The U.S. hunting population likely fell by about 1 million between 2006 and 2016, according to surveys by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), even as annual hunting participation held firm and grew in some states and regions.

The FWS has conducted a survey of outdoor recreation every five years since 1955. In 1980, the survey estimated 17.5 million Americans 16 and older hunted (7 percent of the population). In 2006, it estimated about 12.5 million Americans 16 and older hunted. The number sank in 2016 to 11.5 million, or roughly 5 percent of the nation’s population.

Even so, it’s inaccurate to say hunting participation is declining coast to coast. A review of FWS annual records from 2012 to 2018 reveals the number of individual paid hunting-license holders actually increased in most Western and Southeastern states, while hunter numbers mostly tumbled…