was obtained in each household from a responsible adult as to 

 whether any person in that household had fished or hunted 

 during 1960. 



A sample of those identified as fishermen or hunters at 

 the first stage was selected for personal interview at a later visit. 

 These visits, made in January and February, 1961, yielded inter- 

 views with about 6,500 fishermen and 3,800 hunters, or about 93 

 percent of those selected for the detailed interviewing. The re- 

 mainder had moved, were not at home after repeated calls, or 

 were otherwise not available. 



The personnel used for the various phases of the survey were 

 the experienced personnel employed on the Current Population 

 Survey and other regular programs of the Bureau of the Census. 

 Both field supervisors and interviewers received detailed personal 

 training on the content of the survey. Interviewers also were 

 provided complete manuals of instruction, both for training 

 purposes and for assistance while interviewing. In order to as- 

 sist the sportsmen in providing the desired detail, calendars, lists 

 of equipment items, and booklets of license types were utilized. 

 As each group of households was completed, the results were 

 checked carefully, both for completeness and consistency. The 

 same high degree of quality control was maintained in process- 

 ing the results and preparing the data. 



Differences Between Total Participants and 

 Substantial Participants 



As stated in the introductory section of this report, two sets 

 of estimates have been prepared of fishing and hunting activity- 

 one relating to the total number of participants regardless of 

 amount of activity (some 50 million persons)— and the other, to 

 which this report is primarily devoted, constituting some 30 

 million persons who represent the more active sportsmen and are 



substantial participants. The statistics for substantial partici- 

 pants were derived from the National Survey of Fishing and 

 Hunting, described above. 



The estimates of the total number of participants were ob- 

 tained from the National Recreation Survey— a series of surveys 

 on outdoor recreation activities conducted by the Bureau of the 

 Census for the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commis- 

 sion, supplemented by some special follow-up studies sponsored 

 by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. In these follow- 

 up surveys, relatively small samples of persons were interviewed 

 intensively to identify all recreational occasions (vacations, trips, 

 outings, etc.) in different quarters of the year and then to re- 

 port on all types of activities (including fishing and hunting) in 

 which they engaged on each occasion. 



The National Recreation Survey showed a larger number of 

 the population participating in sport fishing and hunting than 

 the National Survey of Fishing and Hunting, Neither survey 

 was designed to duplicate the other except for the total number 

 of people participating in sport fishing and hunting and some 

 other limited information about these totals. The National 

 Recreation Survey was designed to measure all types of recre- 

 ational activities while the purpose of the National Survey of 

 Fishing and Hunting was to measure the detailed activities of 

 sport fishing and hunting. Intensive probing ofthe respondents 

 in the National Recreation Survey is one reason why the two 

 surveys did not show the same number of persons participating 

 in sport fishing and hunting. Further analysis showed that the 

 difference between these surveys was due to the coverage of a 

 number of persons in the National Recreation Survey who were 

 incidental participants— primarily unlicensed persons who fished 

 or hunted once or twice and who spent little or nothing to do 

 so. The less intensive probing technique used in the 1960 Na- 

 tional Survey of Fishing and Hunting resulted in identification 



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