I've been thinking a lot about this lately and I'm curious how much trouble these dwindling numbers really put us in. Even if 20% of the population were hunters, that's not a large enough voting block to protect hunting rights on its own. The reality is that we hunt and fish at the pleasure of the non-hunting public whether we make up 1% of the population or 45%. I don't think there's any reason to doubt the projections that hunter participation is shrinking, but I think it also bears mentioning that the younger generation of hunters tends to have a higher concentration of conservation-minded folks that consider how their actions impact the sustainability of the sport and also the public opinion of hunting. I think that the only thing that a dwindling hunting public really hurts is the cash flow - both to hunting gear vendors and manufacturers and to wildlife agencies. You can solve the first problem by diversifying into non-consumptive recreation niches and the loss of funds in the agencies is offset by a more engaged, albeit smaller, hunting public. I realize I'm assuming a lot here, but am I wrong about the trend of the conservation mindset in younger hunters?