Americans’ Attitudes Toward Hunting and Sport Shooting 2024

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This study was conducted for the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (hereinafter referred to as the Council or CAHSS) to measure Americans’ attitudes toward hunting and sport shooting. This report also includes a trends analysis. The study entailed a scientific, probability-based multimodal survey of U.S. residents aged 18 and older. A discussion of the specific aspects of the research methodology follows.

The survey was conducted by telephone and online. Responsive Management and the Council developed the telephone and online survey questionnaires cooperatively. The questionnaires, in part, included questions from previous surveys to allow for a trends analysis. There were slight differences between the telephone and online versions of the survey to accommodate each survey mode, but otherwise the surveys were identical. Responsive Management conducted pre-tests of the questionnaires to ensure proper wording, flow, and logic in the survey.

The samples of U.S. residents (telephone and online) were obtained from and maintained by Marketing Systems Group, a firm that specializes in providing scientifically valid samples for survey research. For the telephone portion of the survey, the sample used a probability-based selection process that ensured that all U.S. residents with a telephone had an approximately equal chance of being selected for the survey within each region.

For both the online and telephone versions of the survey, the questionnaire was programmed to branch and substitute phrases in the survey based on previous responses to ensure the integrity and consistency of the data collection. After the surveys were obtained, the Survey Center managers and statisticians checked each completed survey to ensure clarity and completeness and to filter out any invalid respondents.

The analysis of data was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics as well as proprietary software developed by Responsive Management. For analysis of the combined telephone and online survey results, weighting was applied to ensure that the regions exactly matched U.S. Census data for U.S. residents 18 years old and older, and then the regions were weighted so that they would be in proper proportions for the nationwide results. The final sample was representative of all U.S. residents 18 years old and older.

Throughout this report, findings of the telephone survey are reported at a 95% confidence interval. For the entire sample, the sampling error is at most plus or minus 2.18 percentage points.

BASIC APPROVAL OF HUNTING AND RECREATIONAL SHOOTING

Rates of approval of legal hunting and legal recreational shooting are quite similar: 76% of Americans approve of each, while disapproval stands at 12% regarding hunting and 13% regarding recreational shooting.

The trends analysis found slightly less approval of hunting in 2024 compared to 2023, but that difference was not statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level. However, when compared to the high of 81% in 2021, the decline was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Approval of legal hunting is markedly higher among rural residents, males, and Midwest Region residents than among U.S. residents overall.

The trends analysis in approval of recreational shooting also showed a lower rate of approval in 2024 compared to 2023, a difference that was not statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level, and compared to 2021, a difference that was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Approval of legal recreational shooting is highest among rural residents, males, residents of small cities or towns, and residents of the Mountain West Region.

Large majorities of Americans agree that it is okay if other people hunt and recreationally shoot in accordance with laws and regulations: 87% of Americans agree that it is okay for others to hunt, and 85% of Americans agree that it is okay for others to recreationally shoot.

A question presented a continuum to people and asked them where they fall regarding their opinion on recreational shooting sports. While the large majority of Americans (61%) think that the shooting sports are perfectly acceptable, about a third (32%) have reservations about shooting sports.

The large majority of Americans say that their opinion on hunting and recreational shooting has remained about the same over the past few years (64% regarding hunting, 61% regarding recreational shooting). Otherwise, they are fairly evenly split on saying that their opinion has become more favorable or less favorable: 18% say more favorable and 16% say less favorable regarding hunting, and 17% say more favorable and 19% say less favorable regarding recreational shooting.

While the large majority of Americans (70%) say that most sport shooters know how to safely handle firearms and are careful, a substantial percentage (16%) say that they do not know how to properly handle firearms. When added to the percentage who responded with don’t know on the question (14%), 30% do not unequivocally say that most sport shooters know how to safely handle firearms and are careful.

APPROVAL OF MOTIVATIONS FOR HUNTING

Approval of hunting varies when the motivations are considered. The highest approval is hunting for food—the top two in the ranking shown in the graph. Next in the ranking are ecological motivations: doing so for conservation of wildlife and for wildlife management. Midway down the ranking are motivations related to protecting humans and property. The lowest ranked motivations are those related to human recreational reasons, such as hunting to spend time in nature, to spend time with family and friends, and so forth, with hunting for a trophy at the very bottom, where a majority disapprove. (The sums of strongly and moderately for both approval and disapproval are shown below each bar, summed on unrounded numbers.) There were relatively large increases (compared to 2023) in approval of hunting for the meat, to get locally sourced food, for the sport, and for the challenge.

