Hunters in decline?

[PlayMaker]

Hi, I wanted to get opinions on hunting from Hunters. I hear that the number of hunters is declining yet I hear people complain that the forest are too crowded as it is. What is your experience and opinion? Is there room to grow or is less better?

ALL opinions and input are welcomed and appreciated.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Hunters are not declining...places to hunt are.

Overpopulation is the root of every single problem in this and most other countries.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

What Ridgerunner said.+1

 

[koja48]

I continue to hunt, tho I now hunt other critters representing better opportunity, seasons, and access to do so.

 

[ArmedBear]

There are many factors.

Big game tends to need big habitat. So in some places, deer are being pushed out by housing development. This leads to fewer tags and more "no hunting" areas where the deer still are.

Pheasant populations are down in many places because of "clean farming" practices that doesn't leave habitat between fields.

But in other places, there are "too many" deer and pheasants everywhere. There are now some prime deer hunting areas where, a few decades ago, there were few if any deer.

We are wealthier than we once were. Few of us will spend our entire lives hunting with a single pump gun and a rusty old rifle. A generation or two ago, this was common. But that wealth also buys us houses and moves us into cities and metro areas. Few of us earn our living in agriculture. Again, a few generations back, most of us did. This means that fewer of us hunt deer as "targets of opportunity" in our fields and surrounding areas. Given the extra effort and expense that most of us have to put out in order to hunt vs. our grandfathers, I'd say that hunting is thriving.

 

[qajaq59]

What Ridgerunner said.+2

 

[JustsayMo]

What everyone has said pretty much sums up what I believe...

 

[mbt2001]

I think that there are actually a lot MORE people who WOULD hunt and that is the point. A lot of the 20 somethings I talk don't have problem 1 with hunting and would go, they just haven't gone, because of area, or hassle or they are intimidated by inexperience.

 

[ants]

According to this table from the US Fish and Wildlife Service:
http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/LicenseInfo/HuntingLicCertHistory.pdf
The total number of hunters has gone up and down slightly over the last 50 years, but mostly stable. 14 million hunters in 1958, and 14 million hunters in 2003 (the latest year for data).

During that same period, the population of the United States doubled. So a smaller percentage of Americans hunt, but the same number of hunters are in the field. There aren't more hunters, just more people.

Here in the West, the population of game animals goes up and down with environmental conditions (drought, fire, etc.). Mostly down.

 

[1/4MOA]

i got on this same subject with the Wildlife biologist from my area of NC the other day. The was he put it was much like ANTS said. The actually percentage has gone down dramatically but its now a lower percentage of a much higher populaion thus the number of hunters, here in NC at least has gone up. And yeah everywhere land is being snatched up. Good example..... When i was a youngin (lets say 5yrs old in 1990) we had over 15,000 acres that we hunted as a club.... that number has now dwindled to about 8,000 acres.

 

[Beagle-zebub]

I am from Northern Delaware, which is pretty much the suburbs of Philadelphia. I would hunt, but where? If you don't already know a bunch of people who know places to hunt, you will not likely get into hunting.

 

[22-rimfire]

Taken as a whole, places to hunt are more difficult to find even if you are willing to pay substantially for the priviledge. Public lands are few and over hunted. For many, it is turning into a money game.

 

[icebones]

too true, the price of tags and License in kentucky has rose several dollars in the past year.

i may be wrong, but dont the money from tags and license go to the local fish&game department?

 

[ccd]

i may be wrong, but dont the money from tags and license go to the local fish&game department?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


Here in Texas it goes into the general fund where the Legislature has raided it to pay for other things over the last 30 years. Our state parks here are a joke(not TPWD's fault), let alone the areas to hunt publicly. Heck a couple of our State Parks have become "Natural Areas" because TPWD was robbed of the money to support them. Let alone acquiring new parkland to meet our rapidly exploding population. Parks and public lands are LOW on the concerns of most legislators. Heck here in Texas there have been numerous examples of Legislators turning public land/access points(especially on rivers) into private land, even when overturned by Texas Supreme Court rulings.

 

[Skoghund]

There is a world wide down turn in the number of hunters. The causes are many. As others have said a move from the country side to towns, young people with other intrests ie. computers etc and not forgetting the cost.

I do get a bit peeved with people complaining about no where to hunt. My father was from the eastend of London not know for its wild life. He had no intrest in hunting. After going out with a mates uncle hunting when i was young i caught the hunting bug. Through putting in the work and starting beating on pheasant shoots and later getting into dog training i ended up with more hunting than i could copy with. In later life i moved to a new country. I had to learn a new language take hunting exams etc. 5 years on i have as much hunting as i need with plenty of invites. You don't get something for nothing in this world you have to stop complaining and get out there and work at it.

 

[Frog48]

Public lands in Texas are a joke, there just aint much of it. Hunting around here is darn near impossible unless you happen to have friends that own sizable ranches, or have the disposable income to spend on leasing land.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

The total number of hunters has gone up and down slightly over the last 50 years, but mostly stable. 14 million hunters in 1958, and 14 million hunters in 2003 (the latest year for data).

...While the US population has nearly doubled during that timeframe.

It'd also be interesting to note how many animals have been taken, then vs. now. We may still have a good number of hunters, but I'd bet that your average hunter doesn't bag nearly as much game as he did 50 years ago.

Anti-gun and anti-hunting propaganda has worked. Kids aren't interested in even leaving their rooms, let alone getting out into the great outdoors and killing something. How barbaric. Better we should hug a duck than shoot it. (And then *eat* it? How disgusting!) As for guns? Only bad people have those evil things.

Sigh.

 

[1911 guy]

Here's the way I see it.

Hunting is dying. The population is exploding, hunters are a smaller and smaller percentage of that population. Parents aren't teaching their kids, kids are not interested in learning, opportunities are dwindling.

Hunting land is becoming scarce. In 1940 80% of the U.S. population was involved in agriculture, from family farms to regional suppliers. Today, less than five percent are in agriculture. Most of that land has been sold to developers or agri-business. Both are No Hunting places. Increasingly, farmers and ranchers who do have available land are finding it more profitable to sell hunting leases to white collar once a year hunters than to let local kids and dads hunt squirrels on a Saturday morning . John Q. Publics' tradition is being edged out by his indifference to his kids, his kids indifference to him, developers and agri-business buying up land and local landowners being either newcomers with no hunting tradition or too busy chasing a dollar to see the tradition fading.

 

[Savage3006]

I agree with what was said earlier. The number of hunters is constant or maybe increasing a bit depending on how you measure it (percentage of population versus absolute number).

Hunting land is decreasing. Also the high cost of gas limits where we can go.