National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR)

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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.

2022 Survey Results

The most recently conducted survey publication is the 2022 FHWAR. This survey features data on 2022 participation in fishing, hunting, and wildlife-watching. The survey also provides data on shooters, archers, and boaters. The 2022 estimates should not be directly compared with results from past surveys because of changes in methodology to improve accuracy.

Survey infographics for hunting, angling, wildlife watching, target shooting, and motorized boats are available at partnerwithapayer.org/2022-national-survey/. 

Past Survey Resources

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