Archived Story

Agency calculates financial impact of hunting
Posted on Sept. 4
By the Associated Press

HELENA - Expenditures by hunters in Montana injected nearly $270 million into the state's economy last year, according to figures from the state wildlife agency.

Elk hunters alone spent more than $100 million, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said. The agency pegged deer hunters' outlay at $85 million.

The numbers show that hunting is part of Montana's "fabric," said Ron Aasheim, a spokesman for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The total of nearly $270 million includes the impact of bird hunting, Aasheim said.

Montana last year issued 107,000 licenses for elk hunting and 157,000 licenses for deer hunting. State residents collectively spent 1.6 million days afield as they hunted deer and elk. Nonresidents pursuing those species were in the field a collective 264,000 days.

Resident sportsmen spent a daily $81 to hunt elk, compared to $383 a day spent by nonresidents.

Hunters killed 135,000 deer, 34,000 antelope and 27,000 elk. About 35 percent of the elk and 75 percent of the antelope taken were on private land. Sixty percent of the mule-deer harvest and 68 percent of the white-tail deer harvest occurred on private property.

Jay Sherley, part owner of Capital Sports & Western Wear in Helena, said hunting-related sales take place all year but intensify in August as archery hunters prepare for their season and in September as rifle hunters get ready. Hunting season is "one of our Christmases," Sherley said.
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