The REAL (REASONS) hunting is declining

[np307]

What I find laughable is you didn't bother reading the whole post before calling it laughable. This isn't entirely based off of "opinion and experience" it's based off of cold hard facts along with my own experience concerning said facts. Anyway if you don't think these are real reasons why hunting is declining... Well I'm not going to make a statement I'll regret so I'll say you're living under a rock. Also instead of calling something "laughable" I'd be more than to have a discussion with you on why you think these aren't real reasons but if you want to get into an argument I'm not going to argue. As I said in the post that I wish you would have read, hunting license sales numbers aren't declining in every single state just most of them if yours is in exception good for you, good for your state but that's not representative of hunting license sales nationally.

I'm sorry, I read the whole thing but I must have missed the statistics and research. Those are cold hard facts. I did see a lot of opinion that, as I acknowledged, has some merit.

And for someone who prefaced their post with "if you're easily offended, don't read this" you sure seem to be riled up.

 

[lynlan1819]

Alright, I'm going to preface this by saying if you're easily offended don't read this.

Hunting has been in decline since the 1980's and 1990's depending on what state you live in. While there's probably thousands of reasons I'm going to detail the biggest issues I think hunting in this country faces in terms of the decline of hunting. For some background on me I'm 19 and have been hunting since I've been 15. I'm one of the "New Breed" that is sadly exceedingly rare. I've met a grand total of 3 youngsters in my 4 years hunting public land. I didn't shoot my first buck after following a pair of fresh tracks in the snow for a mile, walking quietly behind my grandfather and uncle (although I wish I could've) and I didn't shoot my first buck after applying for years to a "trophy unit" from a wealthy home in the suburbs. My first buck was taken on a small tract of private land on an unseasonably hot opening day of archery season. I couldn't have been more proud of myself I made a great lung/liver shot and he was down about 25 yards away from me. My first buck was a velvet 3 pointer and I couldn't have been more proud. I hunt both this small tract of private land and a variety of local public lands. My proudest hunting moment was last season when I took a beautiful fat public land doe on a very highly pressured property (probably the most pressured in the state and at least in the county) everything I have learned from hunting has been from the internet, YouTube, my own scouting, trial and error, and from one family friend to a much lesser extent my point is my experience definitely isn't typical and it's a miracle that I even started hunting in the first place. My interest in hunting started when I thought it would be a fun experience to go turkey hunting, so I did and this later evolved in a passion for deer hunting and I've been hooked ever since. I've been fortunate to harvest 4 deer in my 4 years of hunting and am happy to have a freezer full of meat that I spent hours brwaking down and processing myself. It feels good to have a connection to my food, it's healthier and great to know where it comes from.

So enough about me here are the reasons that I personally believe are most detrimental to the hunting community.

(Lack of access to land/perceived lack of access to land.) While it is very true that the days of knocking on a door and asking a member of your community if you can hunt his land is pretty much over, the small property owners don't want people on their property for liability reasons or percived liability reasons and all the large property owners either lease their land to a wealthy individual, a club with a ridiculous membership fee (I'm talking $1000 plus a year) or even hunting product companies to film shows on. And before people start saying that I'm bashing rich people and large companies I'm not and if you can pay 5 grand a year to lease a big property good for you but just know by doing so you're taking away opportunities from other people to hunt the same property. 20 people probably hunted farmer Ed's 1000 acres before it was leased in exchange for help and other favors. Not blaming anybody it's just reality. The next part of this equation is public land. While there is less public land than there was 10 years ago and even less than there was 20 years ago there's still plenty of public land in this country to hunt. (With few exceptions). My heart does go out to those in places like Iowa or Mississippi where there is next to no public land, however there is still some public land to hunt, but in most states access to public land is not as much of an issue as people make it out to be. And yes I'm guilty of exaggerating how hard it is to hunt public land as much as the next guy, however I don't do this anymore because this discourages going people like myself. When I was in high school I was one of the only people to hunt public land if not the only one, the other kids thought public land wasn't worth the time and that is problematic because once these kids graduate and move away, or go to college in another state they're going to stop hunting because they believe public land isn't worth it. There are a few states with very little public land but they are the exception most states have plenty of state forests, parks, national forests, wildlife management areas and a litany of other land open to hunting. We in the United States are blessed with so many millions of acres of public land to recreate on and this makes us unique to the rest of the world (yes I know Canada has similar "crown land"). Public land hunting can be hard and it is definitely harder than private land and there is definitely no comparison to a 1000 acre Illinois "trophy buck" lease, however not all is lost. I used to be one of those people who thought "hunting public land is impossible" and "not worth the effort" but this didn't stop me from trying harder each time. There are a litany of studies that show the vast majority of hunters will not venture more than a 1/3 of a mile from the road. What does this mean? The vast majority of public land especially the big tracts are relatively free from hunting pressure or face light pressure. Studies have also disproven the myth that "all public land deer migrate to private land during deer season" this is not even close to being true, whitetail deer are loyal to their range and simply move deeper into less pressured parts of public land with thicker cover when the pressure gets high. If you put in the work and venture deep into public land you will most likely be successful and I know this first hand. When I hunt public (which is what I hunt most) I go at least a mile in and that is why I'm much more successful than the other guys that set up near the parking lot. My point is if you put in the work you will be successful! This doesn't just pertain to hunting it pertains to everything in life, you don't get far unless you work hard.

