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Is hunting.... dying?

8K views 50 replies 39 participants last post by  Snyper708 
#1 ·
It's an annual thing that I turn off the porch light and I take the wife out on a dinner date on Halloween. I suppose we are getting more.... anti-social, wanting people to stay away from our house and property, even on Halloween.... even with cute kids. Stay away!

Anyway, we drive into town and get a booth, window seat at a restaurant that is next too a big box hunting store. I see 'Soccer Moms' coming and going from the store, probably buying some wool socks or something. I make the comment to the wife... I bet 90% of the folks walking in that store have never pulled the trigger on a hunt.

...... and it caused me to do some research....


In the 80’s, right at 18 million hunting licenses sold nationwide. In 2016, only 11.5M. It’s estimated that there will be less than 10M in 2020. Hunting is a dying sport in America.

Interestingly though.... Fishing license sales nation-wide have increased every year for the past 30 years.

I don't have any awe-inspiring wisdom to share.... just an observation about the direction of our society. I am certain that a HUGE percentage on SB are well equipped with hunting wisdom, skills and experience, but 10 million hunters are.... wait for it......

3% of our national population!

Seems nearly everyone is completely happy with a proxy-killing from their local grocery store.


.......
 
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#32 ·
Definitely a decline where I live. Instead of blaming some kind of socialist indoctrination, what I see is that the population is getting older and a whole lot fatter. Probably ninety percent of the adults I see couldn't climb into a tree stand. Most of the kids are little porkers who don't look like they'd want to get up early and carry a shotgun around.
Maybe more people are fishing, but I don't see it. The people I see camping around the local lakes and rivers mainly seem to be interested in eating, drinking, and maybe smoking a little meth every now and then.
I guess if I had the choice of either running into more people in the woods or running into less, I'd prefer less.
 
#35 ·
I think this may be over blown. First off demographics are part of this for sure. Gen X was smaller than the Next generation or the previous. So men in their late 30s and 40s who have money to hunt are not as numerous as they where or will be.

Second moving to cities decreases hunters sure. But it also may decrease licenses for those who hunt

For example maybe you don’t get to take that hunting trip every year. Maybe you don’t get a license every year. If the same number hunted but only every other year the number of licenses would be cut in half for the same number of hunters. The number of hunters can increase and then number of licenses go down if people aren’t hunting every year and license prices increase to make you not buy one just in case. Also people may be keeping fewer out of state and temporary licenses.


I’ve read that hipsters are starting to get into hunting. Killing your own meat is considered a hipster and healthy thing to do. And some of the anti factory farming crowd has embraced hunting too.
 
#36 ·
#41 ·
Good point. I often wonder how Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops even stay open, yet they do. I'm just not seeing any of the folks buying their wares actually out in the woods hunting.

Maybe hunting is becoming the new LL Bean thing. Where you buy all the outdoor clothing like you live the life of an African explorer, yet only hike on very public crowded trails. Gotta be crowded of course otherwise no-one would see your expensive new clothes.

I guess I'm wondering if it's a lifestyle where people want to emulate it, but not actually participate in the literal blood and guts of it all.
 
#40 ·
I thought licenses were dictated by population. There was a hoof disease recently that drastically reduced the number of deer so they reduced the number of licenses.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been spreading here. Deer numbers were down 10% last year from 2017.

In 2012 there was a big decrease of 30% due to disease outbreak and the state dropped deer permits by 13%.

When car/deer accidents rise, they know the population has rebounded and they raise the permits and make them Doe or Buck.
 
#43 ·
I know a family with a farm. They have a lot of deer but won/t allow anyone to hunt them. They have a ton of apple trees for feed but that will be gone shortly. I wonder if they realize that some will die for lack of food over the winter. Their thinking is that they don't want them harmed. I guess they don't realize that they need to be thinned out or will die and be eaten by other animals.

My 6 yr old granddaughter (trained with bow) got a Doe last year and this year. Her dad puts up a stand for her. This is during opening season for supervised children. Grandson fills his freezer for winter . He has his license and goes during reg. season.
 
#44 ·
@Big John.... Having just moved back home and just going through the 2nd deer season since I have noticed that NO ONE is hunting in the mountains here now. No one stays at the cabins (Deer camp) of parked besides the roads or anything. I saw 2 people riding their side by sides (NON hunters) (They thought they were hunting)! this year. Last year I saw the same but didn't have a big enough sample to research. No one is hunting. I spent several days out in the woods and heard not even a single shot.
 
#45 ·
Casual observation from my area, as I both hunt and fish.

Whatever you want to call them, illegals, border jumpers, etc. seem to purchase fishing licenses, not so much hunting licenses, because to purchase a hunting license you need to present a Hunter Safety Card. Which in most cases mean you have had a few hours of safety training and class work.

Another observation, again my area, land is being turned into residences and strip malls. You have to drive further to go hunting.
 
#47 ·
I think hunting is as popular as ever, but perhaps a lower percentage of folks hunt because general population has increased at a faster pace.

I don't go as much as I used to, but I still go. It's harder and harder to find places where other's aren't, but somehow I manage. After I retire, I will likely go more. Probably even put in for that moose permit since I'll have time.
 
#48 ·
Hunting is alive and well in my immediate circle , My oldest son harvested 1 cow elk, 1 white tail doe and 1 mule deer buck, My daughter got a mule deer buck, youngest son got 1 mule deer buck. All in Montana.

I got a mule deer doe, and I took a friend in his 30's out and put him on a mule deer doe, in the process i had the most fun i'd had hunting in 20 yrs.

Watching him get so excited was an absolute honor and pleasure, i was proud of him, seeing a grown man shoot his first deer was an awesome experience, to this day he loves to relive the story over a cocktail, already talking about the upcoming season !
 
#49 ·
I hunt on private land here in sw mo. my farm ,my dads farm and land my brother farms.

I have seen a huge reduction in people trespassing on out lands during deer season.

in fact last couple years im not sure ive even seen anyone hunting on the edges of our property on other peoples land.

deer season used to be a real event here. after the first weekend the coyote hunters would turn loose any dogs they had that would run deer. they would run around in their pickups and cb radios and basically never get any deer but they did move them around for those of us that stayed in the woods.

there a re several campgrounds near here for hunting public land, years ago they were packed, now maybe one or two tents or rvs.

basically im guessing in my area maybe there are 1/4 of the hunters there were back in the late 80's early 90's. sad because its much easier to find and kill deer here now. I sometimes drive dump truck and see maybe a dead deer every mile or two in the road ditches.
 
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