Hunting and Trapping (U.S.) — NAICS 11421

A Histometrics industry primer for public- and private-market investors

Scope note. This is a NAICS industry (5-digit) rollup. Under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), code 11421 contains exactly one national industry (6-digit) child: 114210, Hunting and Trapping. At the U.S. level the two codes are effectively identical — the same establishments, the same statistics, the same business activity. This page is deliberately short: it states what sits under the code, gives this level's own ground-truth federal figures, and then points you to the full 114210 primer for the detailed treatment of economics, regulation, consolidation, risks, and how to invest.

1. Overview

NAICS 11421 is the industry of paid access to game and to wild fur: outfitters and guides who sell hunts, hunting "preserves" and game ranches that charge to hunt on private land, and commercial trappers who sell pelts or do paid predator and nuisance-animal work [3]. It is one of the smallest industries in the federal statistical system — a few hundred payroll businesses [1] — sitting beneath a much larger recreation economy in which 14.4 million Americans hunted in 2022 and spent $45.2 billion doing it [5].

The key framing for an investor: almost none of that $45.2 billion lands inside this code. Most of it flows to gun and ammunition makers, sporting-goods retailers, and travel — separate industries. Code 11421/114210 captures only the sliver paid directly to operators of hunts, preserves, and traps. There is no U.S.-listed pure-play; the industry is a fragmented, operator-owned world split between a shrinking fur half and a growing recreation-and-services half. For the complete analysis, see the 114210 primer.

2. What's inside — and why this level equals its one child

NAICS uses nested levels: sector (2-digit) → subsector (3-digit) → industry group (4-digit) → industry (5-digit) → national industry (6-digit). Code 11421 is a 5-digit industry. When a 5-digit industry has only one 6-digit child, the Census Bureau assigns the child the same definition and simply appends a "0." That is the case here:

Because there is a single child, 11421 and 114210 are one and the same industry — no aggregation across siblings, no allocation choices, no residual "other" bucket. Every establishment counted at 11421 is a 114210 establishment, and this level's statistics are the child's statistics.

The Census Bureau defines the activity as establishments primarily engaged in (1) commercial hunting and trapping, (2) operating commercial game preserves and game retreats, and (3) operating hunting preserves [3]. In plain terms, three businesses live under the one code: recreation operators (preserves, game ranches, guide/outfitter services), commercial trappers (fur-bearer trapping plus paid predator and nuisance-wildlife removal), and deer breeders / exotic-game ranches (a large private-land sub-segment concentrated in Texas). The full breakdown of each, and the adjacent codes it excludes (fur farming 112930, nature parks 712190, pest control 561710, hunting camps 721214, guide services without lodging 713990), is in the 114210 primer.

3. How big it is (this level's rollup figures)

Because the level equals its one child, the ground-truth federal statistics for 11421 are identical to 114210's:

Average pay works out to roughly $46,000 per employee [1] — modest, seasonal work. Our ingested federal source set for this level does not contain a revenue/receipts figure, net income, capital investment, land acreage, or capacity/utilization, so we do not state any of those as ground truth. (For context only, a third-party estimate — IBISWorld — puts industry revenue near $1.2 billion across roughly 17,600 businesses [6]; treat that as an estimate, not a Census number.)

The undercount here is unusually large. County Business Patterns counts only businesses with paid employees; it excludes nonemployer businesses [4]. This industry is overwhelmingly one-person operations — a trapper, a guide, a landowner leasing hunting rights — with no employees. That is why the 446-establishment payroll count is a small fraction of the roughly 17,600 total businesses estimated once sole proprietors are included [1][6]: the economically active population is an order of magnitude larger than the federal employer count. On top of that, most "hunting activity" is non-commercial (self-guided hunters on public or personal land, generating no 11421 transaction) or books in other codes (much paid wildlife removal lands in pest control, 561710) [5]. Read the level's figures as a precise measure of a small payroll niche, not of the hunting economy.

