Outlook on Hunting in the U.S.?

[Horndog]

I’m posting this to gauge what others in the hunting world think about the current state, and future of hunting in the US. This will be a long post, but I hope it sparks beneficial conversations and not pointless arguments.

I’m seeing a detrimental shift within the hunting community that I find concerning. As technology continues to advance exponentially, it seems that we haven’t paused to consider what the long term effects may be.

I get it, it’s hard enough fighting off all of the anti-hunting movements going on out there, then couple that with the threat of losing some of our public lands and the decreasing ability to get tags. Sadly, I think this has kept us from looking introspectively about the problems occurring within the industry, often self inflicted. This is not to try to shift focus, but rather increase it.

Below is a short list of topics that I’d be interested in discussing:

• Hunting media promoting unhealthy motives and generating massive amounts of income and opportunities for themselves using public resources, often promoting products for companies that directly or indirectly oppose conservation.

• Gear technology advancements like long range rifles and even modern archery equipment creating inflated harvest success rates and decreasing supply of tags. This is creating a culture where you are punished for valuing a more traditional experience - the reason we hunt in the first place.

• *Trigger warning* Disproportionate amount of hunting opportunities given to native tribes in the name of subsistence hunting. I don’t have anything against these tribes, in fact, I’d be hard pressed to turn down these hunting opportunities if I were able to participate. I just think it’s bad for conservation in many cases.

If you have any other topics to add to this list, please add them below. If you disagree with my take on these things I’d love to hear other opinions. These are complicated issues that will have to be dealt with if we want coming generations to be able to hunt.

In the end, I think these issues stem from human greed and selfishness. I am part of the problem, and I want to do a better job at creating opportunities for people to get out and hunt in God’s creation- something that has changed my life and that I think we could all use a little bit more of in the world today.

There’s plenty of amazing opportunities out there still, which I’m thankful for. This is what makes me think that now is better than ever to address what’s going on. Let me know what you think.


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[HandgunHTR]

• Hunting media promoting unhealthy motives and generating massive amounts of income and opportunities for themselves using public resources, often promoting products for companies that directly or indirectly oppose conservation.

Other than volume (the sheer number of different outlets), how is this any different than the rise (and subsequent fall) of all of the various hunting magazines and shows of the 1920s through the early 2000s?

• Gear technology advancements like long range rifles and even modern archery equipment creating inflated harvest success rates and decreasing supply of tags. This is creating a culture where you are punished for valuing a more traditional experience - the reason we hunt in the first place.

I honestly believe that this has been bitched about since the advent of black powder. I, personally don't see the technology improvements of today having even half of the impact that things like rifling, bolt action design, and smokeless powder had on hunting and the efficacy of hunting.

If you have any other topics to add to this list, please add them below. If you disagree with my take on these things I’d love to hear other opinions. These are complicated issues that will have to be dealt with if we want coming generations to be able to hunt.

In the end, I think these issues stem from human greed and selfishness. I am part of the problem, and I want to do a better job at creating opportunities for people to get out and hunt in God’s creation- something that has changed my life and that I think we could all use a little bit more of in the world today.

While I do believe that greed and selfishness have always played a role in the negatives surrounding hunting, I don't believe that it any worse today that it always has been. Look at the American Bison. There is a reason why they are not a free-ranging huntable species today. Similarly if it wasn't for some forward thinking conversationalists, we probably wouldn't be hunting whitetail deer and elk today. Heck we still have very limited opportunities in the East for elk, where once they were plentiful. Neither of those two things happened in the 20th century, let alone the 21st.

In my personal opinion, the number one threat to hunting is the same as it has always been. Urban sprawl. As more and more people create urban areas near enough to the wilderness areas, they will be called to them. It is human nature and is encoded into our DNA. Not all of those people have the desire to kill animals. In fact, many don't want the animals killed at all. So, it is when those two worlds collide that opportunities go away. Some due to restricting access to areas, some due to pushing the game to areas that are all but inaccessible to humans.
There is a reason that certain people can go into public spaces and continuously kill good game animals. I know some of them. They don't hunt easy.

 

[UPThunderbolt]

Two short responses for you. First, order yourself a copy of the Sand County Almanac with the Round River essays by Aldo Leopold. It was published around 1948. Within that publication, read the essay on Wildlife in American Culture. Eighty years ago, he was expressing the same concerns (gadgets, the sporting goods industry, and the degradation of the sportsmen’s skill set as a result) that you are pondering. It is a good thought stimulating read.

Second, regarding Tribal hunting, it is important to start that conversation by recognizing that in many (probably not all) of the treaties that transferred land ownership, the tribes retained their hunting and fishing rights. Sport hunting was not really a part of the landscape at that time. For example, the treaty that transferred the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan and part of Wisconsin was signed in 1842 (Michigan didn’t start regulating deer harvest until 1895). That treaty clearly states that the Tribes retain their hunting and fishing rights until such time as the lands “are needed for settlement”. There is much discussion about what that phraseology means. What the Tribes may tell you, however, is that, taken by itself, their overall harvest across that seceded landscape is not a conservation concern.

In many cases, we non-natives tend to point the finger at the tribes when, in fact, our activities collectively take more animals than theirs. And, our forefathers signed an agreement maintaining their rights to the harvests. I believe the conversation is valid and worthy. I also believe it needs to be approached from a different angle than we have historically taken.

FWIW….

 

[Coyote Commander]

It’s simple.

We will continue to commercialize it, price out the “average joe”, pubic land experience will continue to deteriorate, and we will continue a march towards the European model.

My children will not get to experience what I got to experience.

