Meateater is Woke

[tt_johnsclist]

What irks me about this article, besides the obvious clickbaiting, is that the author is suggesting some sort of problem exists where one does not. The fact that hunting is primarily a “white” sport has little bearing on the real problem which is declining conservation funding as aging hunters of all colors are not being replaced. One potential solution for this real problem (out of many I might add) is to recruit more hunters. The worlds population of white male kids is still growing the last time I checked, and if we hunters are currently failing to replace ourselves from that pool of traditional recruits what would lead someone to think that a more effective solution would be to pursue a demographic customer base that has no culture or tradition of participation in the sport? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting our recruitment efforts shouldn’t be inclusive, in fact I personally am very supportive of that. Rather, I’m pointing out that if we are failing to sell our product to our easiest customer base we probably need to step way back and rethink our conservation funding strategies before investing a whole lot of time, effort, and money into selling our product to a customer base with a much lower probability of successful recruitment. In fact, I would suggest that recruitment might not be that great of a conservation funding strategy from the outset!


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[lif]

Not everyone was born a hunter, nor should everyone be a hunter. It seems pretty obvious to me that you're either a hunter or you're not. If every single person in this country was a hunter, we wouldn't have anything left to hunt. The current crowds during hunting season, whether from actual hunters or recreationalists, is already getting to a tipping point.

Think of it this way.........if we suddenly added even a miniscule 1% of the population to hunting numbers, that's adding 70,000 hunters to every single state. That's insane.

Nail on the head my friend. I’m not sure recruiting hunting numbers is the answer. Almost all hunt recruiting is through heritage not inner city programs. The folks that are telling us to recruit hunters are the same folks that are telling us that there is not enough wild game for the majority of the public to hunt. . The economic push from the heavily populated cities has a modern attitude of “if I can’t use it, then neither should you!” That’s the real fight.

I won’t tell you city folks how to house homeless and fix the massive pollution problems caused by cities. And you don’t tell me how to manage our mountains, in which you will probably never step foot.

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

What irks me about this article, besides the obvious clickbaiting, is that the author is suggesting some sort of problem exists where one does not. The fact that hunting is primarily a “white” sport has little bearing on the real problem which is declining conservation funding as aging hunters of all colors are not being replaced. One potential solution for this real problem (out of many I might add) is to recruit more hunters. The worlds population of white male kids is still growing the last time I checked, and if we hunters are currently failing to replace ourselves from that pool of traditional recruits what would lead someone to think that a more effective solution would be to pursue a demographic customer base that has no culture or tradition of participation in the sport? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting our recruitment efforts shouldn’t be inclusive, in fact I personally am very supportive of that. Rather, I’m pointing out that if we are failing to sell our product to our easiest customer base we probably need to step way back and rethink our conservation funding strategies before investing a whole lot of time, effort, and money into selling our product to a customer base with a much lower probability of successful recruitment. In fact, I would suggest that recruitment might not be that great of a conservation funding strategy from the outset!


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Hunter recruits are where you find them.

 

[Farmingdale's Finest]

Sounds like you want to offended or just didn't read it and comprehend.

The article is a good one with good data and a good message. Minorities don't participate in hunting at a very high rate. Minorities will make up the majority of the population soon. A population unlikely to participate in hunting is not good for the future of hunting. The article also pointed out the lack of participation in general outdoor activities by minorities.

Maybe go pack and read the last part about inclusion.

Or maybe I did not comprehend it.

You beat me to it. Living in NJ where a far smaller amount of people hunt than most states and with a Governor who has already banned bear hunting on public lands we are fighting an uphill battle. This is why I am a member of the United Bowhunters of NJ and have joined the council because I feel so strongly about our rights to hunt and fish.

I read the article and took it exactly how MuleyFever explained. If we have a growing minority group that is less likely to hunt and fish that uphill battle is only going to become steeper.

I have actually reached out to a Black UFC fighter that bowhunts and lives close to see if we can do something to promote hunting and fishing. Hopefully we can do something to recruit those that aren't outdoors people. That includes all ethnicities and both sexes. Without diversity involved with what we are passionate about we are destined to go the way of the dinosaur.

 

[Gobbler36]

I always enjoy these threads and who they expose for what they really are.

Reading threads like this make it real obvious why recruiting hunters is so difficult.

No not all of us Buy into the “hunter recruitment” as a end all fix all solution that the industry is constantly pushing.

