in the form of excise taxes paid on sporting firearms, ammunition and archery equipment, benefit every state and have generated approximately $5.6 billion for wildlife conservation since 1939, which was the result of the Pittman-Robertson Act. The contribution for 2009 is a record was nearly $336 million, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

An average hunter spends $1,638 every year on the sport. Teenage girls are the fastest growing market in sport shooting. According to research, 72 percent more women are hunting with firearms today than just five years ago. And 50 percent more women are now target shooting.

Americans hunt 228 million days per year. More than 38 million Americans hunt and fish. Hunters and anglers support more jobs nationwide than the number of people employed by Wal-Mart, but remember many Wal-Mart employees hunt and fish. Through license sales and excise taxes on equipment, hunters and anglers pay for most fish and wildlife conservation programs.

Hunters and shooters have paid more than $5 billion in excise taxes since 1939. More Americans hunt and shoot than play golf. Firearms are involved in less than 1 percent of all accidental fatalities. More Americans are killed in accidents involving vending machines than guns.

Fishing Facts

More than 44 million Americans, 6 years of age and older, enjoy fishing every year. An average angler spends $1,046 every year on the sport. Americans fish 557 million days per year. More than 38 million Americans hunt and fish. Over one quarter of all anglers are female.

Anglers and boaters have paid $3.6 billion in excise taxes since 1952. Recreational anglers spend a staggering $41.5 billion a year to fish. This has tremendous economic impacts. Anglers spend almost $300 million a year just on ice. Anglers spend more than $1 billion a year on bait alone

Without hunters and anglers, our economy would be a lot smaller. $76 billion smaller, in fact. That's how much they spend each year on their passion for the outdoors. If a single corporation grossed as much as hunters and anglers spend, it would be among America's 20 largest, ahead of Target, Costco and AT&T. But hunters' and anglers' influence goes even further. They create an economic "ripple effect" of $192 billion a year. They keep people working: not just in typical hunting and fishing jobs, but also in gas stations, retail, restaurants and hotels throughout every state and congressional district of the United States.

80 percent of sportsmen are likely voters, which is far more than the national average.

Hunters and anglers support twice as many jobs as the combined civilian payrolls of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force. If the $76 billion that sportsmen spend on hunting and fishing were the Gross Domestic Product of a country, sportsmen as a nation would rank 57 out of 181 countries.

Hunting and fishing Americans outnumber motor-sport fans by more than 2 to 1. In fact, they could fill every NASCAR track 13 times over. But remember motor-sport fans are also hunters and anglers.

Hunters value their canine companions, so much, in fact, they spend almost

half a billion dollars a year just on their dogs. Add up the populations of America's two largest cities, New York and Los Angeles. Roughly, that's

12 million people. But it's still less than the number of people who hunt. More people hunt than play tennis. More people hunt than ski. And they spend more time doing it, too.

The average hunter spends 18 days engaged in his passion each year. With 12.5 million individuals, that's 220 million days spent in the woods, fields and wetlands each year.

Of course, the bigger story isn't the time they spend. It's the money. At $1,992 per hunter per year, that's $24.9 billion pumped into our economy. And where do those billions go? Well, $2.1 billion goes just into food and drinks consumed on hunting trips. That's enough to feed 360,000 soldiers for a year. Another $56 million goes towards boat fuel alone, plus $30 million for boat trailers, motors and accessories. Bow hunters alone spend $674 million just on their bows and arrows.

Now here's one for you: Anglers spend $1.1 billion a year on bait alone

One in every six Americans 16 and older goes fishing. One quarter of all men do and 8 percent of all women.

Besides spending lots of money, anglers spend an average of 17 days a year on the water. That's in stark contrast to the 13 days the average American spends on vacation. And during those 17 days, they're supporting not just bait stands and boat makers, but gas stations, local motels, grocery and convenience stores, and of course, sporting goods retailers.

Simply put: The economic impact of fishing and hunting on our local economy is sizable.