Yeti GOBOX Collection

Future of elk hunting in the west on public land

Luke_with_a_lab

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Montucky
Hey everyone,

I apologize in advance for a bit of a rant. As I sit here i'm thinking about all the posts I have read where everyone is talking about "the old days and how much better they were" I wonder were they better or does everyone always just think the old days are better? That very well may be true and I'm not here to debate that too much. However, nowadays it seems that there are no units or hunt areas that are still undiscovered but I continue to find quality elk hunting in areas that are "high pressure". Additionally there are almost yearly additions of land via the RMEF or some similar organization. It is worrisome to me though that every year we also see more out of state hunters in obscure places, likely via due to tools such as Gohunt and Onx. One has to wonder with the advent of Youtube, social media, and hunting apps making western public land hunting so visible what the future will look like? Every year there are an uncountable number of new hunting shows on Youtube posting their elk hunt out west. My question is, are all of these hunting shows in the end going to have a negative or positive effect on the quality of elk hunting on public land out west? I can see pros and cons, on one hand there are more hunters but on the other hand more hunters equates to more money to conservation and potentially land purchases via land boards or RMEF. Is this a topic that has been discussed much on the larger hunting shows and do hunting content creators have a certain responsibility to address the potential Issue?
 
100 years from now and the mountains will be all yours based on new hunter recruitment rates. Can you live that long to get to that era of the "good ole days" lol it's a very sad reality of where it's going
 
Hey everyone,

I apologize in advance for a bit of a rant. As I sit here i'm thinking about all the posts I have read where everyone is talking about "the old days and how much better they were" I wonder were they better or does everyone always just think the old days are better? That very well may be true and I'm not here to debate that too much. However, nowadays it seems that there are no units or hunt areas that are still undiscovered but I continue to find quality elk hunting in areas that are "high pressure". Additionally there are almost yearly additions of land via the RMEF or some similar organization. It is worrisome to me though that every year we also see more out of state hunters in obscure places, likely via due to tools such as Gohunt and Onx. One has to wonder with the advent of Youtube, social media, and hunting apps making western public land hunting so visible what the future will look like? Every year there are an uncountable number of new hunting shows on Youtube posting their elk hunt out west. My question is, are all of these hunting shows in the end going to have a negative or positive effect on the quality of elk hunting on public land out west? I can see pros and cons, on one hand there are more hunters but on the other hand more hunters equates to more money to conservation and potentially land purchases via land boards or RMEF. Is this a topic that has been discussed much on the larger hunting shows and do hunting content creators have a certain responsibility to address the potential Issue?
The bigger and more immediate threat to Elk Hunting is going to come from those that may get elected come November. Do your homework and vote accordingly. We can't get back time but we can preserve some semblance of that past.
 
100 years from now and the mountains will be all yours based on new hunter recruitment rates. Can you live that long to get to that era of the "good ole days" lol it's a very sad reality of where it's going

If we were talking about hunting bunnies in New Hampshire, I’d agree. Elk hunting participation is doing nothing but skyrocketing. Dunno what 100 years from now looks like, but I doubt the next few decades will see any lack of western hunting participation growth.
 
Most states have only a limited # of NR tags. Therefore, it’s not possible to have increased NR pressure in those states. If anything, the new tools help to disperse pressure which I would think would be a net positive.
I think you're right, though two things:

first, those tools may be helping that fixed number of NR's get into places they wouldn't have otherwise, which is probably annoying for those of you lucky enough to live in elk country.

And, maintaining that fixed number in the right place is going to take a vigilant population of hunters in those states, holding elected officials accountable. It's going to get really tempting to go for the money at the expense of the resource...
 
This does nothing for helping me understand this. Why even post?

I would love to understand exactly how I connect elk hunting and the political voting this November. There isn't a hunting political party. It's also very hard to get info on where a politican stands in hunting issues. What should I be looking for.
 
If we were talking about hunting bunnies in New Hampshire, I’d agree. Elk hunting participation is doing nothing but skyrocketing.
I think you need to check your numbers. Generally speaking The amount of elk tags out west isn't drastically increasing as of late (and some states have dropped this year) and therefore it can't be increasing the amount of elk hunters. Your statment should say "elk hunting interest is doing nothing but skyrocketing". Tags over the last 20 years have been on a very nice incline due to work from state agencies and the wonderful folks involved in RMEF. Hell I believe we are now up to around 15000 elk tags east of the 100th and 20 years ago it was zero. So maybe there still is room for tags numbers to increase, I would actually love to see someone post a report of the total US elk tags over these last 20 years.
 
App numbers are up in the West and license sells are down in the East. Like every trend this one will end or at least subside.
 
I think you need to check your numbers. Generally speaking The amount of elk tags out west isn't drastically increasing as of late (and some states have dropped this year) and therefore it can't be increasing the amount of elk hunters. Your statment should say "elk hunting interest is doing nothing but skyrocketing". Tags over the last 20 years have been on a very nice incline due to work from state agencies and the wonderful folks involved in RMEF. Hell I believe we are now up to around 15000 elk tags east of the 100th and 20 years ago it was zero. So maybe there still is room for tags numbers to increase, I would actually love to see someone post a report of the total US elk tags over these last 20 years.
All I know is that CO had 40,000 more hunting applications this year compared to last year. That’s a pretty big increase.
 
From Outdoor Life : "Hunter numbers have steadily declined since. We lost 2.2 million hunters between 2011 and 2016 alone, according to the National Survey of Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, a report issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2016, just 11.5 million people hunted.".

Full article here: We suck at recruiting hunters

Google "total number of hunters in U.S. trends" and the results are rather alarming.

I am sure someone will say this thread is not about hunting all over the U.S., but it kinda is. Without turning these numbers around hunting as we experience it now will likely not last. I think we need numbers to sustain the current model of "North American Wildlife Conservation" that we all love to talk about.
 
All I know is that CO had 40,000 more hunting applications this year compared to last year. That’s a pretty big increase
That's not more hunters though. CO is one of those states with an actual decline in limited elk tags this year. So actually, you may have less on the mountain in the State (or busier OTC units)
 
That's not more hunters though. CO is one of those states with an actual decline in limited elk tags this year. So actually, you may have less on the mountain in the State (or busier OTC units)
Good point, I see what you are saying.
 
Hunter's in the field
CO 2019 - 219,295
CO 2005 - 246,521

Applications
CO 2019 - 213,210
CO 2005 - 196,138
Thanks for the actual research to prove my point ;)

I'm pretty sure I saw some numbers from RMEF of total US elk tag increases over this time. However I suppose with OTC areas that probably is a misleading number to look at.
 
I would actually love to see someone post a report of the total US elk tags over these last 20 years.

Sounds like something @wllm1313 has done before.

I’ll admit I’m mostly familiar with Wyoming, but we set new record app numbers each year, regardless of tag numbers. Bottom line, interest in western hunting is absolutely not on the decline.
 
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