ECONOMICS OF HUNTING IN TEXAS: Hunting is money in the bank for rural Texas towns ... Details on Passport to Texas ____________________________________________________________ PTT from TPWD and the SFWR Program With the advent of fall hunting season, it's worth examining the positive economic impact hunting has on our state. The biggest area it affects is the rural communities. We're becoming more of an urban state. But hunting occurs in the rural areas of Texas. :07 Mike Berger is Director of Wildlife at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Rural communities and people rely on the influx of hunters in the fall and winter for a large portion of the economic activity in those communities, through the sale of food and gasoline and hotel rooms and restaurant meals ... That all fuels the economy in those local communities. :18 And the people fueling those economies are the hunters. Roughly, one point one million licensed hunters in the state of Texas generate a lot of economic activity from the things they purchase; the travel related expenses; the lease monies that they pay to land owners for access to areas. And then that money then turns over in the community. It's spent by the people who earn it. That creates those jobs, and then they spend it in the community. So then it has a greater economic impact. And that impact in Texas is over three and a half billion dollars each year. :29 That's our show ... supported by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program ... funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels. For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti