Realtree statistics show a brand with a large reported retail and licensing footprint, while legacy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service figures provide a state-by-state view of hunting-license participation. The figures come from two different sources and periods: current-period claims published by Realtree without a measurement date in the supplied material, and USFWS figures from 2003 reported in a 2005 federal report. They should be read as separate snapshots, not as a direct trend line.
Contents
- Realtree’s reported business reach
- Products, licensees, and brand exposure
- National hunting and fishing figures
- State hunting-license figures
- Highest and lowest state totals in the table
- How the USFWS survey was planned
Realtree’s reported business reach
Realtree Business says the brand is in more than 35,000 retail stores. That is a reported distribution figure, and the supplied material does not give a measurement date or explain whether the count includes every type of retail location. It nevertheless indicates a broad physical presence for a company whose patterns are closely associated with hunting apparel and outdoor equipment.
The same Realtree Business source says sportsmen and women spend $90 billion annually in the outdoor market. This is presented as an annual market-size statement rather than a count of Realtree sales. The distinction matters: the figure describes the wider outdoor market, while Realtree separately says more than $4 billion is spent each year on Realtree-licensed products.
Those two values describe different scopes. The $90 billion figure is the reported annual outdoor-market spending total. The $4 billion-plus figure is the reported annual spending on products carrying a Realtree license. Because the source material does not provide methodology, dates, or a breakdown by product type, the figures should not be treated as a calculated market share.
Realtree Corporate gives a similar but slightly different formulation, saying an estimated $4 billion of Realtree camo and branded product is sold every year by licensed partners. The word “estimated” is part of the claim. The company’s corporate source also says its patterns appear on over 30,000 products worldwide. Realtree Business separately says 30,000 different products carry its patterns.
The product counts are close in wording and scale, but they are not necessarily two independent measurements. One describes products worldwide, while the other says different products carry the patterns. Without a date or a stated counting method, the safest reading is that Realtree reports a product footprint of more than 30,000 items.
Products, licensees, and brand exposure
Realtree Corporate says the company works with more than 2,000 licensees. A licensee is a partner authorized to use the brand or its patterns on products, but the supplied facts do not identify the partners or divide them by industry. The number therefore describes the reported partner network rather than the number of products sold or the number of retail stores.
Realtree also reports a strong connection with hunters. Its corporate source says 8 out of 10 hunters have Realtree in their closets. This is a proportion expressed in everyday terms, not a USFWS participation estimate. The source material does not give the underlying sample, survey date, geography, or definition of “hunters,” so it should remain attributed to Realtree rather than presented as a general population statistic.
The Realtree Business home page lists 239 licensed products and 195 retail stores. These values appear to be counts of listings on that business site, not the full worldwide totals described in the other company claims. The home page also says the brand has millions of mentions and that its brand impressions are in the billions. Neither exposure statement has a numerical upper bound, date, platform list, or measurement method in the supplied material.
The company-reported figures can be summarized without combining them into a new estimate:
| Realtree measure | Reported figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Retail-store presence | 35,000+ stores | Realtree Business |
| Products carrying patterns | 30,000 different products | Realtree Business |
| Outdoor-market spending | $90 billion annually | Realtree Business |
| Realtree-licensed product spending | $4 billion+ annually | Realtree Business |
| Licensees | More than 2,000 | Realtree Corporate |
| Products worldwide | Over 30,000 | Realtree Corporate |
| Hunters with Realtree in closets | 8 out of 10 | Realtree Corporate |
| Licensed products listed on business site | 239 | Realtree Business home page |
| Retail stores listed on business site | 195 | Realtree Business home page |
These figures describe the company’s own reported reach and should not be confused with independent retail audits, government participation counts, or a measured share of the outdoor economy.
National hunting and fishing figures
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Federal Aid report, published in 2005, reported 14,740,188 paid hunting-license holders in 2003. The same report recorded $679,824,466 in hunting-license income in 2003. These are historical national figures for that measurement year; they are not current participation estimates.
For comparison within the same report, the USFWS recorded 27,908,272 paid fishing-license holders in 2003 and $512,970,893.73 in fishing-license income. The fishing and hunting figures measure different activities and should not be added together. The report’s license-holder counts also represent paid license holders, not a complete count of every person who may have hunted or fished.