4. Investable universe (where value concentrates)

Since the level is one industry, value concentrates exactly as it does in 114210 — there is nothing to spread across siblings. In brief:

• No U.S.-listed pure-play. The core activity is too small and fragmented to support a public company. Public-market exposure is indirect only: a nuisance-wildlife-control roll-up inside a large pest-control company (Rollins) and timberland real estate investment trusts (REITs) that earn hunting-lease income (Weyerhaeuser, PotlatchDeltic, Rayonier) [14][31][32].
• Private ownership is where the industry lives: thousands of independent guide/outfitter and preserve operators; Texas exotic-game ranches and deer-breeding operations (the largest, most-capitalized private cluster); independent commercial trappers; hunting-lease marketplaces; and fur auction houses (now structurally impaired) [6][11][17].
• Demand-adjacent names — firearms, ammunition, gear, and retail companies — sell to hunters but do not book 11421 revenue and should never be valued off the 11421 payroll figure.

The full company table, tickers, and private-owner map are in the 114210 primer (Sections 4 and 10).

5. How the money works

Economics are the child's economics — this is not utility rate base, REIT funds-from-operations, or mining all-in sustaining cost territory; it is a scarce-land services business. Four models sit under the code: preserves and guide/outfitter operations (per-hunter and per-package revenue, high fixed cost against a short season, so utilization is everything — trade rules of thumb cite roughly $2,000–$15,000 per multi-day hunt and mid-teens-to-30% net margins for well-run big-game operations) [10]; deer breeders and exotic ranches (breeding-stock sales plus hunts, capital- and permit-intensive) [11]; commercial trapping (a commodity price-taker on globally set fur prices — depressed for a decade — where the more durable money is now paid nuisance and predator control) [16][13]; and landowners leasing hunting rights (passive yield of roughly $5–$50+ per acre per year) [12]. The detailed unit economics live in the 114210 primer (Section 5).

6. Demand drivers

The demand picture is the child's. The dominant long-run variable is hunter participation, which has drifted down for decades (about 15.9 million paid license-holders in 2021, a ~4.8% participation rate versus ~6.9% in 1980) against an aging customer base [9]. Other drivers: discretionary income (guided hunts are luxury recreation) [6]; shrinking free land access, which pushes hunters toward paid preserves and leases; fur fashion and export cycles set abroad (China, Russia, Europe), now deeply weak [16][18]; urban/suburban wildlife conflict, which lifts demand for paid nuisance-wildlife removal — the industry's growth corner [14]; and disease/game-population health (chronic wasting disease in deer, avian disease) that can close seasons and halt animal movement.

7. Regulation

Regulation is identical to the child level and can outright eliminate a segment. State wildlife agencies are the primary regulator (licenses, seasons, bag limits, legal methods, trap types). Trap-method and trapping bans are spreading — California's Wildlife Protection Act of 2019 (AB-273) made it the first state to ban commercial and recreational fur trapping outright [19]. Federal wildlife law layers on top: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Lacey Act, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) [20][21][22][23]. Commercial hunts on federal land can require a U.S. Forest Service special-use authorization or a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Special Recreation Permit — and such permits may not transfer automatically on a sale [24][25]. Deer breeders and exotic ranches operate under state and, for some species, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) movement permits, with chronic-wasting-disease containment tightening. Full detail in the 114210 primer (Section 7).

8. Consolidation

With one industry under the code, the consolidation story is the child's: structurally fragmented, with no single firm estimated to hold more than ~5% of the industry [6]. Geography and permit-dependence limit the value of a national operating model, so the recreation half has resisted roll-up. The one place consolidation is real is nuisance-wildlife control, where Rollins assembled the two largest U.S. brands (Critter Control + Trutech) under a public roof — but that lives on the pest-control boundary (561710), not in guided hunting [14]. Adjacent consolidation in retail and ammunition (Bass Pro/Cabela's; Vista Outdoor's Kinetic Group sale) sits outside core 11421 [33][34]. The fur segment is in secular decline, not consolidation, following the 2019 insolvency of North American Fur Auctions and a decade of falling prices [17][16].

9. Risks

The risk set carries over unchanged from 114210: secular decline in hunting participation and an aging customer base [9]; regulatory/animal-welfare risk that can wipe out trapping state by state and pressure preserves and exotic ranches [19][15]; fur-price and export collapse driven by global demand and geopolitics [16][18]; resource and disease risk (drought, wildfire, chronic wasting disease, avian disease); weather and seasonality magnified by a short season; land-cost and access risk; thin capitalization, liability, and founder dependence in mostly sub-$8.5-million sole-proprietor businesses [2]; and data/proxy risk, since the federal employer statistics undercount small and nonemployer operators [4] and the listed proxies (pest control, timberland, firearms) have materially different economics.

