Hunting: “a dying sport”?

[Gun&BowSD]

I was looking at the Idaho super hunt draw stats from 2005 til now. The increase of applicants was staggering. I don't recall exact numbers but the deer category was 4500 entries in 2005, 2021 had over 47,000. They say hunting is a dying sport. Statistics and analytics from whoever the talking heads are aside, everything I have seen in my lifetime has indicated nothing but the opposite. I was fortunate to have come up in the life. And plan to bring mine up the same way. By all accounts, with how lazy and soft people have become these days, kids preferring video games to fresh air... one would think hunting would be dying. But man... I’m just not seeing it.
Social media has its blessings and (mostly) curses. Is that where the numbers are coming from? Is the percentage of people who hunt still the same, just in proportion to huge population increase?

 

[HighUintas]

I think the overall % is dropping, but the total number of hunters and hunter hours in the field are increasing overall, just due to the rapid population increase.

Hunting out west has become extremely popular and many more people are applying many more states than they used to. People are spending way more time afield on average than they used to.

Some states in the Midwest are dropping in hunter numbers and losing money rapidly. Wisconsin might be one? I can't remember for certain

 

[roadrunner]

I think the overall % is dropping, but the total number of hunters and hunter hours in the field are increasing overall, just due to the rapid population increase.

Hunting out west has become extremely popular and many more people are applying many more states than they used to. People are spending way more time afield on average than they used to.

Some states in the Midwest are dropping in hunter numbers and losing money rapidly. Wisconsin might be one? I can't remember for certain

I agree. The influx in western big game hunting isn't necessarily an indicator of sudden interest from those who've never hunted before, but more of a shift in who hunts where.

 

[Vladimir]

It depends on us hunters. We need to take our children hunting and into the forest more often. We must pass on our knowledge to our children. The most important thing is to teach children to love nature, and not to shoot everything they see. Hunting is an art. I think everyone will become hunters if there is no food in supermarkets)

 

[zion zig zag]

I was talking with a friend the other day about who holds points in western states. There has to be a lot of older guys with a ton of points, right? So what happens over the next few years as they try to use them before they age out? And then after that after that group of boomers ages out of hunting? Will there be a crazy spike in point creep and then back to year 2000 type points to draw? I need Newburg and Jacobson to do a podcast on it I guess.

 

[cnelk]

I posted this on the Elk Forum the other day


The 2022 Draw Stats are available - https://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/Statistics.aspx

I found this interesting:

ELK - 2021 All Applicants - 246,589
2022 All Applicants - 237,942

Down 8,647 Applicants



DEER - 2021 All Applicants - 228,079
2022 All Applicants - 217,919

Down 10,160 Applicants

 

[Next Ridge]

CO has seen fewer total hunters the last few years. I really think this western hunting trend is about to decline. The shininess wears off, older hunters aging out and more new hunters than not realize after 5 years it just didn’t stick, young people generally not having as many hunting mentors. Will it contract to 1995 levels probably not but it will shrink

 

[FLATHEAD]

For me, with the cost of gas/diesel, the ever rising inflation and
the already ridiculous nonresident odds and cost has taken much
of the fun out of it. I can no longer justify it.
Will I stop hunting? NO WAY!!!
I will hunt my state and maybe a neighboring state.
But I'm tired of buying hunting licenses just to be able
to put in for a drawing, and never get to use it.
There are still reasonably priced hunt apps, and hunting
to be had without getting fleeced in the process.

 

[4rcgoat]

CO has seen fewer total hunters the last few years. I really think this western hunting trend is about to decline. The shininess wears off, older hunters aging out and more new hunters than not realize after 5 years it just didn’t stick, young people generally not having as many hunting mentors. Will it contract to 1995 levels probably not but it will shrink

I like your positive outlook

 

[Lawnboi]

Hunting is not just a sport

Past time of the fricken human race.

It isn’t going anywhere but I do wish a lot of the bull crap that has come along will.

 

[Super tag]

According to statistics in western states the numbers are decreasing, 2021 Idaho was down by roughly 10%

Idaho Releases 2021 Hunter Harvest Information

Below is a news release from the Idaho Department of Game and Fish. Despite deer and elk harvest numbers dropping across the board, numbers have [...]

www.rmef.org

 

[Wags]

I think western big game will slide down a bit as states become more restrictive on NR tags. New hunters will loose interest in it only getting to go once ever 3-5 years.

I hear that numbers are declining here however I see more hunters now than I ever have. Our public lands are always packed and even private lands have waiting lists. If things are slowing down then I’m not seeing it.

 

[Rich M]

Gotta look at the entire picture and not just a single state. This year will be my 44th hunting season.

I’m being pushed out of hunting due to lack of opportunity. Yes, if i really wanted to go there are plenty of places and big deal if it takes a couple years to go. Those 2-3-4-5 years of not hunting while waiting for tags give me opportunity to do other stuff and less desire to hunt.

Things are getting pricey too.

I do agree that the bullchit is increasing and that’s as big of a cause for folks to quit as any.

The number of folks crammed into public are insane, but there is nowhere else to go.

