Is hunting for wild game, as a sport (not as a means of sustenance), more popular now than it’s ever been? Less popular? Has it been generally the same ever since hunting for sport (rather than out of necessity) became an option?
I’m talking about in the US, but if you’re from outside the US and can contribute, please do so.
From what I have heard in my neck of the woods. Hunting is still pretty popular compared to the past but the average age of hunters is going up. That has some people worried about continued popularity and a push for teen firearm training and mentorship programs. It’s usually passed down so it’s one of those things that’s easy to lose and hard to get back.
There are a myriad of articles bemoaning the decline of sport hunting. Here is one: Why We Suck at Recruiting New Hunters, Why It Matters, and How You Can Fix It
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish and Wildlife: “license sales are at their lowest level since 1976. Minnesota isn’t the only state seeing this trend – hunting and fishing license sales and participation rates have been falling nationally for years.”
And from my observations, sitchensis’s item is correct: increasingly something only old men do. Very few young people taking up hunting (or fishing). Pretty much a dying pastime in the USA.
Although the title of that article includes the phrase “why it matters,” I couldn’t find any discussion of that topic contained therein. I guess it’s too obvious. (Too many deer without hunters?)
I did not click on the article, but it’s not necessarily all that obvious. Sounds like a clickbait title.
Part of it is wildlife population control. Without enough predators (due to habitat destruction), prey animals like deer can become overpopulated. So yes, too many deer is one of the problems that you can have.
Another problem is that wilderness and wildlife conservation is often funded by hunting licenses and donations that most often come from hunting groups and organizations. Many conservation efforts are underfunded and are now looking for alternate funding (or possible shut-downs) due to the decline in hunting.
Yes, most states derive most or all of their wildlife budgets from hunting and fishing licenses, tags, and Pittman-Robertson money (excise tax on firearms, ammo, archery equipment). The exceptions can be counted on one hand, I know Missouri has a fractional sales tax.
It’s a lot easier to exploit an existing interest for funding than it is to solicit funds from people who aren’t interested.
I used to hunt, but I gave up in my mid 40’s. I got tired of getting up at 0 god 30, and freezing my butt off. Plus I began to be concerned with TB in deer and now the CWD. I have some property, I let folks hunt there, but they aren’t very successful. Big thing is most hunters are reluctant to shoot a doe. Usually they wait until the last day of hunting to even think about shooting a doe. So hunting isn’t doing a very good job at controlling the population.
Not at all. The season limits for deer are very low and the seasons are very short. All you have to do is increase the limits and increase the length of the season.
Every single sentence is opposite of my experience, but it’s certainly not wrong just different cultural background, I can already tell that you are somewhere east of the Mississippi.
We have different seasons for buck and doe so you decide months ahead what you want to go for; starting this last year you can apply for both (but only get one). Some states have a “earn a buck” program, where you need to shoot a doe to get a buck tag.
It’s not just controlling the population by lowering numbers, but also reducing incentives for them to enter populated areas (because humans are scary), reducing pressure on the environment.
from what ive read Bambi the movie and book really started the negative feelings/public perception against hunting to the point that there was a 40 percent drop in the hunting-related goods industry business after the movie came out that was never recovered from
Sorry, but this is just patent bullshit from start to finish. I’ll dig some data once I have the time, but I know the above statement is not true.
what does OP mean by “sport” hunting? Hunting just for trophies? I mean, I don’t need venison just to get by, but I’m not killing a deer just for the sake of doing so.
The problem is that deer tend to congregate around the fringes of human development (suburbs,) where by and large hunting is prohibited. I live literally 10 minutes north of Detroit and I regularly see deer waltzing around. Deer are dumb as rocks but at the very least they know where food is and predators aren’t.
If I had to guess as to reasons for the decline in hunters I’d first look at single parent homes. Four out of five single parent homes are headed by women, a group traditionally underrepresented among hunters. If your parent doesn’t take you hunting, you’re not likely to pick it up as a sport. You might go hunting with your uncles, but less likely, and the sport is expensive enough to make the barrier to entry high.
Once you’ve got all the gear ongoing expenses are usually minimal, unless you go in for leasing land or joining a hunting club, but the capital expenditure for your first trip is high unless you’ve got the stuff around the house.
Yeah it’s a weird false dichotomy. Almost all hunters will take the bigger buck if given a choice between two, are they going for sport? Do some do it not for the meat? I’m sure it happens but most at minimum take the backstraps, tenderloins, and legs, and most states have wanton waste laws requiring you to do so. The African world is a little alien to me, but while people criticize it as a trophy focus, I understand that the meat is usually donated and US and other country laws prohibit importing foreign meat.
Gasoline is a big one, unless you already live rurally. Plus tag costs vary.
Why “uncles”? There’s still a dad around in most such situations.
After the zombie apocalypse, we’ll be eating deer, opossum, and turkey, all present in our tiny urban yard. We’ll have to go a little farther afield for ducks and geese, but not that far.
It’s not declined here in S. Arkansas. The number of hunters coming from urban areas and out-of-state has increased.
I hate deer season for a lot of reasons we won’t go into here. But the deer population is out to kill me. Not mentioning how they decimate my garden and yard every year. I have no love lost for Bambi. The more they kill the happier I am. Just please, please don’t shoot off the county road. I’m back in those woods. If there’s a gate it stands to reason a house is down that driveway. Did I say I hate deer season?
Specific towns may have ordinances against it, but from my quick reading of the regs, bow hunting is allowed in Wayne County, provided you follow the rules about distance from dwellings.
I get the idea that it’s a hard activity to get into unless you learn it from your parents.
My parents didn’t do anything like that. I have zero moral qualms about shooting a deer and eating it, but I’d have not idea how to go about doing it. I know you buy a licensee and you shoot a rifle at a deer, but I have no idea where to go shoot a deer, and no idea what to do with a deer once I’ve shot it.
Seems like there’s easier ways to get meat into the freezer. Like going to a grocery store.