Feds Streamline Survey for Your Fishing and Wildlife Tales
Published Date: 2/12/2026
Notice
Summary
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to update its National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife Watching to make it easier and less time-consuming for people to share their outdoor adventures. If you love fishing, hunting, or watching wildlife, this survey affects you! You’ve got until April 13, 2026, to share your thoughts, and the changes aim to keep things smooth without costing you extra time or money.
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
You may be contacted for a multi-wave survey
If you fish, hunt, or watch wildlife, you may be sampled and invited by mailed letter to take a screener and up to three detailed interviews during the survey year by web, phone, or mail. The agency estimates 184,309 total responses and a combined median completion burden of 41,026 hours across all instruments (for example, many web screeners are 13 minutes and some wave questionnaires are 13–14 minutes).
Survey adds many participation and species questions
The Service will add or reinstate many questions asking about prior-year participation (whether 2027 was the first year of participation and, if not, participation from 2022–2026), species pursued (freshwater, saltwater, big game, migratory birds, small game), days of archery and target/sport shooting, and boat types (motorized and non-motorized). These questions will appear across the screen, hunting, fishing, and wildlife-watching questionnaires.
New questions ask about how much more you'd spend
The hunting, fishing, and wildlife-watching questionnaires will add questions that ask how much more a person would be willing to spend to go on related trips. These willingness-to-pay questions are included to assess spending preferences for trips.
Some personal and land-ownership questions removed
The Service will eliminate certain questions including a marital status question and multiple questions about land co-ownership, co-leasing, and number of acres owned or leased. The change reduces the scope of personal and land-ownership information collected.
Coastal anglers get a short ratio questionnaire
Wave 3 includes a Coastal Freshwater/Saltwater Ratio Questionnaire targeted at coastal areas; the estimate shows 13,500 responses with an estimated 3 minutes per response for that questionnaire. This is intended to improve freshwater vs. saltwater angler estimates for coastal States.
Participation is voluntary and no monetary fees required
Responding to the survey is voluntary and the Service reports 'Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.' There is no required payment to take part.
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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