- Joined
- Aug 25, 2020
- Messages
- 449
I will give a slight look into my background for perspective. I grew up in the mountains of Colorado during the “golden age” of backpack public land hunting. 90’s-early 2000’s. Then my backpack hunting experience was limited to mule deer then as shooting an elk back then consisted of sitting in the truck and waiting for the right one to walk to a spot you could pull the truck to. Big Muley’s required a bit more effort. Archery hunters made up the majority of the backpack hunters, with very few rifle hunters getting off the roads. A.L.I.C.E packs and Army surplus wool pants were high tech gear.
It seems with the popularity of archery hunting gaining a lot of traction, so did the backpack hunting. Not sure if it was a combination of mobile mapping apps and social media that fueled this fire but the timelines match. It was also about this timeframe wildlife management appeared to drastically decline in all most western states. More hunters chasing fewer animals created a need to backpack and hunt deeper and deeper.
Shortly after, the hunting industry collectively positioned elk hunting to become the pinnacle of western hunting. Specifically, backcountry archery elk hunting. Archery backpack elk hunters were the industry appointed royalty of the hunting world.
Now my observations over the last couple years. (I am stuck in point creep purgatory, so the mass majority of my hunts are OTC/general unit easy to draw second choice units) It seemed that at one point with EVERYONE backpack hunting, more for InstaLikes than for elk IMO, the prime spots were either deeper than reasonable or more front country. But I have started to notice a major trend of “backpack” hunters day hunting. Fewer and fewer hunters past the 2-mile mark even when there is a sea of orange and no elk. There are the seasoned guys who regularly find success, and the new to hunting and or backpack hunting crowd still getting after it. But that crowd is much smaller than ever.
IMO this is the fad fading. Gear is getting more and more expensive, tags are expensive, and its hard ass work BEFORE you even pull the trigger. Success isn’t achieved during the hunt, success is achieved in the previous 300 days a year before the season even starts. I think low success rates, discovering how hard it really is, the overall expense, and the lack of ability or desire to dedicate yourself all year contribute to the fading of popularity. I don’t follow influencers or have a social media presence but it seems that side of the industry is fading as well. Most of the guys I am around that fell into the aforementioned Hunting Royalty class have traded bows for rifles and tents for campers.
What is everyone else’s take in this?
It seems with the popularity of archery hunting gaining a lot of traction, so did the backpack hunting. Not sure if it was a combination of mobile mapping apps and social media that fueled this fire but the timelines match. It was also about this timeframe wildlife management appeared to drastically decline in all most western states. More hunters chasing fewer animals created a need to backpack and hunt deeper and deeper.
Shortly after, the hunting industry collectively positioned elk hunting to become the pinnacle of western hunting. Specifically, backcountry archery elk hunting. Archery backpack elk hunters were the industry appointed royalty of the hunting world.
Now my observations over the last couple years. (I am stuck in point creep purgatory, so the mass majority of my hunts are OTC/general unit easy to draw second choice units) It seemed that at one point with EVERYONE backpack hunting, more for InstaLikes than for elk IMO, the prime spots were either deeper than reasonable or more front country. But I have started to notice a major trend of “backpack” hunters day hunting. Fewer and fewer hunters past the 2-mile mark even when there is a sea of orange and no elk. There are the seasoned guys who regularly find success, and the new to hunting and or backpack hunting crowd still getting after it. But that crowd is much smaller than ever.
IMO this is the fad fading. Gear is getting more and more expensive, tags are expensive, and its hard ass work BEFORE you even pull the trigger. Success isn’t achieved during the hunt, success is achieved in the previous 300 days a year before the season even starts. I think low success rates, discovering how hard it really is, the overall expense, and the lack of ability or desire to dedicate yourself all year contribute to the fading of popularity. I don’t follow influencers or have a social media presence but it seems that side of the industry is fading as well. Most of the guys I am around that fell into the aforementioned Hunting Royalty class have traded bows for rifles and tents for campers.
What is everyone else’s take in this?
