Later this morning, leaders from notable outdoor organizations and the industry itself will be in Washington for a briefing on the economic impact of hunting and fishing in America. From the USFWS and members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus to the American Sportfishing Association, the NSSF and television network executives will all be on hand for the briefing that says what most of us instinctively know: outdoorsmen (not a gender-specific term) spend money - plenty of it - on their activities.

So how much money?

According to the pre-release results, we generate $76 billion (that’s $76,000,000,000) annually- with more than $25 billion a year in federal, state and local taxes.

We represent 1.6 million jobs supported through those expenditures as well.

And most interestingly, the report says hunters and anglers are the original “green movement” - the more than $1 billion we spend annually on licenses, stamps, tags and permits annually goes to fund conservation programs run by state fish and wildlife agencies.

And in this pre-election year, it seems especially noteworthy to realize that there are nearly forth million sportsmen of voting age in the United States. More Nearly 8 in 10 hunters say they always vote in presidential elections - and that outdoor questions (including the Second Amendment issue) represent their litmus test.

Numerically, that forty million number represents nearly one-third of the entire vote. Unfortunately, our numbers are spread so that we represent key “swing” percentages in some key states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. In those states twenty percent of the total state populations hold either a hunting or fishing license, or both.

And should our elected officials start to listen to the more radical elements of the environmental movement, it’s not insignificant to realize that only ten percent of Americans think hunting should be illegal - seventy three percent, however, say they approve of hunting. And despite the protestations of PETA’s Fish Empathy Project to the contrary, only three percent of Americans think fishing should be illegal, ninety-five percent support legal fishing. The squeaky wheels of the animal rights philosophy, incidentally, represent only three percent of the population. Unfortunately for us, they represent about six times the marketing acumen and absolutely no shame in using any sort of method available to them to push their agenda- including liberally (no pun intended) spreading their wealth around in Washington and other political centers.

How much have we - the outdoors community - contributed to those sensitive environmental areas we’re supposed to be ravaging? More than $700 million annually in Federal Duck Stamp purchasing - all of which heads into the National Wildlife Refuge System - that money has purchased more than five million acres of land which, coincidentally, represents the best public outdoor recreation and wildlife watching opportunities in the country.

Here are a few other snippets gleaned from the briefing:

Hunters spend nearly a half billion dollars annually on their hunting dogs. They spent more on lodging than the annual revenues of Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, EconoLodge, Rodeway and Sleep Inn - combined ($619 million VS $482 million).

More people hunt than play tennis or ski- or the total populations of our two largest cities, New York and Los Angeles. And finally, the taxes contributed by hunters annually would pay the salaries of 527,000 police officers, 454,000 firemen or 476,870 teachers.

And if you love Wall Street equivalencies, here’s a good one for you: the revenues generated by hunters and anglers annually are more than Microsoft, Google, eBay and Yahoo combined (76 billion vs 73.6 billion). The money spend on hunting and fishing defined as Gross Domestic Product would make our nation 57 out of 181 countries in the world.

This morning’s session will also announce the launch of “Candidates on Demand” a video-on-demand television platform posing America’s outdoor issues to the 2008 presidential candidates. The platform is a collaborative effort of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and VERSUS network. VERSUS, incidentally, will stream the briefing from its website beginning on September 27.

All this information might seem a bit like trivia to the average outdoors lover, but it’s not. It is tangible evidence that American hunters and anglers are not just “fringe” members of today’s modern society.

We are key elements of the fabric from which our society is woven.

–Jim Shepherd