re: Alarming stats on the declining number of hunters in the US

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I think the increased cost and limited access to land is to blame for the reduction.

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Yup, I don't have the money to join a club right now, and I don't have the time to go scouting a WMA for a half-decent spot. I would be down for shooting some squirrels in my yard, but JPSO frowns on that.

I used to go to either a deer club, or duck hunting a WMA every single weekend of the season.


Eta: I do spend some time walking around in the woods on trails or volunteering, but that shite is free

What about an increase in duck numbers in S. La? I haven't been in a long time, because we just stopped seeing birds. It wasn't worth the effort

It's DEFINITELY against the law in my part of town. Not sure about the whole parish, but I do know the distance rules for discharging a weapon would apply

Sometimes I think these state wildlife agencies want you to buy a license and then stay home.

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I'll be adding at least 1 to that number when my 16 month old boy gets a little older

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Same here, mine already has his lifetime license.

It's all about $$$$

You used to be able to get permission to hunt different tracts for little or nothing.

Timber company leases have skyrocketed in most places. Some even have firms that handle the lease management.

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What about an increase in duck numbers in S. La? I haven't been in a long time, because we just stopped seeing birds. It wasn't worth the effort

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I think Ducks Unlimited has a lot to do with the declining duck #'s here.

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I think Ducks Unlimited has a lot to do with the declining duck #'s here

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:rotflmao:

Have had this discussion several times with different groups of people and the usual conclusion is cost and availability. Land is too expensive so if you aren’t born into a family with land, you likely aren’t buying a bunch of it for yourself to hunt on. And while Texas as a state has a lot of public land, it’s not close to high population areas, most is out west or up in the panhandle. Take someone who wants to hunt and lives in Houston, there’s not much in the way of public land spots in central Texas that they can get to within a 3 hour drive.

Leases cost a fortune, a few hundred to a thousand acres with just a decent camp house will probably run you at least 5k per gun for a year.

TXPW is trying to combat this by offering private landowners a decent payday for leasing their land out for public hunting. I talked to a farmer who was going to lease their corn and milo field out for public dove hunting after they harvest their crops. 500ish acres would net them about 10k I think. Owner isn’t liable for anything, GW will enforce strict hours so they wouldn’t have anybody hanging out before sun-up or after sun-down on their property. I don’t think many people did it but did know one guy who was giving it a shot.

I'd consider myself an outdoors guy; enjoy fishing, hiking, etc.

I've hunted 2 or 3 times, and it's is something that I would like to get into.
I find it difficult to get into however as nobody else in my family hunts and I really just don't know where to start.

I'm sure i'm not the only one my age (20's) that has this problem.