(The social media hunters, the online trolls, and cyber bullies) I'm grouping all of these groups together because they have the same effect on young hunters for the most part. Everybody knows the kind of "hunter" I'm talking about, the trust fund kid who acts hyper masculine to compensate for his insecurity and thinks he's all that because daddy gave him money to shoot a 180 inch outfitted land buck or even worse a high fence pet and then brags on social media about it and shames other people often times teens and younger for shooting a doe or young buck. This behavior is detrimental and absolutely needs to stop we need to recruit teenagers and young kids into the hunting community and it doesn't matter if you shoot a doe, spike, monster buck, or an average buck, if you're out there having fun and contributing to conservation it doesn't matter what kind of deer you shoot as long as you follow all the regulations. There are great social media hunters out there that do wonders for the hunting community, however if you go in Instagram and see "trophy bucks" and "trophy elk" all day it gives young hunters unrealistic expectations which is also jnegative. It's just like teenagers being insecure because everyone on Instagram is a super model or body builder. Anti hunters, trolls, and cyber bullies have the same effect on young hunters as the (bad) social media hunters (and they're fans that shame hunters) they shame hunters for being ethical hunters just because they didn't shoot that 1/100 monster buck. Teenagers and young people live on social media and if they are shamed for being hunters it's a driving factor to stop hunting or more likely never even start hunting all together.

(Video games and Tv) this is pretty straight forward, we live in an instant gratification culture and TV and video games provide just that. It's scientifically proven that playing video games produces pleasure in our brains, most young people these days are so addicted to video games it's like a drug to them. Why sit in a treestand on a hot day or track deer through the snow in 10 degrees and probably not even bring a deer home when you can play video games all day with no effort involved and have a lot of fun.

(Decline of rural America and increase in urbanization and suburbanization) more Americans are moving to major cities or metro areas and suburbs and not having a chance to even go hiking let alone hunting or fishing in the city, hunters for the most part are looked upon and seen as a bunch of "gun toting rednecks) or some other ignorant slur. Ironically from my experience the hunters I have met who traveled from the city to where I live to hunt have all been immigrants from Communist Asian or former Soviet republics for them I think it has something to do with the feeling of freedom hunting gives you but I digress. Urbanization is killing young hunter's opportunities before they even start.

Tags/Lic. cost to much,wait is too long between tags,hardly any game left,too many hunters,too much private owned land that in NO hunting zone,GREEDY wildlife dept's,to name just a few reasons.

 

[Elk Bugler]

I'm sorry, I read the whole thing but I must have missed the statistics and research. Those are cold hard facts. I did see a lot of opinion that, as I acknowledged, has some merit.

And for someone who prefaced their post with "if you're easily offended, don't read this" you sure seem to be riled up.

Alright so do you want to tell me what I'm wrong about, why these aren't real reasons why hunting is declining? Hunting is declining nationality it's a fact. Do I need to back up all my facts with citations from ivy league articles? Like I said if you're easily offended don't read this but you didn't take my advice haha. But personally I like a good friendly debate more than anything but if you just want to call something you disagree with "laughable", get offended when I call your post "laughable" and not even offer why you think I'm wrong or why you don't believe hunting is declining etc you're just getting blocked I'm not going to get into a screaming match this isn't the point of this thread I really wrote this to encourage older hunters to become mentors and offer advice for young people like myself, this isn't the YouTube comments section or reddit. If you're just gonna get offended or mad don't bother

 

[np307]

Alright so do you want to tell me what I'm wrong about, why these aren't real reasons why hunting is declining? Hunting is declining nationality it's a fact. Do I need to back up all my facts with citations from ivy league articles? Like I said if you're easily offended don't read this but you didn't take my advice haha. But personally I like a good friendly debate more than anything but if you just want to call something you disagree with "laughable", get offended when I call your post "laughable" and not even offer why you think I'm wrong or why you don't believe hunting is declining etc you're just getting blocked I'm not going to get into a screaming match this isn't the point of this thread I really wrote this to encourage older hunters to become mentors and offer advice for young people like myself, this isn't the YouTube comments section or reddit. If you're just gonna get offended or mad don't bother

I'm not offended at all. The bravado and all just made me laugh.

