Sociology and numbers of hunters

[WKR]

Hold on...Declining number of hunters?
Not out here in the west. Where are you getting your statistics? Western hunting is booming.

 

[fulldraw1972]

My step dad got me into hunting and my dad does not hunt.

 

[roadrunner]

Helping someone else's kids is NOT a nuclear family.

We're DINKs, not exactly by choice.

Kinda missed the point, but that's okay.

 

[jayhawk]

Hold on...Declining number of hunters?
Not out here in the west. Where are you getting your statistics? Western hunting is booming.

The Decline of Hunting and Fishing - Wildlife for All

The Decline of Hunting and Fishing. The number of hunters and anglers has declined in actual numbers and as a percentage of the population.

wildlifeforall.us

^this is just one of many sources.

Clarification: the real numbers of hunters are increasing, but they are decreasing relative to the overall population growth (as a percentage).
Yes, western hunters are growing, and there are a lot of reasons for that. Im just thinking nationally overall.

 

[5811]

No ill will towards anyone or single mothers, that’s a hardship I don’t wish on others. But we don’t need more hunters. We need fewer. Just take a look at the Idaho Tag sale thread going on right now. The RESIDENTS of Idaho struggle to get a tag to hunt elk in their own state. We need fewer hunters.

When I think about all the life lessons, memories, and friends I've gotten from hunting, it bums me out to think someone would want less people to have the same.

 

[timekiller13]

No ill will towards anyone or single mothers, that’s a hardship I don’t wish on others. But we don’t need more hunters. We need fewer. Just take a look at the Idaho Tag sale thread going on right now. The RESIDENTS of Idaho struggle to get a tag to hunt elk in their own state. We need fewer hunters.

There are fewer hunters in the US now than there were 40 yrs ago.

Total number of licensed hunters peaked in the 1980s.

So, it’s flat out lie that there are more hunters today than there were 30-40 yrs ago.

What you are seeing is a shift in where those hunters are located. And you are also seeing more people buy licenses/tags in multiple states.

 

[DanimalW]

I see significantly shrinking access to good hunting land as the biggest contributing factor to less hunters. At least from the Midwest to east coast.

 

[William Sublette]

When I think about all the life lessons, memories, and friends I've gotten from hunting, it bums me out to think someone would want less people to have the same.

It's not an inexhaustible pie.

There's more wannabee outdoorsmen than there is outdoors.


We need less - the carrying capacity for hunting has been exceeded.

 

[ChrisA]

One time for the kicks I read like 12 pages worth. There are some trends for sure. And the one that pops out to me the most is loss of access. Folks lose access to private they've hunted for a long time (for a variety of reasons), and then they hunt the public and it sucks, and they quit. I suppose the last part is an extrapolation since the survey only included active hunters.

Anecdotally I know lots of folks that "used to" hunt, but don't. Good split between too busy with kids and lost access to their private.

Great observation. Been noticing the loss of private land to hunt here in Iowa for a couple decades, really snowballed the last 10 yrs or so.

 

[mooretitan]

I think what some are missing and what really needs to be talked about is the declining tag numbers because of drop in the herd health. Just look at deer and antelope. The point creep is going through the rough because the number of tags keep dropping. Not saying that the numbers should not reflect herd health but if we focusing on increase herds then tags numbers will go up and point creep will go down.
I also think that the hunting lifestyle is just going to die out at some point. All my kids hunt and asked my son how many of his friends hunt and not one did. I tell him he better thank me when he gets older for creating brothers and sisters that he can share hunts with.

 

[hunterjmj]

When I was a kid in the 80's my dad and all his buddies, 6 of them, hunted elk together each fall. All these men had boys and some had a couple boys. Out of all of them my brother and I are the only ones that hunt. I was the youngest out of all them by about 4 years so I didn't really hang with those kids so I don't know why they don't hunt. Who knows?

