Shooting Sports Summit Mark Damian Duda & Frank Briganti Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Produced under a grant for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Federal Aid, Federal Aid in Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Grant Agreement CT-M-6-0 The Future of Hunting and the Shooting Sports: Research-Based Recruitment and Retention Strategies

Responsive Management & NSSF Charting the course for the industry’s future….

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Fish and Wildlife Populations Focus of Fish and Wildlife Management Fish and Wildlife Professionals Fish and Wildlife HabitatsHuman Populations

Responsive Management & NSSF 650, million

Responsive Management & NSSF 40,0001 million

Responsive Management & NSSF rarely seen 5.5 million

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Fish and Wildlife Populations Focus of Fish and Wildlife Management Fish and Wildlife Professionals Fish and Wildlife HabitatsHuman Populations

Responsive Management & NSSF Methodology  Literature Review  Focus Groups  Surveys General Population Active Hunters Ex-Hunters Active Shooters Ex-Shooters  Focus Groups

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 n = 5,040 general population (includes hunters and shooters)  n = 1,053 hunters and shooters

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Alabama Youth Dove Hunt

Responsive Management & NSSF First Shots

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 261 pages  196 action items  Focus on Problem Solution  Action items range from: What to understand: changing demographics and time issues How to communicate: legal, regulated hunting; safe and controlled How to conduct R & R programs: non-lethal firearms at first (“training wheels”) What not to do: single-parent households  No silver bullet, but lots of shot

Participation in Hunting and the Shooting Sports Responsive Management & NSSF

Hunting Participation

Responsive Management & NSSF  Between 14 million and 18 million U.S. residents participate in hunting in any given year.

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Active hunters are more likely than are inactive hunters to have the following characteristics:  Currently has family members who hunt.  Has fished in the past 5 years.  Has camped in the past 5 years.  Has friends who hunt.  Is between 18 and 34 years old.  Has gone boating in the past 5 years.  Has been invited to go hunting with a friend.  Has gone hiking in the past 5 years.  Rates access for hunting in state of residence as excellent or good.  Has viewed wildlife in the past 5 years.  Is male.  Was first taken hunting by his or her father.  Lives in a small city or town or a rural area.  Grew up in a household with firearms.  Was younger than the median age when first went hunting. Responsive Management & NSSF social support younger initiated by father initiated at a young age

Inactive hunters are more likely than are active hunters to have the following characteristics:  Does not currently have family members who hunt.  Does not have friends who hunt.  Has not been invited to go hunting with a friend.  Is 35 years old or older.  Is female.  Was not first taken hunting by his or her father.  Lives in a large city/urban area or a suburban area.  Did not grow up in a household with firearms.  Rates access for hunting in state of residence as fair or poor.  Started hunting when older than the median initiation age of hunters. Responsive Management & NSSF no social support older urban initiated at an older age not initiated by father

Responsive Management & NSSF Trends in Hunting Participation

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 Urbanization  Aging Society  Fewer Whites  Less Access  Less Opportunity

Responsive Management & NSSF  Loss of land  Loss of rural people  Dilution of the hunting and shooting culture  Less free time and more time to travel  More structured time Urbanization

Responsive Management & NSSF Hunting and shooting are often “unstructured” activities that exist in a structured 21 st Century.  Action Item 48. Make efforts to get hunters and shooters to schedule their activities…. People make time for scheduled activities. A campaign to “put it on the calendar” should be considered, targeted at active hunters and shooters.

Responsive Management & NSSF Where Did the Hunters Go?

Responsive Management & NSSF  Action Item 34. Do not spend limited agency resources targeting single-parent households for recruitment and retention efforts.

 Trends in hunting participation need to be put into context of trends regarding participation in outdoor recreation as a whole. Research suggests declining trends in most outdoor recreation. (Pergams and Zaradic, 2008) Responsive Management & NSSF

Shooting Participation

Responsive Management & NSSF  Almost 19 million U.S. residents participate in shooting sports in any given year, excluding hunting, bowhunting, and archery.