APPROVAL OF SPECIES HUNTED

Approval of hunting varies by species. Hunting of common species, such as deer, has high approval, while hunting of less common species, such as mountain lion, has lower approval. (The sums of strongly and moderately for both approval and disapproval are shown below each bar, summed on unrounded numbers.) In the trends, hunting for several species had an increase in approval: deer, duck, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, and elk—the species with the highest approval to begin with.

APPROVAL OF HUNTING METHODS

Fair chase would appear to be a factor in approval of hunting methods: the lowest-rated methods are hunting on high-fenced property, hunting using high-tech gear, and hunting over bait. In the middle are hunting with dogs and hunting using scents. Meanwhile, at the top, approval for archery hunting is just slightly higher than approval for firearm hunting. (The sums of strongly and moderately for both approval and disapproval are shown below each bar, summed on unrounded numbers.) There was a substantial increase in approval for hunting with a firearm and hunting with a bow and arrow. None of the other methods had a marked increase in approval.

APPROVAL OF MOTIVATIONS FOR SPORT SHOOTING

In general, reasons that are perceived as more utilitarian are at the top, while less utilitarian reasons are at the bottom, in the graph showing approval of various motivations for sport shooting. Self-defense and practicing for hunting, both very utilitarian, are within the top three. Reasons that pertain to recreational aspects of shooting (spending time with others, for recreation, the challenge) have lower approval. (The sums of strongly and moderately for both approval and disapproval are shown below each bar, summed on unrounded numbers.)

CONSERVATION

Just under two thirds of Americans (62%) consider themselves conservationists. This does not mean that one third do not, because a substantial percentage do not know.

GENERAL REMARKS ABOUT TRENDS SHOWN IN THIS REPORT

The trends presented in this report allow a reader to develop an understanding of how opinions and attitudes about hunting and shooting have changed over time. As with most research, however, to fully understand why changes may have occurred, there is value in exploring more qualitative aspects of the environment in which data are collected. The following explores some of the possible reasons that public opinion has changed regarding hunting and shooting.

For decades, Responsive Management has conducted surveys to understand Americans’ attitudes and opinions about hunting and sport shooting. Recently in data collection on these topics, comments from respondents have suggested that some Americans with negative views of shooting do not see a clear distinction between shooting and hunting in general. Although a majority of Americans have indicated that they support both of these activities, with hunting approval often being higher than that of sport shooting, trends in opinion data suggest that, in response to events that involve firearms, there is a growing tendency among some Americans to conflate hunting with shooting, shooting with guns, and their negative attitudes on guns to negative attitudes toward hunting. It is not a large segment, but enough to account for an overall decrease in support for hunting.

In general, it may be that news of mass shootings may dampen approval of hunting and recreational shooting, even though the former has no connection whatsoever to mass shootings. As a specific example, in 2023, Americans were asked their opinion of hunting and shooting. The data collection began shortly after President Biden’s State of the Union speech in which he addressed gun violence and referred to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that had occurred 9 months earlier, and the shooting spree in San Mateo County, California, that had happened just a month before his speech.

Again, the data collected showed that support for hunting had declined when compared to previous years, even though those horrific events did not involve hunting.

It also appears that negative news about hunting can dampen approval of recreational shooting, as well. An example of one such instance occurred in July 2015 when Cecil, the African lion, was shot in Zimbabwe and media attention turned to negative depictions of hunting and hunters. Six months later, in 2016, a Responsive Management survey asked Americans about their support for hunting and shooting. While the decline in hunting was not unexpected because of this event, there was also a decline in support of sport shooting, as well.

While some specific aspects of hunting, such as hunting for deer or for the meat, do not show declines in approval, the continued decline in overall approval suggests that, for many, separating hunting and sport shooting can be difficult.

Approval might also possibly be increased because of media news. It may be that a recent rise in approval of hunting for meat is related to the current news regarding inflation. As an example, a Pew research poll recently showed that 72% of Americans are very concerned about the price of food. Data collected in 2024 show fairly substantial increases in support for hunting for the meat and to get locally sourced food. As more Americans have become insecure about their ability to afford food, obtaining food from alternate sources, such as from hunting, may be perceived more favorably.

While the data and trends shown in this report begin to tell the story of shifts in public opinion, in many cases the full story is better understood when put into context. When reviewing findings from this year and previous years, keep in mind events and cultural changes that might have contributed to the final results.