EDITORIAL
Deer hunting has huge economic
impact on Texas and it’s growing
This week there’s something new in your Reporter. Our first annual deer hunting guide is included as a tabloid insert in this issue, to provide you information as gun deer hunting season gets underway on Saturday.
Not only is the first weekend in November something in between an obsession and a rite of passage in Texas, it is also a factor in our state’s economy.
It’s in the numbers.
According to a recent economic impact survey from U. S. News & World Report, hunting-related expenditures in Texas for the most recent year in which statistics are available, totaled $1.8-billion.
Some of that breaks down this way:
• Expenditures for food and lodging were $332 million.
• Hunters spent $538-million on equipment and $194-million on auxiliary items (tents, special clothes, etc.)
• Equipment rental was $126-million.
• Items such as licenses, permits and land leasing were put at $460-million.
But there’s more to hunting. Deer breeding has a huge economic impact, according to a study last year by the Agricultural & Food Policy Center at Texas A&M.
It found the total economic activity of deer breeding in Texas supports 17,000 jobs and the great majority of those are in rural areas.
The number of permitted breeding facilities in Texas grew from 946 to 1,257 in a decade, a 33-percent increase.
Isn’t it all in the Hill Country?
Obviously, there’s a lot of great hunting in that fabled region of Texas but, as anyone interested in Milam County hunting, the answer to that question is a definite “no.”
Alan Cain, whitetail program leader for Texas Parks & Wildlife, pointed out the state now has a population of about 4 million deer-and growing and adds: “Places like the Hill Country obviously have a pile of deer, but you’re also seeing that population start to grow in the Blackland Prairie Range.”
He pointed out deer populations are showing a healthy increase east of I-35.
Do we need to point out that I-35 bisects the county adjacent to Milam on the west and you get into the Blackland Prairie between Rockdale and Thorndale?
Who benefits from all this activity? Pretty much everybody.
Deer hunting and breeding pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the Texas economy and much of it heads to mom-and-pop shops, outfitters and more.
It’s a win-win for Texas. Enjoy the hunting guide—M.B.
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