I typically try to live by the mindset that if a business entity or “industry” is creating anxiety around a topic and fear mongering (hunting being destroyed due to low participation) than I usually try to run the other way and look at it for a while, because this is called marketing. Create a problem in people’s heads and then sell the solution.

Not saying that new people shouldn’t try it, but I don’t feel as though passing out flyers about going hunting in LA or NYC is going to solve anything.

 

[Poser]

Nail on the head my friend. I’m not sure recruiting hunting numbers is the answer. Almost all hunt recruiting is through heritage not inner city programs. The folks that are telling us to recruit hunters are the same folks that are telling us that there is not enough wild game for the majority of the public to hunt. . The economic push from the heavily populated cities has a modern attitude of “if I can’t use it, then neither should you!” That’s the real fight.

I won’t tell you city folks how to house homeless and fix the massive pollution problems caused by cities. And you don’t tell me how to manage our mountains, in which you will probably never step foot.

What you are describing is Codependent relationship: “I won’t call you out on your shit if you won’t call me out on my shit”
If the world agreed to function in that manner, it would be one seriously F’d up place.

Think about it: “I won’t tell Germany not to gas Jews so long as they don’t tell us how to treat Black people”

“I won’t tell you not to beat your wife if you won’t mind my alcoholism”

Also, I live in a Mountain town of 20,000 people that has a fairly sizable homeless population that impacts the street I live on more than any other residential street in town. Who gets to have an opinion on that? The mountain folk, the city folk, or just the people who live on my street? What about the people who live 6 months of the year in a city and 6 months of the year in the mountains?

 

[lif]

What you are describing is Codependent relationship: “I won’t call you out on your shit if you won’t call me out on my shit”
If the world agreed to function in that manner, it would be one seriously F’d up place.

Think about it: “I won’t tell Germany not to gas Jews so long as they don’t tell us how to treat Black people”

“I won’t tell you not to beat your wife if you won’t mind my alcoholism”

Also, I live in a Mountain town of 20,000 people that has a fairly sizable homeless population that impacts the street I live on more than any other residential street in town. Who gets to have an opinion on that? The mountain folk, the city folk, or just the people who live on my street? What about the people who live 6 months of the year in a city and 6 months of the year in the mountains?

Relax. Everything I said was in essence, metaphorical. Not literal. And I mean no offense to folks in the city that enjoys the outdoors. This is an unarguable problem in this country that many decisions are being made without proper knowledge or proper experience in the subject affected. No I dont believe every person should have a say on every public matter unless they want to have some knowledge and experience in the said subject. That’s called common sense. We bite our toungues on a daily basis in common life on conversations we realize we know very little about.(or at least we should).
Ps. I was homeless for a good chunk of my childhood and I take that problem very seriously.

 

[16Bore]

Do we “need” more hunters or do companies involved with hunting need more revenue?

Does MeatEater need to expand their viewership?

Even Steven Rinellas brother (Matt, I believe) asked “why invite more competition?” Why make it easy for them to be successful and give away all hard learned lessons?

 

[tmwtrfwler]

I would mention if you ever get a chance to volunteer to take city kids, especially low income kids to the wilderness for fishing or camping the response is amazing. They are beyond excited. It is almost hard for them to believe the outdoors exist. Extremely impactful for all involved.

This is exactly right. I'm on the board of the Wildlife Foundation of Virginia and we do many youth initiatives annually (among other things). Most prominent is the One Shot Turkey Hunt. Last year we took an inner city kid that was sponsored. He lives in the east end of Richmond. We took him out to the woods to learn gun safety and how to shoot a gun. He had never seen woods in person in his life! The amazement was unbelievable. It was really cool. To take a kid like that out was a really amazing experience for our group.

Carry on.

 

[Farmingdale's Finest]

Do we “need” more hunters or do companies involved with hunting need more revenue?

Does MeatEater need to expand their viewership?

Even Steven Rinellas brother (Matt, I believe) asked “why invite more competition?” Why make it easy for them to be successful and give away all hard learned lessons?

According to the 2016 National Census there are over 2 million less hunters than the previous census of 2011. There has been growth in the number of people that fish and general outdoors recreation but we are down to 11.5 million hunters in the country as of 3 years ago. That's a reduction of the number of hunters by over 15% in only 5 years! That is significant!

