Moose Droppings

North Carolina Economy Gets a Boost From Sportsmen

Dec 27, 2007 @ 10:16 pm by Moose

I was reading in the Triangle Business Journal about how much hunters and fisherman contribute to the state’s economy. Do you realize that we have 1 million anglers and hunters in the state and that we spend 1.7 billion dollars a year on our sports? That is a staggering figure when you think about it. Sportsmen (& women) dump 170 million dollars into the state and local tax coffers and support a lot of jobs across the state.

“Spending by sportsmen benefits not only the manufacturers of hunting and fishing related products, but everything from local mom and pop businesses to wildlife conservation,” said Doug Painter, president of National Shooting Sports Foundation. “And because most hunting and fishing takes place in rural areas, much of the spending benefits less affluent parts of the state.”

There you go next time someone gives you heck about going hunting remind them that a good chunk of the State’s economy depends on us. Seriously though a lot of folks don’t realize how much others rely on the spending we do be it the farmer we lease land from, the farmer we buy corn from, the small store we stop in to grab a snack and top off our gas tank, or the dinner we eat at. All that adds up and in many parts of this state that is significant money being spent that if hunting and fishing was to go away that could not be made up.

Not to mention the amount of money we spend to preserve habitat and support conservation. Our outdoor lifestyle is important not only to us as individuals but to the entire state of North Carolina whether they realize it or not.