The effects of hunter‐education requirements on hunting participation and recruitment in the United States

Abstract

The effects of required hunter‐education programs on hunter recruitment and participation were examined using the 1980, 1985, and 1990 screener surveys from the U.S. National Surveys of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife‐Associated Recreation. Information provided by states on their requirements for hunter education allowed us to determine whether people were required to take an education course before they could purchase a hunting license. We estimated the effect of hunter‐education requirements on hunting participation, controlling for the person's age, sex, and race/ethnicity, as well as for the percentage of the state's population living in rural areas and the regional level of hunting participation in 1955 (as a surrogate for hunting culture). In 1980, 23 states with no hunter‐education requirement had an overall hunting participation rate of 12%, while participation in states with a hunter‐education requirement for all hunters was 6%. States with requirements were, however, more urban and had lower participation rates in 1955. When the individual and state‐level factors associated with hunter participation are controlled statistically, the difference in participation was less than 1% (p < .01) for persons required or not required to take a hunter‐education course. Hunter education also reduces first‐time hunting rates for persons age 16 and older. Individual‐level measures of residence and hunting culture, were they available, might further reduce estimated effects of hunter‐education requirements. Estimates of hunter‐education effects on hunting are for national‐level data and may not apply to particular states’ hunter‐education programs.