Interest in fee hunting by Minnesota small-game hunters

We conducted a telephone survey to determine the willingness of Minnesota small-game hunters to pay for high-quality hunting where the fee is based on wild pheasant populations. Although 66% of interviewees rated pheasants as 1 of their top 3 choices to hunt, 52% actually hunted pheasants during the period 1982-1986 and only 24% hunted pheasants in 1986. Over half the interviewees found it "difficult' or "very difficult' to find a good place to hunt pheasants in Minnesota. These results indicate that demand for quality pheasant hunting is greater than its availability. A significant portion of small-game hunters in Minnesota demonstrated interest in a system that would pay landowners for quality hunting experiences. Almost half of the interviewees expressed willingness to pay $250/season for access to a site where they could expect to flush 41-70 birds/morning, and approximately 25% were willing to pay $500 for the same opportunity. -from Authors