And as I've said multiple times, I agree with most of your opinion.

And if you listen to Randy's message or other popular voices (Rinella, etc), you'll see that plenty of people have been talking about barriers to entry for a long time. You aren't the first. I haven't impugned your motives in any of this. Just saying, take a breath and drop the pretense.

 

[Gr8bawana]

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?

 

[TheJason]

The real reason hunting participation is because it not a high enough priority for people. Barriers to entry are just that, but they are nearly always surmountable. At the end of the day though, I think this largely just a prioritization issue.

I'm not speaking for anyone else, but I know with my wife and I both working, and three girls from middle school to college, competition for time and money is intense. I've mentored folks who went hunting with me, had a good time, saw some success, and never went again. Why is that? Shit, maybe they just don't like it MORE than some other activity. I've golfed with friends before, and we had a good time, but I would NEVER take up golf. Even if it was free and right across the street from me, I still wouldn't do it. Why is that? I dunno, I just don't really enjoy it.

My brother hasn't hunted in years. He'll go with friends as a tag along for the comraderie and experience. Same exact upbringing as me. What's the difference? I dunno. I love hunting and he doesn't. He loves golf and I don't.

I think we as hunters can do our part to lower barriers to entry (which I think is actually done pretty well), but at the end of the day you can't MAKE someone enjoy an activity enough to participate in it on a regular basis. IMO, we often have this idealistic delusion we can just summon more people to enjoy hunting enough to make it a priority over other activities. In the age of readily available food sources, I don't see that happening.

 

[teej89]

It's that damned CWD disease killin all the critter's making people quit huntin' #canofworms

On a more serious note, probably the statement I may agree with is the instant gratification. Most people don't understand driving hours in the morning to go chase (and mostly miss) some birds.

Cyber bullies - that's a personal choice and only applies to a very minute age group e.g. your age(no offense on your age).

Decline of rural america - I think your argument here would be less private land to hunt therefor people go to public causing the public land to get more crowded. Which cause people to get more turned off hunting public elbow to elbow with joe-shmo and his 5 cousins.

Lack of access: - not sure what you were getting at here... kinda wordy for my tasting. It may fall into my above point.

 

[Elk Bugler]

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?

Ok boomer

 

[SAJ-99]

This isn't entirely based off of "opinion and experience" it's based off of cold hard facts along with my own experience concerning said facts.

I have posted this link before. We first need to define facts. Hunting as an activity measured per capita is declining, but the number of license sales isn’t. If we cherry pick data starting point and go back to the max in the 80’s we can say it is declining, but during your lifetime, it just hasn’t happened. So we can all be right and wrong at the same time.
https://www.fws.gov/wsfrprograms/Subpages/LicenseInfo/Hunting.htm

 

[Elk Bugler]

The real reason hunting participation is because it not a high enough priority for people. Barriers to entry are just that, but they are nearly always surmountable. At the end of the day though, I think this largely just a prioritization issue.

I'm not speaking for anyone else, but I know with my wife and I both working, and three girls from middle school to college, competition for time and money is intense. I've mentored folks who went hunting with me, had a good time, saw some success, and never went again. Why is that? Shit, maybe they just don't like it MORE than some other activity. I've golfed with friends before, and we had a good time, but I would NEVER take up golf. Even if it was free and right across the street from me, I still wouldn't do it. Why is that? I dunno, I just don't really enjoy it.

My brother hasn't hunted in years. He'll go with friends as a tag along for the comraderie and experience. Same exact upbringing as me. What's the difference? I dunno. I love hunting and he doesn't. He loves golf and I don't.

I think we as hunters can do our part to lower barriers to entry (which I think is actually done pretty well), but at the end of the day you can't MAKE someone enjoy an activity enough to participate in it on a regular basis. IMO, we often have this idealistic delusion we can just summon more people to enjoy hunting enough to make it a priority over other activities. In the age of readily available food sources, I don't see that happening.

You're definitely right that it's not the top priority for most people, and I 100 percent agree about powering the barriers but I also agree that mentoring is key to getting young hunters involved.

 

[Elk Bugler]

No offense taken cyber bullying and online criticism applies more to millennials and Gen Z more than anyone else but young people are the people that need to be recruited and I'm not saying that it's not important to recruit 60 year olds or 50 year olds but young people are definitely the group that needs to be focused on.

It's that damned CWD disease killin all the critter's making people quit huntin' #canofworms
View attachment 135226
On a more serious note, probably the statement I may agree with is the instant gratification. Most people don't understand driving hours in the morning to go chase (and mostly miss) some birds.

