Hunters' Numbers

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State and Fed governments

In our state, Texas, the addition of the Youth Hunter Safety program parallels a drop in youth hunters. At a time when there are more deer in the USA (and Texas) than at any other time in history, regulations and license requirements are the MOST complex and expensive with ruinious consequences for non-compliance. Deer are so common that they might be taken OFF the game animal list without threat to their numbers, instead they are regulated more closely than ever.

But at least we have a nice healthy government full of bureaucrats- those numbers are way up!.
 
No easy answer here. Speaking from what I see here in Wisconsin it's a combinations of several things.

Access..... Altho we are blessed here in Wisconsin to have plentiful areas of public land to hunt, most of it, especially the large tracts, is far from the homes of the majority of the population. Instead of going out your back door or a short drive, it is a major commitment to make the trip. In the rural areas, so much of the private land has been subdivided into small parcels, with every one wanting their own 20 acres, that getting permission to hunt takes more work than the hunt itself. Iffin you can get permission. Those that have larger area of land seldom give permission because of fear that someone other than themselves will shoot that trophy buck they've been feedin' and protecting the last coupla years. The sad part is, so many of the pretty little valleys and coulées that I hunted as a youngin are now high class sub-divisions.


Cost.....Art hit it on the head with his comment about how much some folks spend on hunting. Altho cost may make hunting prohibitive to some, the majority of us spend as much if not more on other hobbies as well. Those that used to think of hunting as a way to procure food have a hard time justifying it anymore, when all the costs of the hunt are computed to price per pound. Around here, procuring a good place to hunt on private land has gotten very expensive with the price of real estate, the taxes that Wisconsin now levies on recreational property and the cost of food plots and supplemental feed(which many believe is a necessity) can tend to make it a rich mans sport. I understand why those that have private land tend to keep it to themselves or charge a fee for others to use it. It's just expensive. As far as lawsuits for someone getting hurt on your land, Wisconsin's law says anytime you give someone permission to recreate on your land without a fee, you cannot be held responsible for anything that happens to them, unless it was due to some kind of gross negligence(like tellin' them to go pull the tail on the bull).

Peer pressure......Around here there is not a whole lot of peer pressure not to shoot the pretty little animals. The pressure that forces many from hunting is the pressure of thinking that one must only harvest trophy animals. Between watching the canned hunts on T.V. and the guy at work with access to 900 acres of land that no one else hunts, many feel if they have to hunt public land and the most they can hope for is a 16" eight pointer they'd rather stay home. The media and the ability of some to raise animals(IMHO) on private land without fear of loss till trophy size has put the average hunter between a rock and a hard spot. I remember the days when any buck was a trophy....nowadays if it don't score 160 or better people say "you shouda let it walk."

Youth Hunters......I have two sons that love to hunt, but from the time they were in 6th grade till they graduated or will graduate from high school, their weekends and any other spare time were/are filled with sports and other activities. My youngest loves to ice fish, but it's kinda hard to take him ice fishing when he's playing hockey every weekend from October thru March. Trying to find a weekend to go turkey hunting, bow hunting or small game hunting was/is dang near impossible. When I grew up, we went hunting cause there was nuttin else to do and we grew to love it. Nowadays even those youngsters who live in rural areas and have access to hunting land have a hard time finding the time.....and by the point in their lives where they have the time, they may have grown to love another hobby.
 
Buck 460 well stated. When my sons came of hunting age there was always a basketball turney on or some other sports they played. One older daughter hunted with me and does so occasionally, as her hubby does.
 
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I have two sons that love to hunt, but from the time they were in 6th grade till they graduated or will graduate from high school, their weekends and any other spare time were/are filled with sports and other activities. My youngest loves to ice fish, but it's kinda hard to take him ice fishing when he's playing hockey every weekend from October thru March. Trying to find a weekend to go turkey hunting, bow hunting or small game hunting was/is dang near impossible. When I grew up, we went hunting cause there was nuttin else to do and we grew to love it. Nowadays even those youngsters who live in rural areas and have access to hunting land have a hard time finding the time.....and by the point in their lives where they have the time, they may have grown to love another hobby.
Today 04:06 PM

You just hit the nail on the head, and its totally the reason I get so pissed off about the NRA's "deal with the devil" in teaming up with the PETA folks and the Pat Robertson crowd here in Virginia to prevent real reform on the issue of Sunday Hunting.

Its the one day of the week when I can take my kid hunting, but the state won't let me. Well, screw them. I'm not dropping another dime in the coffers of my church till the law is changed, and I've let our rector know why (being from Suburban Northern Virginia - and he being from Boston - he didn't quite understand my anger)
 
It's tough!

Buck460 hit on one of the major problems I have seen here in Washington. Instead of people buying their houses in packed in little subdivisions with 8 houses on an acre, the new thing seems to be people splitting up 500-1000 acre ranches, and selling of them off as 10-20 acre 'estates' that each get built on.

It busts up a lot of good hunting land.

Time is another major issues I haven't heard a lot of folks talk about. I have a cushy Federal job, and I earn a good amount of vacation each year, but a lot of folks are lucky to get two weeks off a year. For me and my buddies, Elk hunting is a 7-10 day investment. Deer hunting is something that has been resigned to an occational weekend here or there, kind of a take it as you can thing.

That's not even talking about time to go scouting. Over the last 6 years, I have averaged 850 hours of OT a year at my job. That's not a lot of weekends to go invest in walking around in the woods, especially when it is a 3 hour drive just to get to where we are planning on hunting.

Sigh.

