Anglers vs. Hunters: Who is More Interested in Feeding Wild Birds?

We know people who own pets are much more likely to feed the wild birds around their home. We also know that a much greater percentage than average of people feeding wild birds live in rural areas. How about other types of similar demographic groups; ones that have more to do with animals and also tend to do more outside of urban areas? One such group that comes immediately to mind is sportsmen. There were 11.4 million hunters and 35.8 million anglers in 2016 according to the latest National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation commissioned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. So how interested are people who participate in these activities towards feeding birds?

In fact, both hunters and anglers are more likely than average to also feed birds. While 22.5% of all adults aged 16 and over fed wild birds in 2016, 27.1% of hunters did the same. Anglers were even more likely to engage in the activity, with 33.5% of this group also feeding wild birds in 2016. It seems like anglers are the winner when it comes to also being interested in wild bird feeding. This is a good thing in terms of numbers as well since there are three times as many anglers as there are hunters. [Figure 1]

It turns out hunters and anglers are an important demographic of wild bird feeders, with 22.7% of people feeding wild birds also engaging in one or both of these activities. This means the hunting and fishing channel could become another useful retail channel for marketers of wild bird food products, putting products in front of almost a quarter of those who are already buying wild bird foods and non-food products. There is also a much better chance of increasing the number of wild bird feeders, since the hunters and anglers shopping in the channel are also more likely to become interested in feeding wild birds as well. For more information on who is feeding wild birds, check out Packaged Facts’ report Wild Bird Food Products: U.S. Market Trends and Opportunities.

-- by Norman Deschamps, market research analyst