Transitions among sportsperson permit holders and the influence of cross-buying behavior

Human dimension inquiries are an essential component of wildlife and fisheries management. Though a lot of information can be gained through surveying constituents, we can also begin to understand sportspersons by using... [ view full abstract ]

Human dimension inquiries are an essential component of wildlife and fisheries management. Though a lot of information can be gained through surveying constituents, we can also begin to understand sportspersons by using techniques developed for “big data” and marketing analyses.  We tracked permit holders from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission fishing- and hunting-permit database that purchased permits in 2010 through 2016 to evaluate the transitions between fishing only (i.e., fishing permit and paddlefish tags), hunting only (i.e., small game, big game, and turkey), hunting-and-fishing combination, and inactive (i.e., no permits) states.  There are approximately 264,070 individuals purchasing a these permits in a given year in Nebraska.  On average permit holders in the fishing-only state purchased 1.0 fish permit, hunting-only state purchased 1.4 permits, and combination state purchased 2.9 permits during a given year; these three states represent a gradient of increasing cross buying (i.e., individuals buying multiple types of hunting and fishing permits).  We observed relatively little transition of permit holders between the hunt-only state and fish-only states (hunt to fish p = 0.02; fish to hunt p = 0.01).  Permit holders were more likely to transition to a combination state from hunt-only state (p = 0.14) than from fish-only state (p = 0.05).  Permit holders in the fish-only state were more likely to become inactive (p=0.34) than those in hunt-only (p = 0.18) or combination states (p = 0.09).  Once permit holders transitioned to the inactive state, there was a high probability (p = 0.80) of remaining inactive.  Further, cross-buying behavior was influential in decreasing the probability of becoming inactive, with single permit type purchasers having a 35% greater chance of going inactive than cross-buying permit holders. Understanding cross-buying patterns and future purchase tendencies among permit holders will aide in development of strategic plans for recruitment and retention of sportspersons.