News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Adrian’s Sport Shop employee John Zampich organizes ammunition at the store on Tuesday. He said he believes fewer young people hunt these days.

ALPENA — Northeast Michigan small businesses that cater to hunting and fishing enthusiasts depend on the increased traffic before deer hunting season to bolster their bottom line, but a declining number of Northeast Michigan hunters could impact the industry down the road.

Data provided to The News by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources shows the number of Northeast Michigan residents with at least one deer hunting license declined by 2% between 2019 and 2023, a loss of nearly 300 Northeast Michigan hunters in five years and a continuation of a years-long trend of fewer people heading out to the woods trying to bag that big buck.

And that means fewer people spending money in the area as opening day of the firearm season approaches.

In 2019, Michigan United Conservation Clubs released a study that found hunting license sales and spending on related gear, food, and lodging contributed some $6.6 billion to Michigan’s economy, including $139.5 million in Northeast Michigan.

No one’s replicated that study in the years since to quantify how the declining number of hunters has affected the economy, but local sporting goods sellers said they’ve noticed a downturn.

Most local sporting goods stores lure in customers throughout the year by selling fishing gear and items like gas, drinks, and snacks, but business really ramps up as deer season draws near.

John Zampich, who has worked at Adrian’s Sport Shop in Rogers City for many years, said he believes fewer young people hunt nowadays.

He said he is unsure why, but he suspects it’s because today’s youth have become more involved with mobile devices and gaming systems and other pastimes that keep them indoors.

“Over the last five years, I believe the numbers are down,” Zampich said. “We need to find a way to get the kids away from their video games and get them outside to enjoy nature.”

Barb Cole works at Bob’s Vintage Guns near Alpena, which sells firearms and accessories all year round. Cole said hunters like to get an early start to deer season and bring their hunting rifles in early to be sighted in and for basic maintenance.

Over the last handful of years, Cole said, she’s noticed 20- to 30-year-olds show little excitement about hunting.

“That is the age group we just don’t see much,” she said. “They just don’t seem to have the interest.”

Amy Trotter, chief executive officer of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said that, while no one’s studied the economic impact of hunting since 2019, she would guess that higher prices for ammunition, firearms, and other gear has kept revenue high.

“The spending has not declined in the same proportion” as the number of hunters, she said.

Mike Mahler, executive director at the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber doesn’t specifically track the economic impact of hunting, but he has noticed less excitement around opening day than he saw when he first moved to the area more than a quarter-century ago.

“If it brings less people to the area and our restaurants and bars and sporting goods stores are negatively impacted by that, I care about that and I wish there was some way to stem the tide,” Mahler said.

Mary Beth Stutzman, president and CEO of the Alpena Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in an email to The News that a decline in the number of local hunters doesn’t say anything about the impact on Northeast Michigan tourism, because the DNR’s data doesn’t say whether downstate hunters traveled to our area.

However, she said other factors, including the discovery of bovine tuberculosis in Northeast Michigan deer herds, the discovery of chronic wasting disease in deer herds around the state, and local contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, have made the area difficult to market to hunters.

“What is unique about hunting in the Alpena region is that it is a multi-generational endeavor,” Stutzman wrote in the email to The News. “At one time this area was known as big buck camp country. Large family- and membership-camps, and more than 45,000 acres of state forest land in the area make the region a prolific hunting ground. Things started to change when TB (tuberculosis) and deer feeding bans came into the picture. Chronic wasting disease, as well as PFAS contamination have been in the media in recent years creating additional concern. This creates some difficulty in promoting the area as a hunting destination.”

The DNR data shows the number of hunters with licenses actually climbed slightly statewide over the last five years, though it remained down in 2023 compared to 2020, the peak year over the last five, and remained down significantly from a decade ago.

Zampich, of Adrian’s Sport Shop, said one demographic among which he has noticed a sizable jump in hunting participation is women.

For years, hunting was viewed as an activity exclusive to men. Now, Zampich said, women and girls of all ages have gotten the itch to go out to camp, sit in their blind, and try to bag a buck.

He said some of that is because there are younger people who are purchasing property and making hunting a more family-oriented event.

“The wives and girlfriends want to be more involved,” he said. “I have noticed a sharp increase in the amount of women hunting, but we really don’t track any numbers, so I don’t know how large of that increase is.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

For the last several weeks, reporters at The News have studied data and talked to hunters, economic development officials, wildlife officials, and outdoors supplies stores to understand the impact a decline in the number of hunters has had on Northeast Michigan.

Here’s what they found:

∫ FRIDAY: Hunting declines in Northeast Michigan

∫ TODAY: The economic impact of a decline in hunting

∫ MONDAY: The impact of a decline in hunting on the environment

∫ TUESDAY: Meet a family of multi-generational hunters

Check out the document below detailing the results of a Michigan United Conservation Clubs-commissioned study on the economic impacts of hunting and fishing in Michigan.

Study on Economic Impact of Hunting and Fishing by JustinHinkley on Scribd