On the Decline of Hunting

[Ben]

Surprisingly unbiased article by the BBC.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50747375

The decline is interesting because while there is certainly the millennial PETA contingent, there are also a lot of millennials truly interested in the process and responsibility of harvesting their own food. Even in commie Santa Barbara, I knew people raising chickens in their backyards for not only eggs, but for meat. They were doing so not just for the "organic" creds, but to understand where their food comes from. Even if they were commies,  I respect that. Also many younger people are into small farming now, including raising animals for food. Somehow though, they don't cross over to hunting.


Something I was unaware of, though I guess it's expected, is that Dick's is not only going out of the EBR business, but getting rid of guns in general, and hunting accessories as well. It baffles me that their stock is doing so well over the last year, but maybe they've found a way to lure in the REI demographic.

[charby]

Surprisingly unbiased article by the BBC.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50747375

The decline is interesting because while there is certainly the millennial PETA contingent, there are also a lot of millennials truly interested in the process and responsibility of harvesting their own food. Even in commie Santa Barbara, I knew people raising chickens in their backyards for not only eggs, but for meat. They were doing so not just for the "organic" creds, but to understand where their food comes from. Even if they were commies,  I respect that. Also many younger people are into small farming now, including raising animals for food. Somehow though, they don't cross over to hunting.


Something I was unaware of, though I guess it's expected, is that Dick's is not only going out of the EBR business, but getting rid of guns in general, and hunting accessories as well. It baffles me that their stock is doing so well over the last year, but maybe they've found a way to lure in the REI demographic.

I've never considered Dick's as a store one goes for firearms or hunting clothes, they have always been in my mind a more athletic sports type store.

I've hunted as long as I have been able to hold a firearm. I think a lot of it boils down to time, money, and access. I use at least half of my vacation time for hunting/fishing trips. I have friends that would rather use the same amount of time to take a trip to Vegas/Mexico/Islands/Pro or college sports or their weekends are consumed by family and sporting events. Many people 2 generations ago have migrated from more rural areas to more urban areas, you don't grow up shooting sparrows or gophers living in a more urban area.

It's not cheap to go hunting anymore, just my resident hunting/fishing/fur license is $98 a year, add $32 each for a couple deer and turkey tags, I'm easily $200 in just licenses/tags. I usually do an out of state trip each year, cheapest tag I buy for one animal is $250.

Access has changed too, used to be you could knock on any door and usually you could hunt for free, now folks have leased their land or charge a trespass fee.

etc.

[230RN]

*Note: To participate in the over-the-counter with caps rifle bear season, a hunter must hold a deer or elk license that overlaps with that rifle bear tag by at least one unit and one day of the season. These licenses can be purchased at license agents, by phone and online through Oct. 11. Afterwards, they are only available at CPW offices.

Of course I understand that our game resources have to be managed, but I offer the suggestion that this "management" has turned into a bureaucratic mish-mosh.  I remember the game brochure in the sixties was composed of an area map, a "manner of taking"  section, and a table of sunrise and sunset corrections for miles east and west of Denver.  That was about it except for sex evidence and wastage of meat warnings.

Now it's the size of a monthly slick magazine.

I wonder if the current mish-mosh is responsible for discouraging at least a percentage of the decline.

I got POed one year when I bought a small game license for prairie rats and found out it wasn't valid until I called the Department and got some kind of authorization code from them before I could actually go out to thin out the local farmers' herds of prairie rats.  Oh, and be careful about shooting some branches of prairie rat species which were on the "endangered species candidate" list, and not even declared as actually endangered but were still prohibited anyway.

At that point I threw up my hands and returned to cutting .223" holes in paper the next year.

There,  I said it and I ain't takin' it back.  There was also a discussion here in APS about the aggressive and literal enforcement by game wardens --another possible discouragement of outdoor firearms recreation, see REF.

I note the Regulatory Body is now the Parks and Wildlife Commission, as follows:

The 11 voting members of the commission include three members who are sportspersons, one of whom must be an outfitter; three agricultural producers; three recreationalists, including one from a non-profit, non-consumptive wildlife organization; two at-large members. Members are expected to represent all parks and wildlife-related issues, regardless of their affiliation. A minimum of four commissioners must be from west of the Continental Divide.

Ummm...

Terry

REF (My vitriol in response to comments by Ted Nugent on hunting):

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=61063.msg1226361;topicseen#msg1226361

Quote from that link:

Grrr...

[brimic]

It's not cheap to go hunting anymore, just my resident hunting/fishing/fur license is $98 a year, add $32 each for a couple deer and turkey tags, I'm easily $200 in just licenses/tags. I usually do an out of state trip each year, cheapest tag I buy for one animal is $250.

The one duck hunting trip last year reminded me of why I don't duck hunt anymore: license + stamps=~$50, a box of shells= $20.
I was lucky to have a BIL who had thousands in decoys, and another 25-30k in a duck boat to take me.

..and that's to say nothing of the byzantine regs...

[charby]

And as I type this I'm rolling to the north woods to chase fur with hounds for a fews days. How many people drive north in the winter?

[Boomhauer]

My wife doesn’t like wild game, my father didn’t either so we never went when I was young. I’d like to go deer hunting but for the expense and I’d be the only one eating it it doesn’t make sense and would be wasteful.

[charby]

My wife doesn’t like wild game, my father didn’t either so we never went when I was young. I’d like to go deer hunting but for the expense and I’d be the only one eating it it doesn’t make sense and would be wasteful.

Have the deer turned into jerky, sticks and bologna, then you snack on it. You'll be surprised how little meat a deer has.

[Kingcreek]

I figured out many years ago that you don’t figure monetary cost into hunting. I can eat lobster or that fancy Japanese beef for less per pound.
I bow hunted deer about 5 times this year (unsuccessfully) watched 2 rooster pheasants land in the prairie grass yesterday but lost my bird dog just before thanksgiving so have no interest in walking out the back door with a shotgun. Not as interested in hunting as I used to be.

[brimic]

My wife doesn’t like wild game, my father didn’t either so we never went when I was young. I’d like to go deer hunting but for the expense and I’d be the only one eating it it doesn’t make sense and would be wasteful.

I grew up on a steady diet of venison, duck, squirrel, grouse, pheasant, fish, and occasional beef, pork, or chicken from a local farm. I was WAYYYY healthier then, before I shipped off to college. I never had an ounce of fat on me until I started eating like 'regular' people.
As Charby said, deer meat doesn't last long, we were putting 4-5 of them in the freezer every fall, and they would last maybe until summer.

[Ben]

I can see cost being an issue for some segments of the younger populations, but for others, like my "hipster backyard chicken farmer" example, I don't see it. These are people that will buy $500 fancy custom coops for their chickens instead of build them out of plywood, drink $10 bottles of craft beer, and load out with $1000 worth of North Face clothes, GPS units, and every other gizmo to go on a day hike.

To me, there has to be some other issue for those people, who are comfortable chopping their chicken's heads off and also enjoy roaming the outdoors. Maybe they have no way to learn, or maybe there is some disconnect between killing the farm animal with an axe, and a wild animal with a gun or bow.