The national figures provide context for interpreting the state table. Hunting-license participation was distributed across states, and the reported totals varied substantially. The USFWS figures below are retained as reported in the 2005 report and refer to the 2003 license-holder table.
State hunting-license figures
The USFWS table reported the following total hunting-license-holder counts by state. Each number is a historical 2003 figure from the report published in 2005.
| State | Total hunting-license holders |
|---|---|
| Alabama | 223,215 |
| Alaska | 299,224 |
| Arizona | 396,299 |
| Arkansas | 438,108 |
| California | 858,691 |
| Colorado | 553,899 |
| Connecticut | 134,294 |
| Delaware | 31,847 |
| Florida | 321,179 |
| Georgia | 954,126 |
| Hawaii | 8,900 |
| Idaho | 824,093 |
| Illinois | 1,102,059 |
| Indiana | 436,206 |
| Iowa | 871,914 |
| Kansas | 468,946 |
| Kentucky | 666,695 |
| Louisiana | 596,557 |
| Maine | 265,605 |
| Maryland | 293,921 |
| Massachusetts | 210,350 |
| Michigan | 2,266,231 |
| Minnesota | 1,413,759 |
| Mississippi | 278,688 |
| Missouri | 1,230,036 |
| Montana | 979,429 |
| Nebraska | 397,069 |
| Nevada | 89,994 |
| New Hampshire | 226,252 |
| New Jersey | 403,563 |
| New Mexico | 338,568 |
| New York | 1,454,229 |
| North Carolina | 493,945 |
| North Dakota | 603,672 |
| Ohio | 1,128,842 |
| Oklahoma | 328,993 |
| Oregon | 1,381,167 |
| Pennsylvania | 2,791,423 |
| Rhode Island | 33,876 |
| South Carolina | 259,343 |
| South Dakota | 348,703 |
| Tennessee | 983,990 |
| Texas | 1,290,716 |
| Utah | 238,073 |
| Vermont | 186,789 |
| Virginia | 813,880 |
| Washington | 883,616 |
| West Virginia | 926,177 |
| Wisconsin | 2,717,877 |
| Wyoming | 228,394 |
The table includes 50 states, consistent with the USFWS report’s statement that 50 states were included in the 2006 survey planning process. The state values are not a newer survey: they are the 2003 license-holder figures reported in the 2005 Federal Aid report.
Highest and lowest state totals in the table
The largest reported state total was Pennsylvania, with 2,791,423 hunting-license holders. Wisconsin followed with 2,717,877, and Michigan reported 2,266,231. Other large totals included New York at 1,454,229, Minnesota at 1,413,759, Oregon at 1,381,167, Texas at 1,290,716, Missouri at 1,230,036, Ohio at 1,128,842, and Montana at 979,429.
At the other end of the table, Hawaii reported 8,900 hunting-license holders. Delaware reported 31,847, Rhode Island 33,876, Nevada 89,994, Connecticut 134,294, Vermont 186,789, Massachusetts 210,350, and Alabama 223,215. These differences are descriptive only. The supplied report figures do not provide population denominators, license rules, nonresident-license treatment, or an explanation for the variation, so they do not by themselves measure hunting participation rates.
Several states in the middle of the table also reported substantial totals. Georgia had 954,126 holders, West Virginia 926,177, Washington 883,616, Iowa 871,914, California 858,691, Idaho 824,093, Virginia 813,880, and Kentucky 666,695. Louisiana reported 596,557, North Dakota 603,672, Colorado 553,899, and North Carolina 493,945.
How the USFWS survey was planned
The USFWS Federal Aid report said 50 states were included in planning for the 2006 survey. The planned survey was to contact 90,000 households. It expected to identify samples of 31,500 sportsmen and 24,300 wildlife watchers.
The report also specified three planned interview periods: April 2006, September 2006, and January 2007. These dates describe the survey plan, not completed interview results. Likewise, the planned household contact count and expected sample sizes should not be presented as final response totals.
For readers interested in wild game cooking, the practical value of these statistics is context. Realtree’s own figures describe the reach it reports across licensed products, retail locations, and outdoor branding. The USFWS figures show the scale and geographic spread of an older paid hunting-license table. Because the sources use different definitions, dates, and reporting purposes, each set is most useful when kept with its original source label and measurement period.