 

[Gutshot007]

Loss of access i think is a big issue east . Take a kid to public land devoid of any big game sit for hours and not see anything . Realistic expectations is another . Favorite influencer passing 120 whitetail cause hes not ready yet and "smokes " a 160 buck instead . Comparison game . I also think years ago we hunted alot of small game which there are tons around . Good starting point with some action. We are an instant gratification society . Points are more for kids not sticking with it . Getting started needs a mentor

 

[roadrunner]

Helping someone else's kids is NOT a nuclear family.

We're DINKs, not exactly by choice.

...and FYI, foster kids are someone else's that a mom and dad can provide a traditional nuclear family for as well as adopted...

 

[Yoder]

I think children not going outside anymore and living like a veal calf is more likely the cause.

 

[Yoder]

Loss of access i think is a big issue east . Take a kid to public land devoid of any big game sit for hours and not see anything . Realistic expectations is another . Favorite influencer passing 120 whitetail cause hes not ready yet and "smokes " a 160 buck instead . Comparison game . I also think years ago we hunted alot of small game which there are tons around . Good starting point with some action. We are an instant gratification society . Points are more for kids not sticking with it . Getting started needs a mentor

I hunt PA public land. So does most of my family. PA has a lot of access to public land. Supposedly, hunting doesn't get much worse than PA. Last year, out of six people we killed four bucks and two doe. My cousin and I both passed on multiple bucks. None of the bucks we killed were 160 but two were around 110 and one of the other bucks was a 7yr old six pointer. I can't remember the last season I didn't have multiple opportunities to kill a deer. Usually people who don't see deer, put in very little effort.

 

[Mikido]

The real answer to your question can be found in the other thread titled “how much does your wife let you hunt”….

Men are not men in this country. Even the majority of ones that appear to be men, are just posers with no real salt. (No trans pun here)

 

[Pacific_Fork]

There are fewer hunters in the US now than there were 40 yrs ago.

Total number of licensed hunters peaked in the 1980s.

So, it’s flat out lie that there are more hunters today than there were 30-40 yrs ago.

What you are seeing is a shift in where those hunters are located. And you are also seeing more people buy licenses/tags in multiple states.

Annnnnnnnd we are also losing critical habitat every single day. Never have we gained habitat for wildlife. Couple that with other forms of recreation in wild places and winter range.

 

[khart_6882]

Annnnnnnnd we are also losing critical habitat every single day. Never have we gained habitat for wildlife. Couple that with other forms of recreation in wild places and winter range.

Very true. Especially on private ground. I can’t tell you how many 250-1000 acre farms I’ve seen get swooped up by investors and split up into a bunch of 5 acre lots. Those over priced 5 acre lots get picked up by some prissy gal from Seattle or California who can now work remotely. The deer used to have 1000 acres of farm ground to feed on, now they’ve got a fence ever 100 yards and a yapping little dog in every backyard.


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[jmez]

There are fewer hunters in the US now than there were 40 yrs ago.

Total number of licensed hunters peaked in the 1980s.

So, it’s flat out lie that there are more hunters today than there were 30-40 yrs ago.

What you are seeing is a shift in where those hunters are located. And you are also seeing more people buy licenses/tags in multiple states.

Why is this so hard to understand?

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[scattergun]

No ill will towards anyone or single mothers, that’s a hardship I don’t wish on others. But we don’t need more hunters. We need fewer. Just take a look at the Idaho Tag sale thread going on right now. The RESIDENTS of Idaho struggle to get a tag to hunt elk in their own state. We need fewer hunters.

This is a very selfish and self-defeating mentality. Not everyone who hunts needs or even wants to get an elk tag.

I believe hunting/gathering in general has declined with the hyper consumerism and the availability of different food we have in this country. If people had less food options and understood clean meat, wildlife management, civilization and the process of sustainability, we would have more participation.

I think children not going outside anymore and living like a veal calf is more likely the cause.

For sure.

By far the biggest cause of the decline in outdoor activity of all types is the massive post-war shift to car-dependent suburban infrastructure, and all the consumer dependency it deliberately creates. Instead of having any self-sufficiency and local social structures, we're conditioned to drive everywhere and to buy everything at mass retailers .