Hunting, Target Shooting Becoming More Diverse Sports

Gone are the days of the old Pennsylvania Tuxedos and double-barrel shotguns. According to new research from The Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports

 Working in conjunction with the Outdoor Foundation, the group crunched the data on 30 million hunters and recreational shooters aged 6 and up and produced some interesting takeaways that point at a more demographically diverse pool of hunters in the field and target shooters on the range than ever before. Some interesting data points:

• Only 4.6 percent of the U.S. population ages 6 and over went hunting at least once and only 6.2 percent of the same group went target shooting
• 49 percent of hunters first participated before the age of 18
• 68 percent of hunters were introduced to hunting by a family member
• 27 percent of participants were female, up from 16 percent a decade ago
• 32 percent of target shooters were female, up from 25 percent a decade ago
• The share of hunters who were Black or Hispanic increased 4 percent and 1 percent, respectively, on average for each of the past 3 years
• Most hunters listed “For food/meat” as the number one motivation for hunting while target shooters listed “for recreation.”

The full 40-page report is here.