Young/New Hunters, are you concerned about the future of hunting?

[jgilber5]

I'm 24, was raised in the Midwest, and like most on here hunting is a part of my heritage and part of my very soul. But can it always be? Will my kids be able to say the same thing?

Let me get out ahead of this here. Yes, I'm a resident whitetail hunter in a state with too many deer. Yes, I am part of the nonresident swarm that travels west for elk. Like it or not, it's a dream that is kindled in most of us. Yes, I do understand that residents should receive priority in tag allocations and that resources are being already being pushed to their max. But what can the next generation of hunters do about it?

Plenty of threads come up on Res vs NR opportunity, allocation changes, and decreasing draw odds. I also see often that those commenting and often supporting reduced hunting opportunity of others, whether that be non-res, new residents, or those with few points, tend to be folks that have *most likely* seen better hunting opportunities and made memories that for us new hunters will never come around again.

I know Rokslide can be a place of doom and gloom for tag-seekers, but it seems like the more I look, the more I see our community unwittingly begin to slide into alignment with anti-hunting groups' goals of division and reduced opportunity. What happens to us when our fathers and grandfathers, role models and mentors all adopt the take-what-I-can-while-I-can mentality at the expense of the next generations?

I'd like to hear from other young hunters on how they see their current opportunity, and what they see coming in the next 20 years, and what we can do to move hunting in a positive direction for all of us.

 

[GetWestern]

It’s only going to get worse down the road, I think each of us has a duty to be a positive ambassador to the sport. A lot of laws and changes will come up in the future and the decision will mostly be up to non hunters. If they can remember that they have had a positive interaction with a hunter then maybe they will vote down a bill that will negatively affect our way of life. Joining a local sportsman’s group is also a good way to stay involved. The biggest thing I worry about is fighting and the bickering inside our community is only going to weaken us, we need to ban together and put aside our petty differences if we are going to make this last.

 

[bigbassin]

New and in my twenties myself, access is the biggest issue I see down the road.

Just looking in the South, I know Alabama and Georgia have both lost WMA’s to development in the last few years. Georgia will lose a big one fairly close to Atlanta after this season wraps up (already sold). I imagine this continues to occur down the road as people continue to build.

In Florida (and probably most places), you see it in duck hunting. People build homes on the lake, now you can’t hunt within 200 yards of their house.

I know of at least one chain of lakes where duck hunting is no longer allowed. On one hand, they are so small and populated (although one of the few places in Florida you consistently see good groups of mallards) I’m not sure why anyone would think hunting there is a good idea at this point. On the other, people have been hunting those lakes long before those homes were built.

Avoid lakes with any homes at all, you’re not going to be doing much duck hunting. Legally hunt lakes with homes and you’ll probably turn some people who previously didn’t care against hunting when they’re woken up at 6:30 AM to shots.

Pricing guys out until it becomes almost an elitist pursuit is another issue I see. Once the average guy can no longer afford to go, I’d imagine the loss of revenue results in further sell offs of public land and/or lack of enforcement that both hurts wildlife and public perception of guy’s hunting.

 

[typical_hunter]

Personally i think the machine is already rolling in the direction for generation hunting opportunity going down the drain if you want to hunt multiple states, the only way to secure that availability to hunt out of your own resident state will be to fork over the $$$. For the most part, states make it so there own residents have a fair chance at getting a big game hunting license.

 

[southLA]

New and in my twenties myself, access is the biggest issue I see down the road.

Came here to say this.

 

[MuleyFever]

I know Rokslide can be a place of doom and gloom for tag-seekers, but it seems like the more I look, the more I see our community unwittingly begin to slide into alignment with anti-hunting groups' goals of division and reduced opportunity.

Begin? It began a while ago.

 

[4090Sharps]

What happens to us when our fathers and grandfathers, role models and mentors all adopt the take-what-I-can-while-I-can mentality at the expense of the next generations?

In some ways this already happened, perhaps unwittingly. Can’t tell you how many places I fished as a kid and caught few if any fish—they just weren’t there. “This place used to be really good”

Meanwhile get back to the cabin and there are countless pictures of entire kitchen counters covered in limits of fish (or more) from those exact same spots from a decade or two prior.

I’m sure others can relate to this scenario in both hunting and fishing.

 

[Krcooke92]

I honestly think about this a lot just seeing what I’ve seen change In 30 years from hearing my grandpa talk I’m afraid it’s only going to get worste for my kids down the road

 

[Ferrulewax]

25 here, it's unfortunate what booming populations and corrupt/greedy/ignorant politicians have done and will continue to do to both our hunting and fishing.

 

[roadrunner]

Personally i think the machine is already rolling in the direction for generation hunting opportunity going down the drain if you want to hunt multiple states, the only way to secure that availability to hunt out of your own resident state will be to fork over the $$$. For the most part, states make it so there own residents have a fair chance at getting a big game hunting license.

WY, right now, is leading the way...

 

[CorbLand]

For the West we are going to have to decide one of two things. Do we want to hunt regularly and accept low success/harder hunting or do we want to hunt a couple times in our life with high success/easier hunts?

That will determine what our kids and grandkids will have or be able to say.

To answer your question about what happens when people take the attitude of “take what they can while they can” buddy your seeing that unfold before your eyes. There are very few generations that have left more to their kids than they took.

As for the NR vs R stuff. It’s only going to get worse in the West. Populations are exploding and it’s only going to push a further divide between the two. Until people can learn that you cannot equally compare opportunities for whitetail to mule deer or elk, nothing is going to get better there.

What can be done? Asking people hard questions and encouraging people to make hard decisions. Teaching people that you cannot change things while keeping things the same. People are going to win and people are going to lose.

Your living in the good ole days, better enjoy them.