 

[TheTone]

I wish the super hunt stats published the number of unique people in each draw in addition to the total number of chances purchased. There are people spending thousands on them each year to essentially buy a tag. I’m also pretty confident some of them are using the money spent as a business expense/write off

 

[BuckeyeRifleman]

Like everything, western hunting is cyclic.

I think we just saw a major expansion. It was a perfect storm of the internet making information be freely available, the “Rinella/Rogan” factor, increased disposable income and free time due to a good economy, as well as the baby boomer generation retiring. Not to mention huge increases in some western state populations.

I think we’re nearing the end of that “boom” and things are going to go the other way for a while. The biggest thing is the economy is about to go through a major contraction… Combine that with the baby boomer aging out (high point holders), and gas prices going insane, I think we’re about to see a big “correction” in western hunting popularity.

Finally I a lot of people who got into it for a year or two are going to realize that elk hunting is just damn hard most of the time. One or two cool insta posts aren’t worth it. Further when it comes to the now constrained family budget, $1500 a year on tags, $2500 in gas and two weeks of vacation, that hunting trip isn’t going to make the cut.

But that’s just my opinion, I’ve been known to be wrong before.

 

[LongWayAround]

The people who used to buy a hunting license in case they went out for the opener or whatever have been replaced by people who intend to hunt multiple states.

Whiners who don't want to drive a couple hours or not be guaranteed a tag in their preferred limited area that used to be OTC will be the first to fall off.

 

[tdhanses]

I think western states believe the gravy train of NR will never end, I personally believe we hit the peak and are on a decline with drop offs ahead. It wouldn’t shock me if in 5 years we don’t have a 30% reduction in application numbers and that point creep doesn’t stop or will vastly slow.

I wish there were age states in each state showing the percentage of tag and pt holders by age, I bet 65-70% of these people are in the mid 40’s+.

The youth are not joining nearly as fast as the current crop will be aging out or losing interest as they can’t get tags or the tag they wanted 20 years ago.

It’s crazy expensive to be a NR hunter and it’s only going to get more expensive which will reduce the youth from every really being in the game unless their parents pay their way.

 

[JeffRaines]

I don’t know.

Half of me wants to believe the people on this thread saying how western huntings popularity will wane…

The other half understands why it’s so popular. You’ve got guys living in states with a load of private land… these guys can either pay the troll toll and get on a lease somewhere, try to hammer out a place on a tiny piece of public(in comparison), or take a trip out west every year. Out of those options, I can’t say I blame a lot of them for picking the western trip… at least you got scenery. You can also hunt options #2 and 3 for roughly the same cost too.

One would hope there’s a correction coming, but we also need to understand that those guys aren’t gonna be the only ones feeling the pinch when that happens. By the day, hunting is already turning into a rich man’s sport.

Now with that said, instead of places pushing “western hunting”, maybe they should be pushing eastern, central and southern hunting? Maybe invest into those states and get some more public lands on the books to take the pressure off the western part of the US. Hell, take and transplant a bunch more elk into PA, upstate NY and the like… an actual huntable population that a resident(or NR) actually has a decent chance of drawing a tag for. It’s a win for everyone.

 

[FLATHEAD]

We could definitely use a lot more public land here in the East.
With better habitat management please.
Enough with the pine trees already.

 

[BuckeyeRifleman]

I don’t know.

Half of me wants to believe the people on this thread saying how western huntings popularity will wane…

The other half understands why it’s so popular. You’ve got guys living in states with a load of private land… these guys can either pay the troll toll and get on a lease somewhere, try to hammer out a place on a tiny piece of public(in comparison), or take a trip out west every year. Out of those options, I can’t say I blame a lot of them for picking the western trip… at least you got scenery. You can also hunt options #2 and 3 for roughly the same cost too.

One would hope there’s a correction coming, but we also need to understand that those guys aren’t gonna be the only ones feeling the pinch when that happens. By the day, hunting is already turning into a rich man’s sport.

Now with that said, instead of places pushing “western hunting”, maybe they should be pushing eastern, central and southern hunting? Maybe invest into those states and get some more public lands on the books to take the pressure off the western part of the US. Hell, take and transplant a bunch more elk into PA, upstate NY and the like… an actual huntable population that a resident(or NR) actually has a decent chance of drawing a tag for. It’s a win for everyone.

I don’t necessarily disagree with some of what you are saying. That said as a guy who can literally hunt his back yard, my yearly trip west is still the thing I look forward to more than anything.

We invited a few folks to join our group last year. Two of the early invitees bought points then later welched when they added up the cost of gear and tags, not to mention time.

Then we took two other guys who had never hunted the west before. One was a big time eastern bow hunter. The other was a big time backpacker, or at least according to him he was.

By day 3 both of those guys were pretty well spent. They wanted to hang out in town, or drink beer in the tent. Meanwhile myself and my other “regular” hunting partner kept hunting. Not only did we fill our elk tags, we could have filled the other guys too, but they were back at camp that night.

Point being, I think a good portion of the increased demand won’t be guys that will still be hunting the west every year for the next 20 years. Many of them like the “idea” of western hunting, but they haven’t quite faced its reality.