 

[Hnthrdr]

1. The social media monetizing the lifestyle and pushing for more and more consumption is definitely detrimental. That and the negative videos that have and will continue to come out. Plus spot burning, ect ect

2. As we as a whole become more lethal opportunities will be reduced. They will have to be. People who say well this tech or that tech changed the game, well there were a fraction of the current roughly 350 million people who are currently here and as others have said this leads to loss of habitat which further reduces herd populations and tags will have to mirror that

3. Don’t know a ton about it. I’m of the mind that sooner or later they need to get the regs we all live by. I’m a “Native” American, born here fought for this country, I’ll die here, my family has roots back to the 1700’s they used to hunt what they wanted when they wanted, should that entitle me to do the same? Nope we live in a different place and need NAWM to continue to provide opportunities for all. Obviously for some who live in ultra remote Alaska that makes sense for all regardless of race or origin to get subsistence tags, but for those living in the lower 48 seems like we should all be on the same page now. They should control the hunting on the res like a mega ranch owner gets to, get tags for set seasons and dispense them as they please

 

[7millie]

My biggest gripe is the draw statistic apps/functions. They collect state generated info that took hours of looking over and understanding and turned it into a few clicks to figure out on an app. Streamlined a major barrier for most that wanted to come hunt but are too lazy/stupid to figure it out. With that barrier removed and the social media, YouTube glorification the demand has skyrocketed which in turn tag prices go up and opportunities decline. I wish the states would claim copyright on the draw and harvest statistics. Not saying I don’t like to see people get tags but do a little work.

 

[huntcookwrite]

Two short responses for you. First, order yourself a copy of the Sand County Almanac with the Round River essays by Aldo Leopold. It was published around 1948. Within that publication, read the essay on Wildlife in American Culture. Eighty years ago, he was expressing the same concerns (gadgets, the sporting goods industry, and the degradation of the sportsmen’s skill set as a result) that you are pondering. It is a good thought stimulating read.

Leopold should be required reading for every hunter. If you read nothing else, read “Conservation Esthetic” and “Thinking like a Mountain.”

From the Archives: Aldo Leopold's ‘Conservation Esthetic'

What is the value of outdoor recreation—and how we do use it for the betterment of the environment and wildlife?

www.audubon.org

https://trainingcenter.fws.gov/resources/knowledge-resources/wildread/thinking-like-a-mountain.pdf

 

[KurtR]

I have a time issue not enough of it and to much stuff to hunt every fall

 

[UPThunderbolt]

Other than volume (the sheer number of different outlets), how is this any different than the rise (and subsequent fall) of all of the various hunting magazines and shows of the 1920s through the early 2000s?


I honestly believe that this has been bitched about since the advent of black powder. I, personally don't see the technology improvements of today having even half of the impact that things like rifling, bolt action design, and smokeless powder had on hunting and the efficacy of hunting.



While I do believe that greed and selfishness have always played a role in the negatives surrounding hunting, I don't believe that it any worse today that it always has been. Look at the American Bison. There is a reason why they are not a free-ranging huntable species today. Similarly if it wasn't for some forward thinking conversationalists, we probably wouldn't be hunting whitetail deer and elk today. Heck we still have very limited opportunities in the East for elk, where once they were plentiful. Neither of those two things happened in the 20th century, let alone the 21st.

In my personal opinion, the number one threat to hunting is the same as it has always been. Urban sprawl. As more and more people create urban areas near enough to the wilderness areas, they will be called to them. It is human nature and is encoded into our DNA. Not all of those people have the desire to kill animals. In fact, many don't want the animals killed at all. So, it is when those two worlds collide that opportunities go away. Some due to restricting access to areas, some due to pushing the game to areas that are all but inaccessible to humans.
There is a reason that certain people can go into public spaces and continuously kill good game animals. I know some of them. They don't hunt easy.

Other than volume (the sheer number of different outlets), how is this any different than the rise (and subsequent fall) of all of the various hunting magazines and shows of the 1920s through the early 2000s?


I honestly believe that this has been bitched about since the advent of black powder. I, personally don't see the technology improvements of today having even half of the impact that things like rifling, bolt action design, and smokeless powder had on hunting and the efficacy of hunting.



While I do believe that greed and selfishness have always played a role in the negatives surrounding hunting, I don't believe that it any worse today that it always has been. Look at the American Bison. There is a reason why they are not a free-ranging huntable species today. Similarly if it wasn't for some forward thinking conversationalists, we probably wouldn't be hunting whitetail deer and elk today. Heck we still have very limited opportunities in the East for elk, where once they were plentiful. Neither of those two things happened in the 20th century, let alone the 21st.

In my personal opinion, the number one threat to hunting is the same as it has always been. Urban sprawl. As more and more people create urban areas near enough to the wilderness areas, they will be called to them. It is human nature and is encoded into our DNA. Not all of those people have the desire to kill animals. In fact, many don't want the animals killed at all. So, it is when those two worlds collide that opportunities go away. Some due to restricting access to areas, some due to pushing the game to areas that are all but inaccessible to humans.
There is a reason that certain people can go into public spaces and continuously kill good game animals. I know some of them. They don't hunt easy.

Respectfully disagree with your thoughts on technological advancements. While the points you make regarding powder, rifling, and rifle design are certainly important. I would suggest, in places where one can see log distances, the advancements in optics and vehicular access result in substantially more dead animals than any other factor.

In heavily forested regions, where it is legal, the use of bait fits that role.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

It’s simple.

We will continue to commercialize it, price out the “average joe”, pubic land experience will continue to deteriorate, and we will continue a march towards the European model.

My children will not get to experience what I got to experience.

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