 

[Yoder]

I think hunting is a dying sport. Once all the baby boomers are too old to hunt you will see a big dip in license sales. I just looked it up, average age of a hunter is over 40. A lot of "men" in their 20's are either doughy gamers or soy boy wanna be men. I think all of you young hunters will have the greatest hunting opportunities possibly ever.

 

[Rich M]

There will still be hunting in the future, but it will come at a cost.

As for the anti-hunters causing division. They don't need to - hunters are about the whiniest group out there. There is zero tolerance for any opinions other than our own.

Right now WY, CO, MT, and others are all in the midst of change

folks lack the vision to see that change is coming and either the R&NR band together to shape the change or it shapes them.

The opportunity to turn this around and make something nice is there. Someone needs the masses of hunters to say - okay, we'll support you, let's fix this thing.

 

[simplepeddler]

I'll chime in as an older guy.
My mentors used to talk about the same thing just 30 years ago.
When I committed to duck hunting we had two splits, each 15 days and we could only harvest 3 birds.
Today we have double that on both counts.

What I see is the "TRADITON" of hunting and the "HERITAGE" of hunting is not being perpetuated down the line. Young folks are more committed to their iPad.

As said above, we also hurt each other as hunters when we can't find common ground on how we hunt.
I grew up in my early years in the 70's hunting with my uncles with dogs. Deer dog, squirrel dogs, duck dogs etc.

Now those methods of hunting can take on very passionate arguments to say the least!

As hunters we should rally around the one thing that both anti hunters and hunters alike despise-----POACHERS!

When we can tolerate side by side conversations on common ground with those that we traditionally oppose, we can move forward.

I will lastly add to you young guys, there will come a time, if you are blessed, that handing our way of life down to the next generation will take a huge commitment on your part. It will mean you hunt "for you child" and not for yourself. It will mean a couple of years of white powdered donuts instead of scent control. It will mean answering a bazillion questions while uncle big buck is passing by. It will mean your goals will be set aside for the greater goal of handing down out tradition.

Take your children in the field. Make it about them learning why we like the smell of fresh marsh mud on a push pole. Why we see beauty in the field and not just relish the kill.

Make them passionate enough about the outdoors to fight for the outdoors.

 

[Laramie]

There is considerably more demand than supply. The only way to reverse that is to increase game populations or reduce hunters (or a combination of both). I used to be a proponent of bringing in every new person I could. Now I wonder if that is the right thing to do. Many of the new people I have introduced simply don't have places to hunt so they stop. Others contribute to the problems of too many non-residents vying for limited tags in western states. The internet and technology have created the issues we are seeing... no way to reverse that and no way to grow populations big enough to supply all the demand. Bottom line is hunting, specifically out west, will continually become more difficult, and more expensive, for future generations of residents and nonresidents alike. To the young crowds out there, take care of your own back yards. Volunteer time to improve your opportunities close to home. That will likely be all your grandkids will have.

 

[IdahoBeav]

The future of hunting as in any type of hunting opportunity being available? No, not worried at all. There will be no shortage of opportunity for whitetail and other plentiful species. However, I am concerned about the present and future of mule deer and elk hunting. With the western hunting craze the past 10-15 years and the issuing of far too many tags, herd numbers will only continue to get worse unless state wildlife agencies make drastic changes. This would mean much less opportunity if western hunting demand remains as high as it is.

 

[Laramie]

The future of hunting as in any type of hunting opportunity being available? No, not worried at all. There will be no shortage of opportunity for whitetail and other plentiful species. However, I am concerned about the present and future of mule deer and elk hunting. With the western hunting craze the past 10-15 years and the issuing of far too many tags, herd numbers will only continue to get worse unless state wildlife agencies make drastic changes. This would mean much less opportunity if western hunting demand remains as high as it is.

I don't think too many tags is the issue with either elk or mule deer. I also don't think they should be grouped together. Elk herds are at virtually all time highs in many areas of the west. Herds are expanding across many central and eastern states as well. Their future looks bright- but nowhere nearly enough animals to meet the demands. Mule deer on the other hand aren't doing great in most areas and are being impacted by many factors- habitat loss, and disease being the biggest issues. A case can be made that they issues too many antlerless tags in some areas of the west but that isn't the over riding problem.

I think antelope hunting is also at risk. The herds have experienced large losses across much of their range. Biologists are looking at several causes with disease being the most likely issue.

 

[thedutchtouch]

Not really. I'm concerned that it's getting more and more expensive, and that I might not get to hunt ALL the animals I am interested in, but I think I'll be able to pursue some, and that my kids will as well. We just might be hunting hogs here in Maryland and driving up to Canada to find whitetail or something like that as a worst case scenario I think, not lack of access completely

 

[Yoder]

I live in PA. I'm 49. When I was little, we had a group of about 10 guys that used to all go to my grandfather's cabin for deer rifle season. Every cabin around had full driveways. Opening day sounded like a war. There was shooting all day. If you went for a drive, every lot had trucks. People were parked along the roads. They even had campers setup. It was like this for almost all of the first week then on the weekends. I remember waiting in line for almost an hr to use the only pay phone in the area.

This is all gone. Even opening day, there are hardly any trucks and you hear a shot here and there all day. It's not from lack of deer. Hunting is actually better than ever. We are killing way bigger bucks and see a lot more deer. This is Pennsylvania. One of the biggest hunting populations in the country with a long history of deer hunting. My school used to give us off opening day of rifle every year. I realize the western states are getting hammered with hunters right now but I really believe it's temporary. You are just seeing a lot of guys living out their life long dream of hunting in the west and they finally have enough money to do it. In ten years I think you will have it all to yourselves again.

 

[*zap*]

From my pov the future is not good at all....both hunting and in general. I do not think that will be changing anytime soon.