There are no statistics available on how much money hunters are spending on canned hunts. But a look at some of their advertisements suggests that they account for a significant portion of the 33% increase in hunters' expenditures between 1991 and 1996. For example, the 777 Ranch near San Antonio bills itself as "Africa in Texas." Prices range from $1,500 to kill a "trophy class" Indian blackbuck antelope to $12,500 for a "record class" markhor, a Middle Eastern member of the goat family. The ranch's prices are typical of what the market seems to bear.

Glen Savage Ranch in Pennsylvania charges $5,995 for a white-tailed deer rated between 140 and 154 on the scoring scale of the Boone and Crockett Club (B&C)-an organization that maintains a kind of "Guinness Book of World Records" for big game-and $9,995 for a buck rated between 170 and 184. For bucks with higher B&C scores, Glen Savage discreetly suggests that the prospective customer "call for pricing."

As with most ranches and preserves, prices include lodging, meals, and field dressing the trophy animal. Hunters are willing to pay these prices for a populous native species because white-tailed deer are so heavily hunted that few outside of hunting preserves live long enough to grow trophy racks. Except when they are "culling" the herd, the operators of canned hunts do not permit their clients to kill bucks until they have grown a trophy rack.

Concerned that the industry's emphasis on the upscale market might prove intimidating to less affluent hunters, Broken Arrow Ranch in Texas invites prospective clients to "Come to where the 'WORKING MAN' can afford to hunt." Broken Arrow, which specializes in exotic deer, offers customers the chance to "kill a TROPHY deer...and a Fallow doe, stay in our modest but comfortable bunk house, receive continental breakfast for the low price of $1,350." For the more moderate, they promise "other affordable hunting packages that will fit your needs."

Because game ranching is a loosely regulated industry, there are no dependable statistics on how many game ranches and hunting preserves are now in operation. A staff member of the Exotic Wildlife Association, the principal trade group for game ranches and hunting preserves, noted that the association has between 800 and 1,000 active members, of which more than 500 are in Texas, and works with several hundred other game ranches on a less formal basis. He declined to speculate on the amount of money taken in annually by game ranches and hunting preserves.