Bocajnala

Most hunter DON'T hunt out of camps anymore though. Take a drive north of 80 during deer or bear season- many of the camps sit empty. Many are abandoned and falling apart.

Allot of the camps that are active are mostly older men who are there for the camp atmosphere, but really aren't that serious about hunting. Fact is that most people now hunt close to home, and most people are doing it in their spare time instead of taking the week off to hunt. Even public lands are dead on Tuesday of the first week. People are doing allot more hunting locally, they're hunting archery seasons on their off days, etc.

I still hunt out of a camp, and I personally would prefer the Monday opener 'the way it's always been.' We usually have 6-10 staying at our camp and 15-20 who show up to hunt and put on drives. The Monday opener was always nice and it allowed us time to travel over there and get set up. Friday and Saturday was often spent small game hunting, shooting, visiting, and we always had a big dinner on Saturday. We still had the dinner this year but those of us who were hunting didn't show up until 6-630.

BUT- I recognize that a Saturday opener is probably better for hunting as a whole. Especially for the kids. It's easier to get them involved and interested. And the camp argument just really isn't an argument in my opinion. Hunting camps are becoming a thing of the past unfortunately. If it gets more people involved it's a good thing.

The average age of hunters being in their 50s is a BAD thing. Where does that leaves us 20, 30 years from now? Without youngsters coming in, the sport is in trouble. Changes have to be made to help get them involved. Even if I don't really like the changes personally.

I think I said it earlier in this thread but..... Who complains about having more days to hunt? I mean really... It's more opportunity. What is there to complain about. If you don't want to hunt, don't.

-Jake