Hunting Increases as Fears of Meat Shortage Rise

Hunting in East Coast and Midwestern states is on the rise as Americans grapple with fears of a national meat shortage.

For example, TMZ reports Michigan’s Spring turkey season opened April 18 and the state’s “Department of Natural Resources already sold 97,305 licenses to hunt the bird, far eclipsing the 83,072 number this time last year.”

In New York, hunting and fishing are both surging. The state witnessed a 30 percent increase in fishing licenses between March and May and roughly a 60 percent jump in “turkey permit sales.”

Hunting licenses are up “nearly 10 percent” in Virginia and the number of turkeys taken by hunters are up too.

Other Midwestern states–Iowa and Indiana, for example–are witnessing a similar hunting boom.

In mid-April Forbes reported that fear of a meat shortage has grown out of closures of meat packing plants. South Dakota’s Smithfield Pork Plant closed indefinitely last month, and other meat plants in Pennsylvania and Colorado closed as well.

It appears many Americans are responding by being sure they have turkey and other game to fill the gap should a meat shortage materialize.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.