Demand for Resident Hunting in the Southeastern United States

We modeled hunting demand among resident hunters in the Southeastern United States. Our model revealed that future hunting demand will likely decline in this region. Population growth in the region will increase demand, but structural change in the region's demography (e.g., “browning” and “aging”), along with declining forestland access will decrease hunting demand. The results suggested that programs encouraging younger and non-white populations to participate in hunting could mitigate a forecast hunting decline in the region. Increasing license fees, while politically risky, should increase agency revenues due to price-inelastic demand. The model developed here can be applied to understand and project hunting demand in the Southeast and adapted to other regions.