The 2022 national survey of fishing, hunting and wildlife-associated recreation reports 56% of U.S. Hunting days target big game, most of which are for deer (all subspecies)

This $198,484.20 federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the Multistate Conservation Grant Program (CFDA 15.628) will fund a research project to help state agencies better understand the factors impacting deer hunting participation in the United States.

The project aims to gather input from deer managers and state recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) leaders to identify knowledge gaps, analyze 20 years of license sales data, and survey U.S. deer hunters to understand how regulatory changes and other factors have impacted deer hunting motivations and effort. The findings will be shared across state agencies to help coordinate their biological and R3 functions and develop more effective strategies to sustain and grow deer hunting participation nationwide.

Deer hunting opportunities have increased over the years as states have supported new harvest methods (muzzleloader, BOW, crossbow, etc.) and as deer populations have grown. However, whether out of necessity or resulting from public demand, deer management decisions involving opportunity, chronic waste disease (CWD), and antler restrictions more often impact deer hunting participation. By helping states understand the nexus between deer management, deer hunting opportunities, participation, and hunter recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3) efforts, this project will help states R3 programs become more effective. Also, improved coordination and better hunter data will help states increase hunter satisfaction and better meet target harvest objectives. This project will begin by gaining input from deer managers and state R3 leaders, thus providing a first step in better coordinating states R3 and biological efforts. Regional deer management and R3 committees will be engaged to identify knowledge gaps such as the number of deer hunting licenses sold (used as an indicator of participation) compared to actual participation, weapon preference trends, and how regulatory and disease factors may have impacted participation. The second phase will collect information from states to fill these gaps as best as possible. Using multivariate techniques, 20 years of license sales will be analyzed to better understand the effects of regulatory, disease and other changes on deer hunting participation. We will also survey U.S. Deer hunters to understand how regulatory changes to deer hunting opportunities has impacted motivations and effort. The final phase will share results and recommendations across all levels of state agencies to increase understanding of how states biological and R3 functions can better work together to sustain and grow deer hunting.