Patriot Update

More Americans are hunting and fishing, reversing decades of declining numbers, according to a national outdoor recreation survey conducted every five years by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Overall hunting participation between 2006 and 2011 increased 9 percent, the survey found, while the number of anglers grew by 11 percent in that same five-year period.

The report does not explain the reasons for the increase in wildlife recreation, which it describes as an “important leisure activity” rather than an economic necessity.