 

[lif]

According to the 2016 National Census there are over 2 million less hunters than the previous census of 2011. There has been growth in the number of people that fish and general outdoors recreation but we are down to 11.5 million hunters in the country as of 3 years ago. That's a reduction of the number of hunters by over 15% in only 5 years! That is significant!

curious what the breakdown is on western hunters numbers? Sure feels like more hunters now than ever in the West. Maybe the decline is because of encroachment of development in the east along with the value to sell private hunts is pricing many hunters out. Lots of states seem to have reduced tag numbers over the last 20 years as well. All just my observations.

 

[16Bore]

Golf is declining as well.....

I reckon I have a bit of reservation about “let’s take this poor little black boy out....”

There’s a fine line there somewhere that I can’t quite explain, maybe even to myself. I don’t know if it’s patronizing or what.

Hunting is certainly not something you pick up and do, either is golf for that matter. Both are hard to access in some regard.

Like I said, can’t quite explain it....but my gut is that effort is lost when it’s a black/white thing.

 

[ODB]

Those with decent memories will remember articles in the not-too-distant past about the new “wave” of female hunters, the “rise” of the hipster hunters, and the up and coming “food to table” hunters. Most articles at some level pointed to these shifts as ADDING to the hunting population. So what happened? Flash in the pan? Short attention span?

Retention is as big a problem as getting anyone started, so while we talk about recruitment, maybe the real conversation should be retention. Why do folks stop hunting? You’ll get a better understanding than “why doesn’t this (pick your demographic) hunt?” The real question is “Why did a guy from the largest and typically most representative demographic of hunters quit?”

 

[30338]

According to the 2016 National Census there are over 2 million less hunters than the previous census of 2011. There has been growth in the number of people that fish and general outdoors recreation but we are down to 11.5 million hunters in the country as of 3 years ago. That's a reduction of the number of hunters by over 15% in only 5 years! That is significant!

According to this, there were 15.6 million hunters in 2017. I always question stats. The meateater should stick to recipes.

Hunting: number of participants US 2021 | Statista

In 2021, the number of people who participated in hunting in the United States (aged six years and older) amounted to approximately 25.87 million.

www.statista.com

 

[zach14]

So it is white peoples fault that black people and Hispanics don't feel welcome to enjoy public land and the sport of hunting? Sure, seems logical.... I fail to see any point to this article other than to provoke a reaction, which i guess it accomplished.

 

[Farmingdale's Finest]

According to this, there were 15.6 million hunters in 2017. I always question stats. The meateater should stick to recipes.

Hunting: number of participants US 2021 | Statista

In 2021, the number of people who participated in hunting in the United States (aged six years and older) amounted to approximately 25.87 million.

www.statista.com

I took the stats directly from the government Census website.


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[tt_johnsclist]

According to the 2016 National Census there are over 2 million less hunters than the previous census of 2011. There has been growth in the number of people that fish and general outdoors recreation but we are down to 11.5 million hunters in the country as of 3 years ago. That's a reduction of the number of hunters by over 15% in only 5 years! That is significant!

Sure hunters are declining, but the one question nobody has been able to answer for me is “How many hunters do we need or want?” We are experiencing a rapid loss but that comes on the backside of an all-time record caused by the baby boomer generation. Should we be happy with a check back to the average? Is it realistic to try and maintain the record high? Hard questions to answer.


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[16Bore]

So it is white peoples fault that black people and Hispanics don't feel welcome to enjoy public land and the sport of hunting? Sure, seems logical.... I fail to see any point to this article other than to provoke a reaction, which i guess it accomplished.

That’s not the case. Rural cultures aren’t within walking distance to sports fields, urban cultures can’t walk out back to hunt.

Location, location, location.

If my family didn’t have a farm, I may have never hunted. If there was a bowling alley next to my house, I’d likely bowl.

Nothing gets clicks like race based headlines. Even here....

 

[16Bore]

There isn’t a hunter that wants more people in the woods or a manufacturer that doesn’t want more people to sell stuff to.

Put your nose down and follow the money...

 

[Farmingdale's Finest]

curious what the breakdown is on western hunters numbers? Sure feels like more hunters now than ever in the West. Maybe the decline is because of encroachment of development in the east along with the value to sell private hunts is pricing many hunters out. Lots of states seem to have reduced tag numbers over the last 20 years as well. All just my observations.

I didn’t read through the whole report so I don’t know if their is a breakdown like you’re asking about. I just looked at the highlighted information the census felt was most important.


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