10. How to invest and the outlook

Routes are the child's routes. Public-market exposure is indirect only — nuisance-wildlife-control consolidation via Rollins, hunting-land economics via timberland REITs, and a participation proxy via gun/ammo/gear names — and none should be valued off the 11421 payroll figure [14][31][32]. The real ownership is private: operate a guided-hunt outfitter, preserve, or exotic-game ranch; breed deer genetics and exotic game (concentrated in Texas); yield hunting-lease income on rural land; or run services (paid nuisance-wildlife and predator control — the most defensible cash flow today) [10][11][12][13][14].

Outlook: a two-speed industry. The fur/trapping half likely keeps shrinking under dead-end prices, lost export markets, and spreading bans. The recreation-and-services half should grow modestly, supported by discretionary spending, premium and exotic hunts, and shrinking free land access. The nuisance-wildlife-control corner is the steadiest grower and the only one attracting institutional capital. The overhang is the slow decline in the number of American hunters [9]: growth depends on extracting more revenue per remaining hunter, not on a bigger customer base. For the full treatment of every point above — company tables, unit economics, diligence questions, and the complete outlook — see the 114210 primer.

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Sources

Ground-truth federal statistics for this level are from our ingested NAICS 11421 stats (Census County Business Patterns 2023). Remaining sources are carried from the single child primer (114210), the substantive basis for this rollup.

