Things are never what they seem and everything is complicated. Hunter trend numbers are declining at a rate of about 1.5% annually. Two reasons for this, 1) since forever (like 1776) the US has slowly moved from an agricultural society to an urban society. Farmers and Ranchers were more likely to hunt because it was easier for them. They had land, they knew their neighbors, etc. As ag became more corporate, land gets closed off. Add to that the loss in public lands. City kids can play video games much easier than they can pack up stuff and drive to the country and set up camp or knock on doors to try to find a place to hunt, and they might not even know where to start. 2) the boomers are a large % of the population. As they get older, they are less likely to hunt for physical reasons, like death. So a 1.5% annual drop can be explained by a lot of changes in the demographics of our society. If you want to fight that trend, you are going to lose. You need to pick winnable battles on the edges. Start with opening up land and opportunity.
www.outdoorlife.com
Well guess you should have skied, instead of picking something lame.
www.hunttalk.com
There are a plethora of resources on YouTube about how to hunt. Skiing is a motor skill, and as such learning it is far different than learning and implementing the techniques involved in hunting. There is really no reason whatsoever a person trying to learn to hunt can't find all of the information they need via some searches on the internet.
To the OP. It's amazing how at 19 with 4 years of hunting experience that you know all the REAL resons hunting is in decine.
That's funny because when I was 19 I also thought I knew everything.
Thank you for sharing ALL your years of hunting knowledge or perhaps lack of it. Sour grapes maybe?
#1 and #3 are very real around here. The fixation on deer hunting has also made it harder to get permission to hunt private land for small game. Lot's of "No's" since cousin Jimmy, etc deer hunts that patch of woods. That said, squirrel hunting here in IN, even on public ground, is about as accessible as it gets in this state. Great primer.
And what question didn't I answer? I addressed your points some I can agree with others not so much.
I remember before Comodore 64 we used to spell boobs on calculators for fun
I never really thought of the commraderie and acceptance perspective around public land hunting culture and always attributed that more to deer camp. But now that I think of the stories I heard about strangers meeting in the woods on firearms seasons and coming together for a deer drive it makes sense. So you think the lack of comradarie among hunters has led to decline in hunting? I can definitely see it as a factor because this country in general has shifted to a less friendly "us against them" culture.
