For the first time since 2001, the sale of adult resident hunting licenses has increased from the previous year (656,474 compared to 651,589 in 2007-2008).
I am not sure where Venesky got his data , but the PGC website shows the 2007 adult resident license sales as 665,719, not the 651,589 stated by Venesky. That would be a decrease of 14K licenses rather than an increase.