Impact of Hunting on Pennsylvania

Here are some of the many ways that hunters impact our state’s economy, according to the Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation.

Pennsylvania’s 1.4 million hunters and anglers are among the most prominent and influential of all demographic groups, spending more than $3.5 billion a year on hunting and fishing, according to a new report.

That’s quite a lot.  Other interesting facts:

• Sportsmen support more jobs in Pennsylvania than Penn State University and the Philadelphia Airport combined (51,000 jobs vs. 45,000).
• Annual spending by Pennsylvania sportsmen is more than the revenues of York-based BonTon Stores ($3.5 billion vs. $3.1 billion).
• Annual spending by Pennsylvania sportsmen is more than the cash receipts from dairy products, cattle, greenhouse/nursery, mushrooms and broilers – the state’s top five grossing agricultural commodities ($3.5 billion vs. $3.1 billion).
• Pennsylvania sportsmen spend $104 million anually on outboard boats and engines to get out on the water and around the rivers for fishing and hunting.
• Pennsylvania sportsmen outnumber the combined populations of Allentown, Erie, Pittsburgh, Reading, and Scranton, two to one (1.4 million vs. 680,297).
• More Pennsylvania residents hunt and fish each year than attend Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia 76ers games combined (1.4 million vs. 1.3 million).
• The economic stimulus of hunting and fishing equates to an astounding $9.6 million a day being pumped into the state’s economy.

Certainly nothing to sneeze at.