The recession did not appear to negatively affect the hunting industry, as sales of hunting equipment rose from $19.1 billion in 2008 to $27.8 billion in 2009. Hunting license sales also increased in the states of New York, South Dakota, Pennsylvania and Texas. However, nationally there seemed to be slightly fewer people hunting in 2009 than 2008.

In this article, the National Shooting Sports Foundation reported that economic income from sales of hunting equipment grew from $19.1 billion in 2008 to $27.8 billion in 2009. According to the National Rifle Association, sales of hunting licenses were on the increase in states where hunting contributed to the economy. In New York, despite an increase in the cost of obtaining a hunting license, sales of licenses rose by 10% between 2007 and 2009. License sales also increased by 4,000 in South Dakota between 2008 and 2009. In Pennsylvania, there were 924,448 licenses sold in 2007 and 948,381 sold in 2009. There was also a 10% increase in license sales in Texas between 2008 and 2009. However, a report by the National Sporting Goods Association found that overall numbers of people hunting with firearms decreased slightly, with 19.75 million people hunting in 2008, and only 18.8 million hunting in 2009.