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A decades‐long decline in hunting participation jeopardizes state wildlife agency funding amid growing conservation and management challenges. College students are being recognized by states and non‐governmental organizations as an important population for hunter recruitment and retention, fueling a proliferation of learn‐to‐hunt programs on college campuses. Nearly 3,000,000 students attend college in a state where they are not a resident and may face constraints to hunting. We analyzed hunting license residency statutes in each state to determine whether non‐resident college students were addressed in statutes or policies, catalog statutory provisions that may exclude populations of students from hunting, and document how students' residency status affects the price of a deer and small game license. Nationwide, 29 states have statutes allowing non‐resident college students to hunt at a resident rate. Among these states, we identified a patchwork of statutory requirements for non‐resident students to be eligible for resident‐rate licenses, including waiting periods, age restrictions, credit restrictions, and unclear or onerous purchasing procedures. Non‐resident college students fell into a gray area of licensing policy in the 21 states without statutes addressing this group. In these states, students often needed to pay non‐resident hunting license rates. Hunting licenses were substantially more expensive for non‐resident college students in states without statutes addressing students, and license sales data from Montana, USA, indicated that high license prices are a constraint for student hunters. With college students becoming a focal point for hunter recruitment efforts, we identify statutory constraints to recruiting and retaining hunters on college campuses and help improve the effectiveness of learn‐to‐hunt programs on college campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Declining participation in hunting, especially among young adult hunters, affects the ability of state and federal agencies to achieve goals for wildlife management and decreases revenue for conservation. For wildlife agencies hoping to engage diverse audiences in hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) efforts, university settings provide unique advantages: they contain millions of young adults who are developmentally primed to explore new activities, and they cultivate a social atmosphere where new identities can flourish. From 2018 to 2020, we surveyed 17,203 undergraduate students at public universities across 22 states in the United States to explore R3 potential on college campuses and assess key demographic, social, and cognitive correlates of past and intended future hunting behavior. After weighting to account for demographic differences between our sample and the larger student population, 29% of students across all states had hunted in the past. Students with previous hunting experience were likely to be white, male, from rural areas or hunting families, and pursuing degrees related to natural resources. When we grouped students into 1 of 4 categories with respect to hunting (i.e., non‐hunters [50%], potential hunters [22%], active hunters [26%], and lapsed hunters [3%]), comparisons revealed differences based on demographic attributes, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Compared to active hunters, potential hunters were more likely to be females or racial and ethnic minorities, and less likely to experience social support for hunting. Potential hunters valued game meat and altruistic reasons for hunting, but they faced unique constraints due to lack of hunting knowledge and skills. Findings provide insights for marketing and programming designed to achieve R3 objectives with a focus on university students. © 2021 The Wildlife Society. : Diverse university students represent a large, diverse, and promising target for future hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) efforts. Results highlight specific characteristics of unique market segments that could help wildlife agencies across the United States decide how to allocate R3 resources to better target university students and other groups entering hunting through non‐traditional pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]