Originally Posted by salukipv1

I can't help but think we have more hunters...

the population keeps increasing, so while % of population hunting may decrease I think the actual number is going to increase or remain the same.

I also can't help but see as the organic crowd becomes more informed, plenty of them enjoy shooting guns at ranges etc... will evolve to possibly hunting an organic animal for meat.

Originally Posted by Oldtimr

There are few states if any that have no experienced a drop in hunter numbers. Many state agencies try to stem the flow by making it easier for people to become first time hunters with programs such as mentored youth and mentored adults programs that do not require a hunter safety course or age requirement until the youth reaches the age where they can and must buy a license and the adult program in my has a time limit. In my opinion none of this or anything else will stem the drop in hunters. We are an aging society and one of the biggest losses of numbers comes from the greatest generation who have mostly died off and from baby boomers who are now at the age where they have slowed down and have health problems that prevent them from enjoying hunting any longer. In addition, the young people today have many other things to do for fun that doesn't require them to get cold or wet or bored by having to wait for an opportunity to shoot. and many of them have no one to teach them as our culture changes. When I was a kid it was hard to find a boy that didn't hunt. Also, many places that people used to hunt on private ground are now shopping centers or housing developments and rather than hunt public land they just get disgusted and quit. Almost all the places I hunted up until I got out of the service are gone and it is disheartening to see. The places where my father and brothers and I laughed and had a good time hunting pheasants when there were pheasants in PA are no longer woods and farm fields farmed the old way long before no till came to town. I went back to see what was left one day, I live in a different county now, and what I saw was so sad I left with tears in my eyes. If hunting was not so deeply ingrained in my blood by my father I just may have quit but it is part of me so I will continue until I can't any more and then give it another year. All these things and more are reasons for loss of hunter numbers and I think it is naive to believe it can be stopped, it can be slowed some but our numbers will continue to drop. Doggy, what less hunters will mean in the future will not be more game for those who hunt, it will mean less people to lobby and pressure the state and federal governments to manage wildlife for optimum numbers for the habitat and to buy land and manage it for hunting and less money to do it. We only have what we have today because of our numbers. Once our numbers are low enough so that the General Assemblies in the respective states no longer are concerned about their voting block, they will pay more attention to the voting blocks of the anti hunters. State constitutions that have hunting as a right will be amended to remove it. I wish I could see a brighter future.

Originally Posted by Topgun 3006

Your thoughts are really incorrect because all you have to do is look at the stats that each state puts out to see what we're talking about. A good example is here in MI where at one time almost 800,000 hit the woods for our deer season. Now it's closer to 700,000 and a big part of it is lack of hunter recruitment and all of the private land being leased out, which leaves only public land for many to hunt on. The first couple times a new person has negative experiences with crowding and not seeing any game they go back to their computer and play hunting games they buy at Cabelas.

Originally Posted by Alsatian

.......

I just mentioned the following to a friend in an email today. I said I call elk hunting "fun," but that really is not accurate. It is closer to reality to say that it is far from fun. It is hard work, it entails physical discomfort, it entails physical dangers and psychological stress. It is cold. The bathroom facilities are primitive. Sleeping accommodations are far from luxurious. All of that really doesn't add up to "fun." I find it immensely satisfying but for other reasons that are complex to explain, so I won't try. Fellow hunters will understand.

I think that, more and more, this 'je ne sais quoi' essential satisfaction of hunting is not readily appreciated or anticipated by young people. It is kind of a subtle, meditative, reflective thing. They see the negatives -- hard work, physical discomfort, danger, stress -- and don't see the compensation. They don't see how the negatives amplify or form the basis for the compensation. Hunting to some extent is a trial and discovery of self. If it didn't have those elements of hard work, physical discomfort, danger, stress . . . it wouldn't have quite the same satisfaction, it wouldn't feel so real. I'm not sure I'm articulating this well, but again fellow hunters will read between the lines and understand what I struggle to express. Young people who haven't been on a hunt probably can't see this, however. THus, I expect the numbers of hunters will keep going down.

The best strategy for preserving these numbers is to take young people hunting. Invite a youngster along on a hunt. Make it easy for them -- lend them the gear, hand-hold them through the application process, do whatever you can to get them out on the hunt. Then you hope the tinder catches fire and they get the hunting fever.