Wildlife recreation is good for business in Kentucky

​FRANKFORT, Ky. (February 29, 2024) — A newly released report from the 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation shows that wildlife recreation continues to be a major socio-economic force in Kentucky.​​​

The survey estimates that more than 4.3 million people spent $11.2 billion on fishing, hunting or wildlife watching activities in Kentucky during the calendar year. Nearly 2 million visitors to the state engaged in these activities.​​​

Among Kentucky residents age 16 or older, 660,000 (19%) fished, 316,000 (9%) hunted, and 2.5 million (71%) actively observed wildlife in 2022. Many participated in more than one activity.​​​

“I’m very pleased to see strong participation in wildlife-related activities continue,” said Rich Storm, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Healthy fish and wildlife populations are vital for keeping the fabric of our wonderful commonwealth strong. They directly contribute to our quality of life and livelihood in so many ways, from providing healthy activity and food, to supporting the manufacture and sales of outdoor equipment, vehicles and fuels.”​​​

Participation estimates for Kentucky in 2022 include:​​​

• Nearly one million (968,000) people age 16 or older fished, taking some 7.5 million fishing trips spanning 13 million angler-days;
• 435,000 people hunted, taking a total of 3.7 million trips across 4.9 million hunter-days;
• 4.3 million wildlife watchers — including 2.4 million residents who observed wildlife around the home and 1 million residents observing while on trips away from home, plus 1.8 million nonresidents — spent 204 million watcher-days during 20 million trips to watch wildlife.

Expenditure estimates accounted for all items invested by participants for the activities during the year, ranging from trip-related expenses such as fuel, lodging and food, to equipment and clothing, to vehicles or land purchased. In 2022, anglers spent a total of $2.5 billion (averaging $2,600 per participant), hunters $2.3 billion ($5,200 each), and wildlife watchers spent $6.4 billion ($1,500 each) enjoying their pursuits. ​​​

The National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation is one of the longest running outdoor surveys, typically conducted every 5 years since 1955. The 2022 survey was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, which performs public opinion research on a variety of important topics for both governmental and private sector organizations. The survey was made possible with grant funding from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in conjunction with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA).​​​

​​​“Because of significant changes in methodology used in this iteration of the survey, 2022 estimates should not be directly compared with those in previous reports from this ongoing survey effort,” noted Brian Clark, deputy commissioner for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “These results clearly show the importance of wildlife recreation to Kentucky but should not be used for trend analyses,” added Clark, who serves on an AFWA working group that helps to guide the survey effort over time.

​​​In the survey report, statistics are provided primarily for participants ages 16 and above, although some estimates for children’s activities were also generated through responses by parents. To conduct the survey, NORC collected data from more than 105,000 individuals representing about 42,000 households nationwide, including more than 4,000 Kentucky residents.

To learn more about wildlife-related activities in the commonwealth, visit Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s website at fw.ky.gov​.​​​