TG78

I have heard a couple times on TV now that over the past 30 years or so the number of active hunters has gone down in the U.S. Maybe it is because all of the new hunting shows and DVD's that I see all the time but I found this hard to believe, can anyone validate this.

Siman08/OH

Well, hunting used to be part of living (getting food). Now big stores and other factors have made that easier, plus more people are moving to the cities.

I blame Wal-Mart

(could be a good thing though - less competition for ground)

TG78

So, you have heard the same thing? Honestly I can blame Wal-Mart for a lot of things, hell I can pretty much place blame whenever and wherever as long as it is not me

Arthur P

We've known for the last 20 years the number of hunters has been in decline. This is very old news. I think a lot of it is due to the unfettered access to our children that the anti-gun and anti-hunting forces are allowed in public schools, and the active opposition to allowing pro-gun or pro-hunting views being made available to them. Young people are being taught hunting is wrong and older hunters are... well, doing what we all do, eventually. They're not around any more.

TG78

Well, I am doing what I can to help, I have three kids under the age of two and a half and the twin boys already have some new guns from Grandpa and my oldest girl will be picking out a new cricket .22 over the next couple months.

When I overhear someone preaching their anti-gun/anti-hunting rhetoric I try and educate them a little at just the right time while being very tactful in my approach. Right now I am working on my neighbors who have never shot a gun or even held one because they are "bad". They trust me a lot and are really coming around. My best friends hippie wife was really anti gun untill I talked her into going out plinking a couple times and now she loves them.

magicman54494

The numbers are down. But so is access to land, unless you want to get out your wallet. Public land is therefore actually seeing more pressure. Which will in turn push the numers even lower.[&o]

salukipv1

is the number of hunters down? or the percentage % of the population that hunts down?

I really can't imagine that there are less hunters today than 30 years ago etc..etc...since the population is growing....

But then again 100 years ago I saw that something like 75% of people were farmers .....certainly almost everyone in rural areas hunts it seems, so now with only something like 7% of the population being farmers....there are less people in rural areas, and therefore less hunters?

so whether there are or aren't I don't think of it as a shocking/alarming statistic.

Arthur P

All the numbers I've seen are based on sales of hunting licenses. License sales have been in a steady decline for ages. Declining license sales = declining # of hunters

bhunter50

This fact is not surprising one bit. Especially here in Illinois, I know a lot of folks that have simply given up on hunting due to the inability to compete with out of state hunters and outfitting. Less available property for hunting=less hunters. Several 6-7hundred acre farms that would easily hold 10-15 hunters or more, now are leased by 6 out of state hunters or is outfitted with only a few hunters benefitting. Simply mathematics shows that less middle class and lower class folks are able to afford to hunt and with public ground nearly unheard of in IL, declining numbers of hunters is inevitable.

G2 Shooter

I think it is a result of having less land to hunt. That is due to several reasons from development to leasing to closing access to sue happy hunters. I know that the amount of land here in Maryland has shrunk considerably since I first started in my teens. Everywhere I look, more housing is going up. I've been denied access to lands I hunted for years because some dumbass sued the land owner. As magic mentioned, I actually hung up my bow and guns for years due to being disgusted with public land. Now I just approach it differently. I also see less and less young people hunting that live in this liberal ass state.

We have so much wildlife here you literally trip over them. Deer, squirrels, rabbits, ducks, you name it. Heck, my friend in Frederick took a picture of a big black bear sow with two cubs a couple of weeks ago in his back yard. The problem is finding a place to hunt and if you do find one, hoping someone doesn't ruin it.