Noogindad

This is a great thread. All the comments are very valid to me. Here is a perspective from someone who has never hunted and no one in his family ever hunted. My wife, daughter, and two sons love the outdoors. We fish, camp hike and are active members at our local range and shoot a lot.

ten years ago my daughter (she was 11 at the time) and I took the bow hunters safety course. She is deadly with a bow, but as I said, has never been hunting even to this day. My two sons, one is 11 now and the other is 18, have taken the hunter's safety course and are avid marksmen. The .223 AR15 is the 11 year old favorite and the muzzleloader is the older one's favorite.

I have asked repeatedly of many many hunters to just take us out and show us how to get started. Where to go, where to park, what to expect, what to be on the lookout for and to just start off in a safe and informed fashion. I have even asked if they were to shoot something to please call me so I can go see how to field dress correctly. Every time I have been met with, "Well its really difficult and takes years to learn. Maybe you can pay for a guide." In other words, I don't really want to be bothered and if your not there then there are fewer people to bother with.

I am sure I am overreacting, but paying for a guide or similar just isn't what I think i should have to do. Really I am concerned about being out there and not knowing the proper etiquette. Besides, being in the outdoors with my family, not necessarily shooting anything although that would be FUN!

Anyway, just a perspective from a complete noob and amateur that would really like to be involved with this sport and help it continue forever.

Blessings

jcrobra

A) Hunting land has to be accessible. More and more of the land is getting leased for hunting instead of just being able to knock on a farmer's door and ask. The public lands are crowded in my part of Minnesota and lacking game. If you own land, open it up to allow a dad or mom to hunt with their kids. They will never forget where they shot their first deer, turkey, or pheasant.
B) Instead of fighting technology, embrace it. I use a hunting app on my phone to take geo-located pictures and map out our stands. I then show them to my 7 year old daughter and that helps get her interested.
C) Get your kids into shooting. Hunting will follow. My daughter has been shooting since she was 4 and can't wait until she can hunt when she's 10.
D) Bring one of their friends. It's more fun for them if they have a buddy the same age. And you are giving the experience to a kid that may not have had it.
E) Appeal to the organic and localvore crowd. I would say hunting is getting more acceptable because of this. Ten years ago many of my coworkers frowned on hunting. Now most of them support it even though they don't do it. Teach kids, teenagers, and adults how healthy wild game is and how delicious it can be when cooked properly. I've found that comparing how cows live, eat, and are slaughtered to how how a deer lives, eats, and is harvested drives the point home.

Bullcamp82834

If you are interested in experiencing the Rockies I extend an invitation to you and yours. Bring your camper. I have a camp on private land.
Hunt, fish, camp, just enjoy the mountains. Whatever suits you.
I'm in the Bighorn mountains of northern WY.
Be happy to point you in the right direction up here. I think we need more people with your attitude in this outdoor endeavor.
Shoot me a PM if you want more info.

FlDeerman

My grand daughter grew up watching the "kill the deer"channel(The Outdoor channel)she's now ready to go hunting.

rockport

Where I come from they let school out the opening day of deer season like its a holiday. Unfortunately ever year there is less and less opportunity for kids to hunt. Hunting is the culture but the rural culture doesn't pay enough to compete with out of town city money for a place to hunt.

SWThomas

I say take your kids a couple time and see if they like it. If not, don't force it on them.

I don't think we need to come up with ways to recruit more hunters. We've got plenty and will continue to. Besides, there are enough dumbasses in the woods giving good hunters a bad name. We don't need any more.

Lunkerdog

I'm kinda torn by this idea... I guess it fits into the context of this thread... But, at least for me there's more to it than that.

I was lucky to grow up hunting in my Grandfathers camp, but that camp was sold when I was 23 years old. I lived in a city, and hunted public land only until I was 37 years old and we bought our current home in the country.

Having my own property to hunt was one of the driving factors for buying the home that we did. Now this may sound selfish on my part, but I'm not making the payments, and paying the taxes so I can open my land to the public.

Then there's the liability issues that could occur when you let people on your property with weapons designed for killing, or having them climb into a tree stand. Again this may be selfish on my part, but I'm not real willing to expose myself to those liabilities... They could cost me everything I own.

I did have one friend that I allowed to hunt the property, but due to deteriorating health issues he hasn't hunted since 08.

IMHO, it would be a huge leap of faith to let someone I didn't know well, or at all to hunt my property. Again maybe selfish on my part, but that's a leap I'm not willing to make.

So like I said, I'm a bit torn on this suggestion. I'm not trying to say that it's a bad idea, but am saying that it's a complicated suggestion. I can count on one hand the people I know well enough, and have enough faith in, to allow them to hunt on my land.

olsaltydog

Land access will be a big deterrent, a lot of people already feel like sardines stuffed in a can when it comes to public land but I would say organizations like the elk groups who are being donated land or buying new land are the folks you want in your state.

MZS

Lack of hunters is not a problem for us right now. About 20 (or more) hunters per square mile hunting 10 available deer per square mile. But the DNR does not help matters by giving out permits as if we had 50 deer per square mile! So some, like my son who saw no deer in 4 times out, are ready to quit the sport. Proper management can go a long way. Staring at trees for many hours does not thrill most teens. Cut down the permits. Increase the black bear permits. The bears invaded this year and kept the deer away from our back woods where my son would hunt.

rockport

People could certainly do some more "giving back" and give away some youth hunts. I think your situation is a little different than what is being talked about as opening up your land. I'm sure since you bought your land for hunting you probably just have enough for you and yours and there is nothing wrong with that at all. Outfitters have thousands and thousands of acres tied up and they forget about the little guy. The kids and even men that bust their asses putting up hay, working feed stores, working grain elevators etc. The things that help make things go in a rural farming community. These people deserve to have a place to hunt.

The farmer I hunt on does in fact do just that. His workers always have a place to hunt as they should. He never forgets where he came from. He leaves the hunting for the people that do the work and the people that were there doing the work when he was a struggling farmer trying to get started.

The world needs more of that.