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?”
That’s easy. The average hunter is in his fifties and usually quits because of health issues or the lack of others that want to go. As far as recruitment and retention video games and social media are major detriments to this lifestyle. The “smartphone” has dumbed us down. We all have ADD because of the instantaneous information overload. It takes a serious effort to disconnect from this technology. Then you have the single mom household who is probably not about to take their kid hunting or the two working parents who to make ends meet can’t take the time off.
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