Decline In Hunters Threatens How U.S. Pays For Conservation

Watch an episode of North Woods law and it’s easy to see why it’s declining. Some states are so damn restrictive it’s hardly worth the effort.

I am doing everything I can to make sure my three knuckleheads come up hunting and fishing

People are getting priced out.

Well, I’ve seen lots of posts on other threads complaining about too many hunters these days and how they wish it would go back to “the way it used to be”. You can’t have it both ways so which is it?

Fewer hunters meaning you have to pay more for conservation efforts and have less people voting on topics for it. Or more have more hunters with more funding, people voting to support hunting issues, but your favorite public duck blind might be a bit more crowded than usual.

I know what I would choose....

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Some states are so damn restrictive it’s hardly worth the effort.

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People are getting priced out.

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These are 2 of the bigger concerns that I see.

I think there is a culmination of many factors, along with age that is mentioned in the article. Hunting is rapidly becoming a rich man's sport. It truly is pay to play. How many folks do you know are able to go knock on a farmers door and get permission to hunt?

Either the land is already leased, or the farmer does not want to risk the liability of some knuckle-head getting hurt, hurting someone else, or worse killing some of his livestock in the process. Lot of factors.

rising unwed birthrate. What did you expect?

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only about 5 percent of Americans, 16 years old and older, actually hunt.

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in Mississippi it seems like everybody hunts yet only around 10% of the population there buys a hunting license. Hunters need to start doing a better job of the PR game because we will rely on non hunters who have a positive view of hunting if our hunting rights ever come to a vote.

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Watch an episode of North Woods law and it’s easy to see why it’s declining. Some states are so damn restrictive it’s hardly worth the effort.

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I've watched that show and Lone Star Law. Seems like almost all the tickets I've seen written on that show are common sense shite that anyone who hunts/fishes should know. No license, killed something out of season, hunting off roadway, undersized or over the limit, trespassing.

Only thing I find out of the ordinary on those shows is how far they'll go in trying to solve some of these cases when they don't catch the suspect in the act. Has to be for the camera

There are lots of ways to look at this and as with everything its always a combinations of factors behind these stats.

1. Kids these days have so many options for activities from travel ball to video games. Cant tell you how many kids have said no to my sons offer to come hunt because of 24/7/365 days a year baseball or soccer tourneys.
Back in the day you went to camp with you dad if you wanted to or not, parenting these days is different.

2. Land that was open territory is now developed.

3. What is open is now leased, cannot just go stop on the side of the road and hunt.

4. Too many rules for places you can hunt, cant park on side of hwy to access WMA's or you will get a ticket or other violation. As high school kids we would be arrested now for hunting closed places.

5. Land prices are high pricing many out of the market, yes as even back in the 70's-80's speculation the US would be like Europe someday with all hunting land being private, well we are getting close.

6. Social media and the trophy mentality is a bad combination of instant gratification and keeping up with the Jones. It s a lot easier to book a guided hunt, get your buck, and be on your way to the next fun thing.

On the positive side in my experience there are more big deer are killed now than 30 years ago.

Conservation groups are making good strides with this administration on implementing changes that will benefit sportsmen and game species, especially in Africa. This is largely due in part to Trump's sons who are sportsmen.

The media and progressive left is dead set against this and this NPR story appears to be a part of the broad campaign against such action. No different than NPR reporting that everyone hates Trumps, it isn't true, but that is the narrative they will set and continue to trumpet until it becomes true.

In the past week I have seen articles about elephant hunting and the proposal to hunt grizzlies in Wyoming, both of which are negatively shaded by the media without regard for the underlying facts.