September 14, 2017

NSSF Program Hunting Works for America Arrives in the Empire State

By Chris Dolnack, NSSF Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

It’s that time of year again! The time of year when we announce our newest Hunting Works For America chapters! This year, it’s with great pride and excitement that I welcome Hunting Works For New York to the stable of growing state programs. The chapter officially kicked-off activities with a press conference at Bass Pro Shops in Utica, New York.

We all know the Empire State is huge on so many levels but some people forget that New York is a huge state for hunting. Growing up in Pennsylvania, I heard firsthand accounts of the awesome deer hunting and large tracts of forest available in New York. That hasn’t changed.

Hunters and the hunting heritage contribute to New York in big ways. Let’s start with participation. Over 823,000 people hunt in the state each year and every single one of them is contributing to the state’s economy and conservation efforts. Taking this a step further, these 823,000 hunters make New York the third highest in terms of numbers and account for a respectable 6 percent of all U.S. hunters. These numbers aren’t just impressive in terms of participation, they are an economic engine for the state. All told these hunters spend $2.3 billion annually on the sport they love and that translates into $1.2 billion in salaries and wages and 23,700 jobs. The total economic ripple effect of hunting in New York is $3.6 billion. To put this in perspective, according to a recent survey last year Americans spent around $8 billion on sports themed video games.

That’s a huge impact.

In 2010, we started Hunting Works For America so that we could highlight the impact hunters have in states across the country. We believed then, and still do today, that people need to know the important role hunting and shooting sports play in the heritage and economic health of states across the United States. In every state with a Hunting Works partnership we have successfully utilized the communications program to educate officials and to raise public awareness about the importance of hunting and the shooting sports.

Because of the important economic impact the sport has on local economies we also must keep an eye on public policy decisions and hunting-related issues. And given the aforementioned impressive statistics, we’re particularly paying attention to issues that may or may not impact New York’s hunters and it’s economy. Hunting and shooting sports face more and more challenges every day, and we’re here to weigh in and support New York jobs.

We are thrilled and excited about this new chapter.

Watch for another exciting announcement on this front two weeks from today!

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