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Trends in Shooting Participation

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Hunting Initiation

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Hunting Motivations

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Dissatisfactions Among Active Hunters

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Reasons for Hunting Desertion

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Trends in Reasons Hunters Quit

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Shooting Initiation

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Shooting Retention

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Shooting Mentorship

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Mentorship  Action Item 24. When encouraging mentoring, use the term, “experience,” such as “sharing the experience,” because that word resonates well as a motivation for mentors.  Action Item 27. In a corollary to Step Outside, support efforts to prompt children to ask adults to take them hunting or shooting…

Responsive Management & NSSF Dissatisfactions Among Active Shooters

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Reasons Non-Shooters Don’t Shoot

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Crossover Participation Between Hunting and Shooting

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Crossover of Hunting and Shooting  Action Item 100. Realize that recruiting shooters from the ranks of hunters will be easier than recruiting hunters from the ranks of shooters.  Action Item 101. Move quickly in recruiting crossover participation, as data show that this crossover, when successful, typically occurs within 3 years of first participation in the other activity.

Responsive Management & NSSF Target Markets

Responsive Management & NSSF 1Active hunters who are likely to continue hunting 2Active hunters who are hunting less frequently 3 Active hunters who are at high risk of deserting the sport 4 Inactive hunters who may be easily persuaded to start hunting again 5 Inactive hunters who are less likely to be persuaded to start hunting again 6Non-hunters who are very interested in hunting Identified Hunting Markets

Responsive Management & NSSF 1 Active shooters who are likely to continue shooting 2 Active shooters who are at high risk of deserting the sport 3 Inactive shooters who may be easily persuaded to start shooting again 4 Inactive shooters who are less likely to be persuaded to start shooting again 5Non-shooters who are very interested in shooting Identified Shooting Markets

Responsive Management & NSSF  Action Item 62. Target young adults, especially males, who are outdoor enthusiasts with hunting and shooting recruitment efforts and promote hunting and shooting as part of an overall outdoor lifestyle.

Responsive Management & NSSF  Action Item 64. Do not assume that all inactive hunters and inactive shooters are “low hanging fruit.” those who went only once or twice aging hunters and shooters those with similar demographics to active hunters and shooters

Responsive Management & NSSF Hunting and Shooting Recruitment and Retention Programs

Responsive Management & NSSF Awareness of Recruitment and Retention Programs

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Participation in Recruitment and Retention Programs

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Interest in Programs and Opportunities Among Shooters

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Alabama Youth Dove Hunt Responsive Management & NSSF  Follows the natural path of recruitment and retention  Experiential  Annual event  Community event (enforces the hunting culture)  Occurs in the open  Starts with small game  Can observe without participating

Responsive Management & NSSF Communicating to the Public About Hunting and Shooting

Responsive Management & NSSF Public Opinion on Hunting

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“Hunting” versus “legal hunting” or “regulated hunting.” Responsive Management & NSSF

Public Opinion on the Shooting Sports

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Communicating to the Public About Hunting and Shooting  Action Item 168. Clearly communicate to hunters and shooters that their future is in their own hands regarding the image of these sports.

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General Action Items for Agencies and Organizations Responsive Management & NSSF

 Action Item 171. Develop a national strategic plan for hunting and shooting recruitment and retention.  Action Item 172. Encourage states to develop their own strategic plans that fall under the national strategic plan. If funding becomes available, a strategic plan based on the national goals and national strategic plan could be a prerequisite to receive funding.  Action Item 84. Fully evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation.

Responsive Management & NSSF  Action Item 175. Consider developing an annual National Hunting and Sport Shooting Recruitment and Retention Conference.  Action Item 176. Consider developing a National Conservation Training Center course for hunting and shooting professionals to teach them the human dimensions aspects of hunting and the shooting sports.

Responsive Management & NSSF  Action Item 179. Support classes that teach students about hunting, such as the course on hunting at West Virginia University.  Action Item 180. Note that insufficient funds or resources can doom agency and organization efforts.  Action Item 181. Assign full-time personnel, or even a unit within an agency, to recruitment and retention, as part-time attention is simply not enough.

Responsive Management & NSSF A Final Action Item  Action Item 196. Put these actions into place as soon as possible. While proper planning is essential, plans cannot be left in the planning stage without follow-through.

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