Is the future of hunting all doom and gloom?

[bojangles808]

yes

 

[missjordan]

Increased applications with a decrease in tags has made thing challenging. I think pressure comes and goes. I know the general area we hunt some years hunting pressure is really bad and other years you have the whole valley (and then some) to yourself. It all cycles

YouTube, video episodes, and mapping softwares have made a lot of hunting more disposable. People can scout their areas easier and with some research you can find other people’s successes also. I do enjoy watching the process of other hunters. The internet has opened up a new world to that outside of what magizine used to do


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[Boarmaster]

I’m a 60 year old southeastern hunter. I got into hunting in my early twenties. I been in a hunting lease all my life with the exception of 7 years I lived in SC and had a customer of mine that gave me permission to hunt on his farm. Mostly leases in Florida but for the last 6 years in Alabama.

I’m used to expense leases , travel expense and long trips to camp. Local hunting is pretty much over where I live in Florida due to development. My old hunting lease twenty minutes from my door is now a university , a bass pro shop and housing.

But I just keep rolling with the flow. I will figure a way to hunt somehow ,somewhere until I give out or Im pushing up the daisies. I accept the world will change and I wont have a defeatist attitude about it.

 

[Drenalin]

Big game is hunting is better in my state than it was 30 years ago or even 15 years ago.

We have more deer, more bear and more turkeys than we did in the late 90s when I started and we even have MORE public land available than when I started. Sure, lease prices have increased and it can be hard to find private ground, but it ain’t impossible to find private land to hunt for a reasonable fee and if you just wanna hunt then there is plenty of public. My state has added about 15,000 acres of public land just in the last 5 years, with another 7500 acres that should be opening in the next 2-3 years.

Timekiller13, What state you talking about ?

Don't answer!!!

 

[timekiller13]

Of course there are issues and concerns. But for the sake of argument, here's a particular perspective that doesn't apply to everyone here:

I think that for some people, saying hunting is doomed is code for saying it's lost it's allure for them personally, but they don't want to admit it. They'd rather blame the system.

If hunting has lost its allure, hell, maybe it's "your" fault. No one is forcing "you" to go into debt by updating your hunting wardrobe every season, or by buying range-finding scopes, $3,000 precision rifles, subscription GPS services, Dyneema fiber tents, supersteel game knives, ultralight packs, and so on. That stuff can be awesome, yes, but at worst it can also make "you" feel entitled, like you absolutely deserve to tag an animal every single time. Why wouldn't these hunters, when every time they go outside to "get back to nature" or "embrace our primitive cultural heritage" they're strapped with five figures worth of kit?

If that works for you and you love hunting, GREAT! No quarrel whatsoever. BUT if you're doing this and hunting has lost its allure and is doomed, well, maybe you have too much shit and you're stuck fetishizing stuff over experience? Keep it simple, you don't need to be ahead of the curve with every conceivable piece of technology.

I think you are right about losing its allure.

I went through that a few years ago. Frustrated, not having much fun, thinking about taking up golf or something.

So I changed it up. I gave up all my private leases and started hunting public land only and started hunting from the ground, spot and stalk type stuff. I had spent 90% of my hunting career sitting in a tree stand on private land so this was a big change.

It worked. I have a ball hunting public land and trying to stalk. I suck at it. My success rate is like 10%!!! I don’t care. It’s fun. I did pick up a private lease again last season (first time in several years) but it’s small and it’s just somewhere to chill more than anything.

So I think people should just change things up.

I’m thinking about buying a flintlock this summer and trying to spot and stalk with it this fall just ti make things even harder.

 

[mtnbiker208]

Reading an article in Eastmans magazine, the author, stated that, this is the good ole days of elk hunting.

Personally i think social media, which rokslide is, is mainly negative style people posting, So that is what you read more of, but it is not necesarily the reality of life.

 

[KurtR]

Not enough time is my problem between running the dog and waterfowl i might deer hunt a few days and that just because its 15 minutes out my door. Opportunity out paces my time by a wide margin

 

[smithmtva]

Yes and in the VA area it seems like people are apprehensive for someone to hunt due to getting hurt and suing them than they are against hunting itself.

 

[lnewton]

I am an OK native. We are very fortunate to have an abundance of public land and OLAP land for public hunting. As others have said, I am also fortunate enough to have a couple small parcels of private land access as well. I am concerned about what the future of hunting looks like for my great grandkids (dont even have a born grandchild yet) but it will be less opportunity in some ways. I will carry a bow or rifle and chase big game until I can no longer do it. Guys like Randy Newberg will keep working on gaining more access and we need to join that fight now or we will lose it.

 

[Coyotehills308]

I can't help but feel like it is. If you're an eastern hunter many of your potential hunting grounds are bought up and leased out to the biggest bidder. Out west, tag demand is outpacing supply rapidly. Our most common big game animal in the west (the mule deer) is just kinda barely hanging on. Each year we see more and more development and an increase of 75 mph murder machines all over every highway in the west turning them into meat crayons. The political winds are shifting and a lot of people who aren't friendly to hunting are getting into positions where they can make policy. Outfitted hunts are getting more and more out of the price range of average Joes. I can't really think of any silver linings that will improve things for hunters as we go into the future. Can you? How much longer do you imagine yourself having some semblance of quality hunting? Do you see anything that gives you hope for the future of hunting?

It's so hard to tell with politics in Canada. If you listen to the federal politics it sounds like gloom, but in Alberta hopeful

 

[Happy Antelope]

I wish I could ship a couple million Californian refugees turned Utahns to these people that don't feel like the human population is it of control!

MT, ID, UT. Agree 100%

 

[Stalker69]

Don't answer!!!

Afraid the population will grow ?

 

[Keptwalkin]

Well this thread got me a bit depressed but then i was thinking about all the new virtual reality technology coming out forcing people to stay indoors and not wanting to go outside…. So maybe theres hope?

 

[Rich M]

Reading an article in Eastmans magazine, the author, stated that, this is the good ole days of elk hunting.

Personally i think social media, which rokslide is, is mainly negative style people posting, So that is what you read more of, but it is not necesarily the reality of life.

I only post about the reality of my life.

3 or more yr wait for 3-5 day quota hunt within an hour of home. No just go and hunt places within 90 minutes of home and only 2 or 3 within 2.5 hrs. WT, turkey, hogs.

I have to apply for limited waterfowl permits and hope to get to take elderly father or else it is an hour+ each way from his place to combat public hunts. He wont go to those and rightly so.

If i want to hunt GA it is lease type stuff. I quit when it went over $3k per year. Could do cheaper but they’ll pack a hunter per 20 acres on the cheap leases.

If I want to go to WY it is a 3-5-8 yr wait for a non-combat antelope hunt. Doing guided hunt this year - getting too old to keep waiting and likely getting screwed by 90/10 or similar.

I got a nice muley on my first DIY and have no interest in elk.

I started big game hunting in 1978. The miles and miles of woods i hunted are no longer.

Most hunting right now sucks. It sucks bad. The problem is that most younger guys don’t know any better.

Go and have fun before you get old and bitter. Yes, can spend more money to go hunt somewhere but you reach a point when you realize it wasnt really the kill you were after.