Uh oh

[TOGIE]

Bad trends

Survey: Public Approval for Hunting Drops Sharply

A national survey shows that approval of legal hunting has dropped to 77 percent, which is the lowest approval rating since 2015.

www.outdoorlife.com

 

[DouglasR]

I don’t like hunting, but if people are gonna hunt, I’d like to increase the risk of the hunted animal suffering if at all possible...

 

[DouglasR]

I don’t like hunting, but if people are gonna hunt, I’d like to increase the risk of the hunted animal suffering if at all possible...
View attachment 283573

But I’m sure their reasoning behind this is more of a “black gun scary” type of thing

 

[BoulderBulls]

"Generally speaking, the groups that had the highest favorability toward hunting are those who have hunted, shot recreationally, or fished in the past three years, live in a rural area, are male, white or Caucasian, 35 years or older, live in the Midwest, and reside in a small city or town"

I could've told them that without a survey.

 

[MITCHMO]

I’ve never seen more people in the woods or on the water in all my life. I’m a little doubtful of the population used for this study. Maybe I just have my head in the sand?

 

[Irrelevant]

meh... data is still trending positive and based on the prior results variability is pretty high.

 

[Bullshot]

meh... data is still trending positive and based on the prior results variability is pretty high.

Also it is obviously underestimating the effect of the theory of everything climate change

 

[Moserkr]

I have a hard time believing the vast number of “studies” who make massive assumptions based on the 1 or 2 thousand people they could actually reach. I get the law of averages and why they generally only survey a low number of people. I would be more inclined to trust a study that reaches 10-100 thousand people (somehow). Low numbers of people’s opinions are easily skewed depending on who you reach and in what area geographically.

 

[FairWeather]

Sounds like we need to do a better job of positively portraying hunting, and hunters. Also sounds like we need to do a better job of getting kids into the woods.

 

[SAJ-99]

I have a hard time believing the vast number of “studies” who make massive assumptions based on the 1 or 2 thousand people they could actually reach. I get the law of averages and why they generally only survey a low number of people. I would be more inclined to trust a study that reaches 10-100 thousand people (somehow). Low numbers of people’s opinions are easily skewed depending on who you reach and in what area geographically.

If done properly, 2 thousand is plenty. I don’t worry about it much. The drop was well within the standard error of the past changes, so looks like “noise” to me. It just makes for a good headline.

 

[FairWeather]

I’ve never seen more people in the woods or on the water in all my life. I’m a little doubtful of the population used for this study. Maybe I just have my head in the sand?

If you’re in the midwest (which it looks like you are), then that’s right in line with the figures presented as the area where you’d be least likely to notice this shift.

 

[406LIFE]

Mark Duda and Responsive Management have been putting out quality date for a long time now. Trends and suggestions from his research that he points to should be listened to intently. I don't see this as "sky is falling" alarm, but certainly a closer look at hunting as a community and our own personal representation is warranted. His book referenced in the article should be on every hunter's shelf.

 

[Shangobango]

I don’t put much faith in surveys or polls with such small sample sizes for the same reason that I don’t trust harvest statistics derived from sampling a tiny fraction of hunters.

This survey included about .0000067 percent of the population of the U.S.

Statistically irrelevant.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Sounds like we need to do a better job of positively portraying hunting, and hunters. Also sounds like we need to do a better job of getting kids into the woods.

Right. We need more people overcrowding diminishing resource base. Not the solution I would vote for.

 

[TOGIE]

I don’t think the solution is recruitment either. I think the results of this survey make that clear. This survey would suggest the opposite is in fact true based on the intervening time since the last survey in 2019

Approval of hunting and hunter numbers may have some slight relationship. But as far as I’m concerned they have nothing to do with each other… or don’t have to have anything to do with each other

 

[rtraverdavis]

If there really is a decrease in the public’s favorability toward hunting, I wonder how much some of the stupid crap on social media has affected that.

 

[deerhunt1988]

If there really is a decrease in the public’s favorability toward hunting, I wonder how much some of the stupid crap on social media has affected that.

Beat me to it.

 

[Shangobango]

If there really is a decrease in the public’s favorability toward hunting, I wonder how much some of the stupid crap on social media has affected that.

If it is the case, social media sure hasn’t helped.

I am a life long hunter and some of the crap I see makes me not want to be associated in anyway with those posting or promoting it.

 

[hank4elk]

I'm hoping for more tofu spread and almond water folks go to mars and enjoy their vat chicken bits.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Sounds like we need to do a better job of positively portraying hunting, and hunters. Also sounds like we need to do a better job of getting kids into the woods.

I wonder if part of the problem is the increased politicalization.

Fact is tons of liberals own firearms and hunt, but the perception is that it’s a red thing.

Is hunting getting sucked into the polarization of our society?