As for attracting new hunters, the problem is not attracting them, it's keeping them. Here in Washington, the deer success rate is around 25-30%, while the elk rate is between 8-10% most years. And, I'd be willing to bet that 75% of those are the same person each year.

When you have a guy go spend $1000 on a new rifle and scope combo, then $200 for licences, then your optional expences(ATV, New $30,000 cab over..that kind of thing). And, then, you might not even get a deer or elk your first couple of years. It's kind of a demoralizing hoby some years.

As far as the expence of a hunting lease or club...I would be happy to pony up $1500 a year to have a nice place to hunt. Hunting leases don't seem to be very popular here in Washington. The only way I will ever get private land to hunt on is if I can win the lotto and go drop $200,000 for 100 acres somewhere...

greg
 
I live about 40 miles north of downtown NYC and hunt on 17000 acres of state land (15 minute drive). Permits are free and I bag a deer every year. The local association of hunters has a pheasant release program in the forest too. There are also turkeys and bear to hunt.
I rarely meet other hunters in the woods and parts of the forest contain old growth trees. I've hunted here for over 30 years and it is great.
The sad part is that most of the hunters are middle aged and I suspect the sport will just die out here.
 
Marty1,
Take a kid hunting, take his Father or Mother along if they'll go. Not all people who have never hunted are against it, just haven't had the chance. Sometimes it's better if you don't bag anything on the first hunt, people like to see that it's not too easy. When they see all there is to enjoy by just being there it's enough.
I believe sometimes it's a cyclical thing, certain years you can go days without seeing anyone, then the next year there's a hunter behind every tree.
If you think your area has been devoid of hunters just write a little story about how successful you have been and see what happens next year!
 
Smoke, let me tell you how it is here; my daughter wanted me to take down pictures in my den of the first deer I shot over 45 years ago and a couple of large bucks I shot over the years so the grand kids wouldn't become traumatized. The kids are taught guns are evil and hunters are killers. I grew up hunting and fishing so things were different back then.
I don't really care since I now have the woods all to myself.
 
Still and all, I can't help but be amused by some guy who spends $8K on an ATV, several hundred dollars on a tower-stand deer blind, more hundreds of dollars on other gear--and then gripes about $2,000 for the lease. He's wound up with five years' worth of lease money tied up in stuff he doesn't need for hunting...
Never owned a ATV, don't personally know of anyone that hunts off one. We do see em by the dozens every year but that is going to quickly change here, in fact I saw a lot less this year, hopefully less next. Every time one is caught off road he is now given a nice ticket, and enforcement is actively looking. I hardily applaud that too they are great tools but to many are abusing the country hillsides, causing scars that will last for years.

I have never even seen a stand guys sit in or you hunt out of except in pictures or for waterfowl. That just doesn't happen here or anywhere I have ever hunted. Also I don't know one person that pays anything to hunt anywhere unless it's guy's that go to far away places. It's free on public land, all a guy needs is a car or pickup to get there, license, tags and a gun, knife and essentials.
The day I need to pay a private individual to hunt deer will be my last day deer hunting. It is fine for those that want to but I have shot enough deer I would never pay, except for license and tags to do it.

We do get our share of newbies etc the last few years from the large population growth in this area but when you see guys in a $100 worth of camo with orange reflective tape all over em, with stuff hanging all over them, or over at the big warehouse store buying all kinds of stuff they don't need we just grin, let em, it's their money, at least they are out trying and learning.
We have got our deer every year many years now (knock on wood) without any of that stuff, and as far as I know the deer are the same as they were 100 years ago before any of it came along. You can't buy deer to my knowledge, at least not around here. Hard work, skills or just plain old luck get deer not whatever new fandangeled product to come along and hits the market you buy. That and shooting straight when you should pull the trigger.

That junk and the magazine writer's, TV hunting shows, and folks that promote it, well I better not really say how I feel about all that cause I am getting into areas that irritate me and I will say stuff I shouldn't. I will say I think all that stuff hurts hunting and new hunters that believe in it and buy it, and get disappointed.
 
I have heard stories from reliable sources about over-aggressive hunters being threatening to other hunters

I did some hunting this year for the first time in about a decade. Land owner across the fence put up a deer feeder 140 yards from me and then put a sign on my stand telling me to "Move Out." Started hearing other stories. One guy was walking down a clear cut from his stand when some hunters started cussing at him. They had put their stands on HIS side of the fence facing their own pasture. ( This is called criminal trespass in Texas but they were unconcerned about it. )Told him to go ahead and call the sheriff if he wanted.

Another guy had been bow hunting an area for years. The new leasees across the fence didn't want him there so, they cut down every tree that had a bow stand. Another friend recalled going to one of his tree stands before daylight and finding it shot to pieces. When the sun came up he found that a hunter in the neighboring pasture had put a stand and feeder there a few yards across the fence.
Texas is now overrun with wild hogs but also has an abundance of two-legged swine in residence.
 
Misdemeanor trespass is a fairly low priority and pc 42;01 that suggests against disturbing the peace with loud, vociferous and profane language is just a relic now. Texas now has a known population of over 20,000,000 and considerably more off the books. Even though the great majority are packed into the urban sprawl along I 35 and I 45, there are enough left over to blanket the whole state.
 
Not to mention the drive to get there. Used to be I could walk to where i was going to go hunting now it is an hours drive at the least.

Good grief. My favorite elk spot is well worth the trip, as it has delivered elk every year for me since I've been hunting it. The trail-head is a two hour drive from my front door. After that, I hike for an hour and a half into the back-country. The finest hunting spot in my book is the one that nobody else is willing to get to.
 
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