Into the woods: Pandemic fuels rising interest in hunting. Can it last?
COVID-19 crisis continues to push people toward outdoor hobbies
New hunter licenses up 90 percent in Michigan
Spillover economic effects are uneven
Carlos Osorio/Associated Press
Outdoor industries including the hunting business have benefited from rising interest in outdoor activities, including deer hunting.
On Sunday, as many as 76,000 new hunters will disperse across Michigan's leaf-covered meadows and oak forests in search of bagging their first whitetail deer.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many across the state, and the U.S., to abandon some preferred pastimes — such as keeping a scoresheet from the stands of Comerica Park or clinking glasses with friends at the corner bar — and take on more primitive pursuits.
Hunting is one of many outdoor activities fueled by the pandemic. U.S. bicycle sales from April to July climbed 81 percent over 2019 with total sales through July of $3.4 billion, according to a September report by market research firm The NPD Group. New boat sales — from Jet-Skis to yachts — in May were the highest in a decade, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
But with cold weather approaching and the deer rut — the breeding season when bucks move around more — peaking, COVID-19 has paused a decades-long decline in hunting across Michigan.
The state has seen a 1 percent to 3 percent annual decline in hunting license sales since 1996, said Dustin Isenhoff, marketing and outreach division specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
"Previous barriers to hunting, according to surveys, has always been lack of access and time," Isenhoff said. "Because of COVID, whether that's commuting or some other hobby, whatever was competing with that time has been eliminated, so we're seeing more interest in hunting."
Michigan DNR
Dustin Isenhoff, marketing and outreach division specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
This year, total unique customer hunting license sales were 498,752 through Oct. 31, a nearly 13 percent increase over 2019. Deer hunting license sales are up 15 percent. New hunting license customers — those who haven't acquired a hunting license in at least five years — are up 89 percent year over year, according to data provided by the DNR.
Nonresident hunters are up nearly 22 percent this year — which may cause concern as more than 19,000 out-of-state hunters descend on Michigan as COVID-19 has hit overdrive this fall.
But the rise in hunting licenses is causing a positive downwind economic benefit; however, not everyone in the industry is hitting their bag limit.
Russ Becker, store manager for the Troy location of Sportsman's Warehouse.
Russ Becker, store manager for the Troy location of Utah-based outdoor sporting goods retailer Sportsman's Warehouse, said sales are up across all the store's segments, though hunting equipment isn't as hot as some other outdoor gear.
"Our hunting equipment is up, but so is our whole total sales and it's not like other areas," Becker said. "We can't keep kayaks in stock, but we haven't seen that kind of enthusiasm for hunting gear. But from some of the new hunters we've seen, we've learned that Michigan is so deeply entrenched in the hunting heritage, (guns and equipment) is being passed down."
With nearly 550,000 Michigan residents on some form of unemployment benefits, purchasing new gear may not rise to the top of economic needs, Isenhoff said. And new hunters, unencumbered by ads for the latest and greatest hunting gear, may be simply using nonspecialized clothing and gear they already own.
The data may support the theories. Hunters aged zero to 9 years old were the fastest-growing age segment in 2020, pointing to fathers and mothers taking children to the tree stand and field blind with them as play dates remain precarious during the pandemic.
In fact, younger hunters far outpaced growth in the sport in 2020, with hunters 44 years old and younger growing at 17.1 percent versus growth of 9.2 percent for those 45 and older. Women hunters represent a 24 percent increase this year as well.
The younger generation's entry into the sport has given rise to new technologies, such as the mobile app HuntWise by Grand Rapids-based Sportsman Tracker Inc. The app provides mapping for hunters to discern topography as well as public and private lands, community log for record keeping and a hunting forecast that tracks weather variables for optimal hunting times.
"COVID has helped create a reawakening of the outdoors, and it's a beautiful thing," said Jeff Courter, president and CEO of the 13-employee company. "But if you look at how you people are coming to hunting, COVID has nothing to do with it. Maybe it gets them out in the woods for the first time this year, but we're seeing more and more hunters that didn't learn from a parent or grandparent. They are transitioning from a camping or hiking lifestyle to a fly-fishing lifestyle or to a hunting and clean-eating perspective. The route to getting to hunting is different now. We've seen a huge influx of people who want a clean source of meat. Eating what they harvest, not just the pursuit. There's strategy involved in that."
Courter provides that strategy in two versions of the popular app with 1 million active users. The app costs $60 per year for the basic version and $120 per year for an advanced version that provides year-round deer hunting strategies. Sportsman Tracker revenue is up three-fold in September and October than the same months a year ago, Courter said.
Twice as many people fish than hunt in Michigan — the Michigan DNR sold 1.2 million fishing licenses this year — but hunters spend twice as much money, about $2,400 annually, Courter said.
HuntWise is in the process of adding a new version to its app that will also track the timing of the deer rut based on an algorithm created by longtime whitetail deer expert and founder of Munising-based Whitetail Habitat Solutions LLC.
Courter said several of his administrative and developer staff are now learning to hunt.
"It's fun," he said. "As we've really dove into the outdoor world, and hunting specifically as a company, some are now experiencing hunting for the first time. It helps us toward what we're building."
The growth in hunting is even helping those connected to the sport in name only.
The 97-year old Huron River Hunting and Fishing Club in Farmington has no official ties to the world of hunting and fishing anymore, evolving to a social dining club in recent decades. But its new members are increasingly more interested in the club's animal-mounted history of fly fishing on the Huron River and bear hunts in Northern Michigan, said Mark Snitchler, president of the 500-member club and partner at Plymouth-based law firm Hubbard Snitchler & Parzianello PLC.
"This year, more than the past, we've had prospects interested in hunting and fishing," Snitcher said. "The club was founded by hunters and fisherman but evolved over time. Maybe it's evolving again."
That's the remaining question for all those involved in the hunting industry: Does the renewed interest signal the sport is evolving again?
"We don't know much right now," Isenhoff said. "But it's important to remember that 92 percent of our hunters were deer hunters last year. These new hunters are a smaller part of the puzzle, but we hope to keep them."
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