re: Do We Really Need More Hunters?

I think public land overcrowding is due to wealthy people buying up all the good land. All the hunting clubs are becoming expensive and for the lawyers and doctors who hunt once a year

Used to you could buy 100 acres timberland cheap and park a camper on it. So all the regular baws now can’t afford that due to prices being jacked up so they hunt public instead of on a small lease or club. I remember dozens of small clubs that were 500 bucks a year in dues, not many are left.

I’m lucky enough I’m in a club with 1500 acres of pine, hardwoods, creek bottoms and cutover. 3 stocked lakes. Plenty of deer and turkey. 1500 bucks a year in dues and everyone has their own camper or trailer. Really hope we can keep the lease long term without it being sold out from under us

Displacement of hunters is causing the crowding on public. In the 90's this was a big topic and most of the hunting media had articles cautioning about it. They called it the "Europeanization of Hunting" and it was a bad thing. Today the big publications industry guys are perpetuators of it.

I know of several private areas that used to have many guys hunting them that got taken over by individuals. 2 instances particularly peeved me. One guy whose business started doing well bragged to me about having over 3000 acres leased just of for himself and his 3 young kids. The other case was an 800 acre tract adjacent to a club I was in. That 800 acre tract had 10 members, but now only has 1. Those two men alone displaced at least 40 hunters! Those Multiply that over and over and you can see why we are here.

Lastly, we do not need more hunter's. The hunter number decline is a myth created by industry marketers. The numbers are going up.

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mrcoon

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I don't think hunter numbers are the problem. As other posters have pointed out I think you are seeing more people hunt public land than in the past. This might can be contributed to the rising cost of private land, but who knows. Also, with more public land becoming landlocked from being surrounded by private land access is being limited. This probably creates a false sense that there are more people hunting than there actually is.

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Maybe respect private property and the world would function just fine. Earn some money and buy your own land. Then you’ll understand, maybe.

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Take it easy. The trespassing laws changed 30 or so years ago. Prior to said change, landowners had to legally post their property. If no signs, no ad in the legal news, etc. the land was not considered to be posted.

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Lastly, we do not need more hunter's. The hunter number decline is a myth created by industry marketers. The numbers are going up.

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I doubt they want more hunters, they just want people to dress like one.