Maine fights a decline in hunters - help!
10-29-2011, 04:28 PM
#11
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: IL
Posts: 6,575
Why would a non-resident want to deer hunt Maine?
raise tag fee's, maintain revenue.
Is the state population declining?
I don't believe there's a national decline in the # of hunters... and there's already too many if you ask me, go on any public land elk hunt and you'll see the orange army...too few hunters? ha I wish...
states need to improve the quality of hunting, period!
reduce hunting pressure,
increase trophy quality.
raise tag fee's, maintain revenue.
Is the state population declining?
I don't believe there's a national decline in the # of hunters... and there's already too many if you ask me, go on any public land elk hunt and you'll see the orange army...too few hunters? ha I wish...
states need to improve the quality of hunting, period!
reduce hunting pressure,
increase trophy quality.
10-30-2011, 07:40 AM
#12
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Maine
Posts: 189
Im from maine.. Im thinking its the decine in the deer population thats declining our hunters.. The last 3-4 years we have has some tough winters it seems the deer are getting more and more scarce every year.. And with most of the state being bucks only its turning alot of residents away also..
10-31-2011, 06:21 AM
#14
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Midlo, Va
Posts: 561
One other reason for the decline in hunting is the overall cost of participating in the sport. Like everything else the cost of items used is getting larger and larger every year. If all a new hunters sees is the shows on TV and looks in the catalogs they he sees that it is way to expensive to participate in than to stay home on their digital games. The cost of hunting items have gone through the roof and not many people have thousands of dollars to spend in order to hunt. Many do not know that alot of those items are really not needed to hunt.
All that is needed in most cases is 1.) a weapon to harvest the game, 2) clothes appropriate for the enviroment (which they probably have already) and then 3.) a place to hunt. If they have those 3 basic items in some form or the other then they can participate. BUT if posters on hunting forums keep pushing the latest and greatest items on the market as absolutely necessary then the new hunters will run back to their $40.00 games that they can play forever.
To me the above is one of the primary reasons that we are losing so many hunters along with location and too many rules and regulations.
All that is needed in most cases is 1.) a weapon to harvest the game, 2) clothes appropriate for the enviroment (which they probably have already) and then 3.) a place to hunt. If they have those 3 basic items in some form or the other then they can participate. BUT if posters on hunting forums keep pushing the latest and greatest items on the market as absolutely necessary then the new hunters will run back to their $40.00 games that they can play forever.
To me the above is one of the primary reasons that we are losing so many hunters along with location and too many rules and regulations.
10-31-2011, 07:03 AM
#15
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Abington Mass
Posts: 158
As a hunter from Massachusetts, I would much rather hunt NH which allows sunday hunting. as others have said out of state fees are ridiculous, and there are probably more deer per square mile here where I hunt than any northern state has. So mostly it is not cost effective. On of my buddies hunts Maine every year, he is a Mainer, and has a guide in his family, I have yet to see him get a deer in 10 years, however the were successful with a moose last year
10-31-2011, 01:36 PM
#16
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Northern WI
Posts: 853
Seems we have a lot more hunters in N. WI than say 10 years ago. More bow hunters especially. And the DNR gave out so many harvest tags the last two years that there are very very few deer in the local area near me. So I could do with fewer hunters and fewer tags given out.
10-31-2011, 04:52 PM
#18
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Northern WI
Posts: 853
Not sure if the last poster is referring to me, but it is not too enjoyable to see ZERO deer. And when you don't even see a track, that is not too much fun either. I am OK with the number of hunters, what has gone wrong here in N. WI is the number of unlimited $2 tags given out in the past two years. I know of several guys that took 6+ deer each! I think I have seen a lot more hunters due to the virtually free tags given out with no limit. So my chief complaint is with our DNR in the last 2 years. Thankfully, there are no $2 tags up here this year. No, I would not want to see a lot of hunters give it up since once the hunters are gone, the anti-hunters will push for wolves, coyotes, and cougars to control the herd.
Last edited by MZS; 10-31-2011 at 04:54 PM.
11-01-2011, 06:18 AM
#20
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,926
Another Good Reason
"One other reason for the decline in hunting is the overall cost of participating in the sport."
vapahunter
That's another good reason. Reasons for reduced hunters; they seem to be "legion". For hunters with less than 10 years experience, they may not have a clue.
Inflation has caused some, but only a small portion. But the cost of specialized things have gone wild. A special "uniform" is now needed for hunting. (I'm not a regular cable hunting TV viewer) Even when hunters had to go orange, many merely put an inexpensive orange vest over an old winter coat.
I wince of course at the cost of the new specialized ammunition for newbies. Not much money left for the expensive trout gear? And how accurate can you get firing some ammunition? And of course, the newbies know the very expensive ammo is the best and absolutely needed by everyone.
(I'm an old reloader, so I know what is really needed and save myself from buying finished ammo)
I wince at the increase in the price of tree stands. How does a 16 year old even get into hunting today without an expensive tree stand? And we don't know if he'll like heights.
And with the increasingly cold weather, what hunter can go into the woods without their $100 or more hunting underwear. It's a wonder how hunters didn't freeze to death twenty years ago? Some of them got away with wearing -cotton "insulated" underwear, way back when.
vapahunter
That's another good reason. Reasons for reduced hunters; they seem to be "legion". For hunters with less than 10 years experience, they may not have a clue.
Inflation has caused some, but only a small portion. But the cost of specialized things have gone wild. A special "uniform" is now needed for hunting. (I'm not a regular cable hunting TV viewer) Even when hunters had to go orange, many merely put an inexpensive orange vest over an old winter coat.
I wince of course at the cost of the new specialized ammunition for newbies. Not much money left for the expensive trout gear? And how accurate can you get firing some ammunition? And of course, the newbies know the very expensive ammo is the best and absolutely needed by everyone.
(I'm an old reloader, so I know what is really needed and save myself from buying finished ammo)
I wince at the increase in the price of tree stands. How does a 16 year old even get into hunting today without an expensive tree stand? And we don't know if he'll like heights.
And with the increasingly cold weather, what hunter can go into the woods without their $100 or more hunting underwear. It's a wonder how hunters didn't freeze to death twenty years ago? Some of them got away with wearing -cotton "insulated" underwear, way back when.