Declining hunter numbers in the USA...Your thoughts please.

[entropy]

I live further South in the same state and find it very different. Any public area here is overrun by crazy city people. There are deer but they are driven off into private lands where no hunting or no public hunting is allowed. Also a major refuge has been overhunted to almost no game of any kind by people that hunt in mass with no regard for game laws. Yes if you get far enough away from the cities things change. There is plenty of land to hunt way North. But not many younger people hunt.

Carlos Avery, perhaps? After about 1982, it became unhuntable, due to being overrun.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

A box blind with a heater sounds pretty cozy.

I have hunted every which way. ive killed more deer out of a box blind than anything.so that's the way I taught my son to hunt.

that's really the only way he knows how to hunt and I don't have a problem with it. we never had a heater but it would of been nice.

it requires forethought. you don't spread scent around as much as walking around and safer than a treestand.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

After just getting back from buying my deer tags at the county court house it occurs to me that the license/tags cost might also be a factor in the decline in numbers. $65 for my two deer tags, plus factor in the $27.50 for the basic resident license. If you want to hunt migratory birds(which I don't anymore) there is the $2.50 HIP permit, $10.00 state duck stamp and the 26.50 federal duck stamp.
It all kinda adds up...

 

[Sniper66]

Good point. My brother quit hunting here because the non-resident tags are ridiculous. While I'm griping....I have 2 lifetime hunting licenses......because they only sell lifetime combo hunting/fishing licenses for seniors. Even though I bought a lifetime hunting license in 1989, today they will not sell me a senior lifetime fishing license???? In the past, once you reached 65 you were no longer required to buy a hunting or fishing license. Don't know how much impact that has, but surely some, especially when you add all the specialty stamps and tags. Leave it to the government to wreck a good thing.

 

[readyeddy]

We don’t want to hear it but I’ll just say it. Lots of folks equate hunting with animal cruelty. They consider us to be Bambi killers.

What’s the solution? It’s probably multifaceted. Lots of young people recognize the hazards of the commercial meat industry, and the value of organic foods. Sustainability is preached hard these days which is consistent with managed animal populations. Also we need more women hunters to counter the macho image. Then there’s the reality that hunters are naturalists and a form of environmentalists. Think of TR.

We can build on these PR platforms if we had an effective organization that focused on promoting hunting. Like an NRA for hunting.

 

[ldlfh7]

I think people have declined in hunting due to the shift in attitudes and beliefs the last 20 years or so. Today everything gun/hunting related is perceived by general society as evil and unnecessary as the grocery store is just around the corner. The newer generations have become disconnected from reality while living their entire lives on electronic distractions. People are soft and weak these days and I do not see things getting any better. Also, the rules and regulations of government agencies have become more strict and expensive over the years.

 

[Art Eatman]

Summary: "All of the above."

Call it "societal"--and I have no answer.

 

[MCgunner]

As a young man I lived in Northern California, over half of the land near me was national or state forest. It was easy to go hunting. At the High School I, and both of my daughters, went to, there are required classes (it is part of the PE program, and yes, parents can opt their children out of that portion of the class; but few ever do)) that addresses hunter safety and responsibilities. In those classes the students are told where to go, and what to expect in the locations.

I have now moved to a different area. The reality is that no, I have no idea where to go.

That's great; but consider the corollary of your statement, "people that do not own [large sections of rural] property don't hunt." You may, or may not, consider that to be a good thing; but no matter, it is going to lead to a lot less hunters.

We had no property when I was growing up. I had permission on a couple of acres to hunt rabbits and squirrel, that's it. We had no deer, no hogs at the time. My grandpa had a hill country lease where I shot my first deer. I was supremely interested in hunting, but pretty much restricted to reading about it. Then, at age 14, I discovered duck hunting on tidelands with some buddies. It gave me something to hunt and I got really into it to the point that I love it even today and would rather hunt ducks than deer. But, I'm getting too old for it. Hunting public land for ducks is an athletic experience. But, I have a little land now on which to hunt deer and hogs. But, I have money enough to hunt geese from time to time with local outfitters. That's less hard on me than wading through mud and muck at a WMA.

But, even in Texas, if a kid is absorbed by hunting, he can find venues for his passion, at least if he's raised outside of town like I was. City kids are usually more interested in video games now days, anyway.

 

[FindANewSlant]

Wages relative to cost of living have remained stagnant for decades. People can't afford to hunt

 

[darkcloud]

I see a couple reasons for declining hunters and licenses sold. The first is more and more land is being locked up to access. (several issues in this alone that need to be addressed to solve the issue) Another is the cost to hunt. firearms and ammo are expensive and with so many other needs in the modern society less will be spent on very expensive outdoor equipment. Many folks would like to hunt but just can't justify the costs involved. (even I have reduced tremendously the amount of time and money spent to hunt because of this) Top of the list would be a place to hunt that provides a reasonable chance at success. Most public lands are over stressed and those areas that are not are either so far out in the boonies as to be an unobtainable goal OR one has to pack into an area so far that the average man/woman simply can't do it. I her all kinds of BS stories in magazines about packing in 10 miles and killing an elk then packing it out in 1/4's or meat packs. Yah that is possible for the 30 yo marathon runner but not avg Joe who works 9-5 M-F and raises a family.

 

[coloradokevin]

For me, the complexity and breadth of hunting laws has kept me away for years. I did a bit of deer, pheasant, and turkey hunting growing up (along with lots of varmint shooting). These days I live in Colorado, and I'd love to hunt elk out here sometime (I have done some small game hunting out here). But, the process of getting a tag for where you want to hunt, when you're available to hunt it, is often a giant pain in the butt. I often don't know my schedule the better part of a year in advance to put in for the draw, and it seems hard to get OTC or leftover tags in any of the areas I'd like to hunt within a 3 hour drive of my house. So, each year I think about how it would be nice to go elk hunting, and yet I haven't gone. I need to change this sometime soon... I'm interested in the activity, but I'm turned off by the red tape. It seems like hunting regs were a lot simpler and easier to digest back where/when I grew up. These days I feel like you need a law degree and a flow chart to get through some of them out here!

I can only speak for myself and some of my friends, but I know that's been a driving factor in many of us skipping the big game seasons over the course of the past few years.

 

[Bottom Gun]

The last hunting regulations "booklet" I picked up here in Arizona is 141 pages. . . . . . . . . . . and doesn't even have a centerfold.

 

[0ne3]

My thoughts on this. I, work for two school systems. You will be suprised at how many parents, do not parent, it is as if these children are on there own. Throw sports, tech, and socity into the mix. I, see a lot of students 5th and 6th graders gathered in groups of about 3 to 4 looking at things things they should not be looking at on there cell phone. Maybe there parents know about it, maybe not. Oh, heaven forbid you take a cell phone away from some one. The children to day are not being raised like children were in the 80's or 90's and before that. So, as far as new hunters go, well hunting really may die out.

 

[mustanger98]

Well, in my area, most "meat is murder" jerks are from somewhere else. If the local kids want to hunt, in a good many cases, somebody they know will probably take 'em huntin'.