West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Economic Impact Of Hunting And Fishing

West Virginia's hunting and fishing heritage plays a huge role in the state's economy.

September 27, 2006
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

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Hunting season is almost here and nearly half a million folks will once again take advantage of their chance to head into the woods.

That kind of interest has caught the attention of one of the biggest outdoor chains in the country. Gander Mountain is here.

Tim Martin/Gander Mountain VP says:
"This store is our 101st store. We're in more than 20 states and we continue to expand. Gander has more retail outlets and outdoor equipment than anyone else in the world. We're expanding, we're growing and it brings a lot of business and a lot of economic development into a community when a store like this opens."

One look at the long lines of folks just wating to get in for friday's grand opening and you can see tim is right. There were long lines of folks wanting to work here, too. More than a thousand applied and tim says the ones that were hired really know their stuff.

Tim Martin/Gander Mountain VP says:
"The people in these stores know more about the outdoors than anyone you'll ever meet, so if you come into a store and need a product, they can give you the best recommendation, they love working here because they are so involved in the outdoors."

"We're going to be drawing from a wide circle around the store, so the impact of that in terms of hunting and fishing, not just in our store but to the rest of the merchants and the rest of the country is going to be very large."

There are, of course, a lot of places to get your hunting and outdoor gear. No matter where you shop, from the mom and pop stores to the big outlets, hunting is huge for our states economy.

In the next three months, 400,000 people will be hitting the woods going hunting. They're going to be spending a lot of money in this state, a quarter billion dollars. A lot of it is spent in large stores like this, Gander Mountain, but a lot is also spent in the rural areas, small convienance stores where a successful hunting season means survival.

Much of that money will come from out of state hunters-West Virginia is a top ten state for non-resident hunters. And hunting is big business, too. More than 10,000 people in the Mountain State have jobs created by hunting.