The National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, & Wildlife-Associated Recreation is coordinated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and provides information on individuals involved in fishing, hunting, and other wildlife-related recreation.

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a sillhouette of a person kayak fishing while floating on a large body of water. The sun sets behind them and the sky is colored blue and yellow
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The National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR) is typically conducted every five years and reports results from interviews with U.S. residents about their fishing, hunting, wildlife watching, and other recreation activities. The survey provides participation, expenditure, and activity-day estimates of American outdoor recreation.

Conducted since 1955, the surveys provide information on recent and long-term trends in participation. The wealth of information presented in each survey allows stakeholders, researchers, and agency partners to put current participation in perspective through data on recruitment and retention. Every survey contains an updated snapshot of fishing, hunting, wildlife watching, and other recreational data and includes information that fulfills the needs of both those who want high-level numbers and engaging graphics and those who need to take deeper dives into the data. The surveys also provide information on participants’ gender, age, and other demographics.

2016 FHWAR Quick Facts fact sheet with graphs and pie charts of wildlife watching.
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The most recently conducted survey publication is the 2016 National Report. This report focuses on 2016 participation and expenditures of Americans. In addition to 2016 numbers, the survey also provided trend information in the Highlights sections and Appendix C of the report. The 2016 numbers can be compared with those conducted since 1991 as they used similar methodologies. However, the 2016 estimates should not be directly compared with results from surveys conducted earlier than 1991 because of changes in methodology to improve accuracy.

The 2016 FHWAR was a national-level survey, but state-level estimates were modeled by the U.S. Census Bureau and are available by contacting Richard Aiken (Richard_Aiken@fws.gov). View and download 2016 Quick Facts from the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation.

The 2022 FHWAR survey is currently underway with results expected in the summer of 2023. The survey will provide important data on outdoor recreation participation, expenditure, and include additional information about the total number of target shooters, archers, and boaters.

Past Survey Resources

Select digital historic national surveys, state reports, and addendum resources can be viewed and downloaded from the Past Survey tab.

Work With Us

For survey specific questions and requests please contact Richard Aiken (Richard_Aiken@fws.gov).