1. U.S. Census Bureau. "County Business Patterns (CBP): 2023," NAICS 11421/114210 (establishments 446; employees 2,034; annual payroll $93.486M; Q1 payroll $22.065M). Ingested ground-truth federal statistics. https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2023/econ/cbp/2023-cbp.html
2. U.S. Small Business Administration. "Table of Small Business Size Standards," NAICS 114210 ($8.5M avg. annual receipts). 2023. https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards
3. U.S. Census Bureau. "2022 North American Industry Classification System Manual" (11421/114210 definition; adjacent codes 112930, 712190, 561710, 721214, 713990). 2022. https://www.census.gov/naics/reference_files_tools/2022_NAICS_Manual.pdf
4. U.S. Census Bureau. "Nonemployer Statistics and County Business Patterns Data Tell the Full Story" (CBP excludes nonemployer businesses). 2018. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/09/three-fourths-nations-businesses-do-not-have-paid-employees.html
5. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "Americans Spent $394B on Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife-Associated Activities in '22" (14.4M hunters; $45.2B hunting spend; 11.5M big-game; equipment ~$19.6B / trips ~$12.3B). 2023. https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2023-10/americans-spent-394b-hunting-fishing-and-wildlife-associated-activities-22
6. IBISWorld. "Hunting & Trapping in the US — Industry Analysis" (revenue ~$1.2B; ~17,600 businesses; low-single-digit CAGR; no firm >5% share). 2025. https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry/hunting-trapping/86/
7. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "Wildlife Restoration" (Pittman-Robertson excise tax funding state wildlife management). 2025. https://www.fws.gov/program/wildlife-restoration
8. U.S. Department of the Interior. "Sportsmen and Sportswomen Generate Nearly $1 Billion in Conservation Funding" (~$1.2B apportioned to states, 2023). 2023. https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/sportsmen-and-sportswomen-generate-nearly-1-billion-conservation-funding
9. DJ Case & Associates / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "R3 and hunter-participation trends" (~15.9M license-holders in 2021; ~4.8% participation; aging demographic; ~90% of agency funding from hunters/anglers). 2024. https://djcase.com/hunting-fishing-shooting-recruitment-retention-reactivation-r3
10. ProfitableVenture / Financial Models Lab. "Hunting outfitter business economics" (trip prices $2,000–$15,000; 15–30% net margins; 3–5 years to profitability — trade estimates). 2024–2025. https://www.profitableventure.com/how-hunter-outfitter-business/
11. Texas Deer Association / Victoria Advocate. "Deer breeding, hunting impacts Texas economy by $1.6 billion annually" (~1,257 permitted breeding facilities; ~7,000 jobs). 2018. https://victoriaadvocate.com/2018/11/11/deer-breeding-hunting-impacts-texas-economy-by-1-6-billion-annually/
12. National Land Realty. "Leasing Hunting Land for Passive Income" ($5–$50+/acre; ~$8–$20 average; example yields). 2024–2026. https://nationalland.com/blog/leasing-hunting-land-for-passive-income/
13. USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "Wildlife Services" (>$232M livestock-predation and $150M bird-damage losses prevented annually). https://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife-services
14. Rollins, Inc. "Rollins Acquires Critter Control / Trutech" (nuisance-wildlife-control consolidation). 2015. https://www.rollins.com/investors/press-releases/detail/125/rollins-inc-acquires-two-critter-control-franchises
15. FOUR PAWS USA. "'A Decade of Decline' for Fur Industry" (falling acceptability; retreat from real fur). 2023. https://www.fourpawsusa.org/our-stories/press-releases/a-decade-of-decline-for-fur-industry
16. Fox Business. "Poor economy, sanctions in fur-loving Russia catch up with wild-animal trappers in US" (pelt-price declines; trapper attrition). https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/poor-economy-sanctions-in-fur-loving-russia-catch-up-with-wild-animal-trappers-in-us
17. CBC News. "North American Fur Auctions seeks creditor protection" (2019 NAFA insolvency; world's #2 auction house, largest wild-fur handler). 2019. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/north-american-fur-auctions-creditor-protection-1.5348510
18. FashionNetwork. "Canada's fur-trade route leads to Russia, China" (U.S./Canadian wild-fur export destinations). https://us.fashionnetwork.com/news/Canada-s-fur-trade-route-leads-to-russia-china,490081.html
19. California Legislature. "AB-273 — Fur-bearing and nongame mammals: recreational and commercial fur trapping: prohibition" (Wildlife Protection Act of 2019; first state ban; 133 licenses / ~$16,000 in 2017). 2019. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB273
20. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "Migratory Bird Hunting Regulations" (Migratory Bird Treaty Act seasons and limits). 2026. https://www.fws.gov/law/migratory-bird-hunting-regulations
21. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "About the Endangered Species Act" (ESA prohibition on unauthorized take). 2026. https://www.fws.gov/species/endangered-species/about-endangered-species-act
22. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "Office of Law Enforcement: About Us" (Lacey Act enforcement). 2026. https://www.fws.gov/program/office-of-law-enforcement/about-us
23. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "CITES" (permits/certificates for international wildlife transactions). 2026. https://www.fws.gov/international-affairs/cites
24. U.S. Forest Service. "Outfitters and Guides" (special-use authorizations; permit transferability caveat). 2026. https://www.fs.usda.gov/r10/permits/outfitters-and-guides
25. Bureau of Land Management. "Special Recreation Permits" (commercial use on BLM land). 2026. https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/permits-and-passes/special-recreation-permits
26. U.S. SEC. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Form 10-K (firearms for the commercial sporting market). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/95029/000117494726000243/rgr-20251231.htm
27. U.S. SEC. Smith & Wesson Brands, Form 10-K (firearms including hunting-oriented long guns). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1092796/000095017025088157/swbi-20250430.htm
28. U.S. SEC. American Outdoor Brands, Form 10-K (hunting tools, optics, land-management and shooting accessories). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1808997/000180899725000014/aout-20250430.htm
29. U.S. SEC. Olin Corporation, Form 10-K (Winchester sporting ammunition). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/74303/000007430326000027/oln-20251231.htm
30. U.S. SEC. Academy Sports and Outdoors, Form 10-K (retail hunting category). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1817358/000181735826000031/aso-20260131.htm
31. U.S. SEC. Weyerhaeuser, Form 10-K (timberland ownership and recreational leases). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/106535/000119312526051422/wy-20251231.htm
32. U.S. SEC. Rayonier, Form 10-K (timberland licensing including hunting-related property use). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/52827/000005282726000036/ryn-20251231.htm
33. Bass Pro Shops. "Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's Join Forces" (2017 combination under a private parent). 2017. https://about.basspro.com/newsroom/stories/bass-pro-shops-and-cabelas-join-forces-with-a-vision-to-become-north-americas-premier-outdoor-and-conservation-company/
34. Vista Outdoor. "Vista Outdoor Announces Completion of CSG Transaction" (Kinetic Group / Federal & Remington ammunition sold to Czechoslovak Group, 2024). 2024. https://investors.vistaoutdoor.com/Investors/news/news-details/2024/Vista-Outdoor-Announces-Completion-of-CSG-Transaction/default.aspx