Cyber bullies - that's a personal choice and only applies to a very minute age group e.g. your age(no offense on your age).

Decline of rural america - I think your argument here would be less private land to hunt therefor people go to public causing the public land to get more crowded. Which cause people to get more turned off hunting public elbow to elbow with joe-shmo and his 5 cousins.

Lack of access: - not sure what you were getting at here... kinda wordy for my tasting. It may fall into my above point.

 

[Elk Bugler]

I have posted this link before. We first need to define facts. Hunting as an activity measured per capita is declining, but the number of license sales isn’t. If we cherry pick data starting point and go back to the max in the 80’s we can say it is declining, but during your lifetime, it just hasn’t happened. So we can all be right and wrong at the same time.
https://www.fws.gov/wsfrprograms/Subpages/LicenseInfo/Hunting.htm

That's one way it can be framed but license sales don't tell the whole story either because there's a general license, firearms license, muzzle loader license all depending on what state you're in but there's no denying that actual hunters (individuals participating in hunting) have been declining since 80-90s and also since 2011-2016 etc.

 

[Jape]

The real reason hunting participation is because it not a high enough priority for people. Barriers to entry are just that, but they are nearly always surmountable. At the end of the day though, I think this largely just a prioritization issue.

I'm not speaking for anyone else, but I know with my wife and I both working, and three girls from middle school to college, competition for time and money is intense. I've mentored folks who went hunting with me, had a good time, saw some success, and never went again. Why is that? Shit, maybe they just don't like it MORE than some other activity. I've golfed with friends before, and we had a good time, but I would NEVER take up golf. Even if it was free and right across the street from me, I still wouldn't do it. Why is that? I dunno, I just don't really enjoy it.

My brother hasn't hunted in years. He'll go with friends as a tag along for the comraderie and experience. Same exact upbringing as me. What's the difference? I dunno. I love hunting and he doesn't. He loves golf and I don't.

I think we as hunters can do our part to lower barriers to entry (which I think is actually done pretty well), but at the end of the day you can't MAKE someone enjoy an activity enough to participate in it on a regular basis. IMO, we often have this idealistic delusion we can just summon more people to enjoy hunting enough to make it a priority over other activities. In the age of readily available food sources, I don't see that happening.

Spot on. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to get my brothers more involved, including doing most of the prep work myself, but at the end of the day they just don't love it as much as I do.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Ok boomer

 

[Bigjay73]

Interesting mind if I ask what state you're in? I talked to a 70 year old hunter about this a few months ago and he said that he used to go into the woods years ago and it was packed now there's nobody out there anymore. I could definitely see this as more of a reality in most Western States but less so in the Northeast and Midwest. And I do think that a lot of the cars we see in parking lots on public land during hunting season aren't hunters I think there's a lot of hikers and fisherman as well as those dreaded Geo-Cachers out there during the fall. I know in my area fishing is very popular and so is hunting but less so than fishing. And I'm not sure but I think Nationwide more people are buying fishing licenses than ever I could be wrong but I know this is the case in certain states.

Colorado, but North Carolina felt the same way when I lived there as well. Both regions are unique and I'm sure their dynamics differ from say Wisconsin, or New Hampshire

 

[SAJ-99]

That's one way it can be framed but license sales don't tell the whole story either because there's a general license, firearms license, muzzle loader license all depending on what state you're in but there's no denying that actual hunters (individuals participating in hunting) have been declining since 80-90s and also since 2011-2016 etc.

The data measures general hunting license sales. It has been reported for decades. Please look at the data. The only double counting would be if a person bought a license in two states.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

The data measures general hunting license sales. It has been reported for decades. Please look at the data. The only double counting would be if a person bought a license in two states.

Or 5

 

[LuketheDog]

For some background on me I'm 19 and have been hunting since I've been 15. I'm one of the "New Breed" that is sadly exceedingly rare. I've met a grand total of 3 youngsters in my 4 years hunting public land.

Wait, do you mean people your age or people who are "youngsters" relative to you? Because they would be, like, 8...

 

[SAJ-99]

Or 5

But increasing cost is one of the arguments. So some people can afford to buy NR licenses in 3,4,5 states and other people drop out because the $25 resident license is too expensive. That is reflective of our economy and not relevant to decline in hunting. Younger people need to get better jobs.

 

[AggieHunter]

There is definitely aa decline in the number of youth hunters getting into the sport. Every time I run into someone while I am out hunting they are always surprised to see a 15-year-old whos not obsessed with video games and is actually enjoys being in the outdoors. The one thing that is said over and over again to me when I explain to people that I was missing school to hunt is that they all say what I learn while hunting and fishing are much more valuable than what I could learn in a classroom.