Biggest hurdle/barrier to entry into hunting?

[OneGunTex]

I’d say also that a lot of Barrier to Entry to new hunters is current hunters them selves not all but more then we care to admit exist so just hear me out

Yeah, and not to mention all the hunters in this very thread who seem to want to actively discourage new hunters. I hope they're not taking their kids out with them and causing overcrowding in the next generation /s

 

[Steve300xcw]

I’d say also that a lot of Barrier to Entry to new hunters is current hunters them selves not all but more then we care to admit exist so just hear me out and as a note I’ve done it myself so let me explain. We as the hunters get pretty sanctimonious when we discuss conservation to a new hunter we to often are quick to condemn people for going out and shooting a forkey or a spike bull and how that’s not conservation because we who have hunted for many years wouldn’t do it but to nurture and grow a supported new generation of hunters that will benefit us all have to look the other way and say Awesome Job! not why did you shoot that I would have never done that and let those grow up, I have had to talk my self out of saying that to a lot of young kids and understand that that’s part of maturing and become what we all want to see.

I'll be honest. Ive got more respect for a guy sticking a forked horn in the freezer than I do the dorks worrying about how many inches some buck is.

 

[FLS]

Having a mentor is a huge advantage, but not a deal breaker if you really want to hunt. Figuring out seasons and tags isn’t that hard if you have even modest reading comprehension skills. Every state in the nation has public land with game on it to hunt. Some is better than other. Figuring what’s good and what’s not is part of the process. Success is not and shouldn’t be guaranteed.
I think the biggest barrier is the hunting industry itself. They’re lining up to get their hands in your pocket by convincing you you need their products to be successful. That’s 100% bullshit. You don’t need name brand hunting clothing, a custom rifle , or thousand of dollars in camping great to become a very lethal hunter. A pawn shop rifle and the clothes you have in your closet are sufficient to learn with. If you want to learn to be a killer, buy a .22 or a shotgun and learn how to find, hunt, kill, clean, and cook squirrels, rabbits, or whatever small game is available within reasonable distance of where you live. Once you’re proficient with that move to bigger game. Kill the first legal animal you can. Crawl, walk, run. Again, it’s not supposed to be easy. Quit whining and get after it.

 

[Coyote Commander]

The biggest barrier facing new hunters is the same as the rest of us.

Access to quality hunting.

You can have a mentor, the money to buy gear, special seasons and weapons, etc etc.

But if you dont have a decent place to go hunting, odds are you wont stick with it. Otherwise its just a more expensive nature walk.

 

[RockAndSage]

So how do you expect to expand those other people to support us without also expanding the number of hunters? It stands to reason that if every hunter brings along 15 other supporters (which actually checks out, because something like 4.5% of the US population are hunters and 75% of the population supposedly supports "regulated hunting"), then adding 1% more hunters should add another 45 million supporters.

If you personally bring hunting goodwill to 15 other non-hunters (while adamantly telling them they should absolutely NOT start hunting despite all the awesome things you tell them about it to get their support), what's your plan to double that number? Totally defies logic. Biggest public advocates for our hunting and fishing rights are certainly big conservation orgs - who get so much unwarranted hate from the "everything's overcrowded" bunch on here.

Re-read what I wrote. It's about sharing the fare over dinner, not taking people out into the field. Wives, daughters, kids' friends, their parents, etc. A wild game dinner is a rare and special thing for people who don't hunt.

You won't be convincing anti-hunters to support hunting. But the winnable middle of non-hunters is won over by personal connections and positive experiences.

 

[DangerRanger]

Exposure to the activity and knowledge of how to do it. Without knowing it feels very difficult to get started. Hell I feel this way with public land whitetail in the east. I’m so used to my private properties that even knowing how to legally go hunting on public seems like a hill to climb over.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

In Alaska the biggest barrier is definetly time and money. Access is huge but it dosent take long to meet guys with boats and planes and that stuff.

I end up hunting alone fairly often as most guys bail once yo start talking costs, I’ve gotten to where I can tell nearly instantly where I lose them. To be fair I’ve been guilty of the time off work thing, my job isn’t that flexible, I had to bail on another rokslider last spring because I was flat out told I couldn’t leave the days I’d asked.

Heck just a few weeks ago, me and a buddy were talking about going for some big moose, I told him about an area I’ve wanted to hunt, showed him pics of the bulls some other friends have seen and hunted there, I even had a pilot who would take us. Once the discussion turned into taking a week off work, commercial flights then bush flights etc I could see the look go from super interested to it’s just not happening within ~ 2 minutes.

I guess it can be a lot of things, I’ve bailed on trips because the people I’m supposed to go with just aren’t being serious about their prep. I was supposed to go goat hunting with a guy back 2-3 years ago, the trip was nearly a year out. The guy I was supposed to go with was going to the bar every night, he never even got a proper backpack or boots, about 2 weeks before the trip I was like: no way bro. The guy was like “I’ll make this gear work”, “I’ll get in shape during the hunt” but he was fat, soft and had been drinking heavily for the past year. Not the recipe for mountain goat success.

He was pissed at me but it’s like, let’s look at the big picture here, you’re pushing 270lbs, you havnt worked out all year, you’ve got day hiking boots and some tiny backpack (headed just strap gear to the outside) etc etc etc.

 

[Steve300xcw]

“I’ll get in shape during the hunt”

wtf does that mean?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

wtf does that mean?

It’s like he thought the hiking would just whip him into shape and make him lose weight. I tried to tell him it dosent work that way.

I worked with the guy, he was always talking about trips and hunting and all the stuff he’d done. As that year progressed I realized all the hunting done was like tree stands and turkey hunting. When I saw his gear I was seriously concerned. Then his complete lack of hunting to get into shape….

He’d also say all sorts of wierd shit like: I don’t mind climbing to get back to camp but I’m not scaling a mountain for an animal. I was like bro, when you goat hunt, you generally don’t camp on top of peaks and hike down to hunt…