The Future of Hunting.
01-13-2006, 02:44 PM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Pa.
Posts: 554
The Future of Hunting.
Got this in an e-mail, thaught uall might like to read it. "lost horn"
The Scary Part of Quality Deer Management[/align]
By Kevin Hoyt
I am in favor of Quality Deer Management ... in moderation.
My home state, Vermont, is one of the last where the hunting community still has rights. I have the right as a sportsman to hunt or fish on any land or water unless that property is legally posted. Vermont's constitution guarantees this right, and the state has roughly 97 percent public hunting ground. I just felt the shockwave from everyone who just read that. As I began traveling the country on various hunting adventures, I was originally astonished that folks around the country did not know this. I thought the whole country was the same. Why doesn't your state have such a guarantee? It's something hunters should be asking their state representatives about.
For the rest of the country, as much as I would like to agree with the NRA that hunting is a God-given right, I know it is not. Hunting is a privilege that can be taken away just as fast as we can vote. This leads me to the topic of this article: Quality Deer Management.
As I take youth hunters out in several states every year, I see how hard it is for hunters in other states to get land access. QDM is one of the causes of the decline in the national hunter population. In today's age of expensive hunting leases and private property, we have to stop and ask ourselves where this is leading?
Point restrictions have been a hot topic for several years. I am in favor of point restrictions (except for youth hunters), but people have to look at the second word in that phrase -- "restrictions."
Every year, we implement programs that are focused on growing more and bigger bucks. Again, I'm in favor, but let's look at the ramifications. First, most hunters don't realize that a buck eats almost twice as much as a doe. The synopsis is we just reduced habitat and lowered our carrying capacity. Without a supplemental food program, more bucks means less deer! Less deer results in lower opportunity and success rates and more discouraged hunters who simply quit. QDM also involves a set number of hunters for each particular parcel of land, which is again setting more restriction and lowering the number of hunters.
Now let's look at what happens when QDM starts to work and we begin to see more and bigger bucks. The few people allowed access reap the rewards (for a price), but the average hunter and the sport of hunting loses. As bucks get bigger, so does their value. As a landowner, why would I let you hunt my land for free when I know the next guy will pay me $500 a day? You can't blame the landowner for cashing in on this natural and renewable resource. What would you do in his situation? The result is more restrictions and more posted property. While Texas is a prime example of how to grow big antlers, how much of that state is open to the public? They say history repeats itself, and we are not that far from the time when only noblemen and wealthy landowners can hunt the King's deer.
Predictions have indicated that if the current decline in the national hunting population is not reversed, we will lose sport hunting within the next two decades! That's not a typo. I plan on hunting 20 years from now. How about you? The predictions are simply based on numbers. It used to be that around 10 percent of the overall population were hunters, around 10 percent were anti-hunters, and the remaining 80 percent were people who didn't hunt, but approved of the sport done in a safe and responsible way. Who knows what the statistics are today, but it doesn't look good for us hunters. There are several fantastic reasons we all go hunting, but the bottom line is we are contributing to the best wildlife management system in the world. We have a job to do, which is reaching a certain harvest goal for our individual states. The 80 percent of the population that does not hunt, but allows us to, knows this and that's the main reason they allow us the privilege. As the number of hunters and animals is reduced, so is the need for hunters and hunting. We are not only restricting ourselves into non-existence, but we are selling ourselves out of a job.
The hunting community should take a closer look at what we are trying to do. As much as I would like to shoot a monster buck next year, I would rather shoot spikes and does for the next hundred years. It's our heritage and traditions we are talking about; I believe we need to slow down and think about things a little more. All through this article I have told you that I was in favor of QDM. The scary part is that if I was an anti-hunter, I would also be in favor of QDM. Think about that at your next deer herd meeting.
Kevin Hoyt
The Future of Hunting
www.thefutureofhunting.com
Bennington, Vermont
[/align]
The Scary Part of Quality Deer Management[/align]
By Kevin Hoyt
I am in favor of Quality Deer Management ... in moderation.
My home state, Vermont, is one of the last where the hunting community still has rights. I have the right as a sportsman to hunt or fish on any land or water unless that property is legally posted. Vermont's constitution guarantees this right, and the state has roughly 97 percent public hunting ground. I just felt the shockwave from everyone who just read that. As I began traveling the country on various hunting adventures, I was originally astonished that folks around the country did not know this. I thought the whole country was the same. Why doesn't your state have such a guarantee? It's something hunters should be asking their state representatives about.
For the rest of the country, as much as I would like to agree with the NRA that hunting is a God-given right, I know it is not. Hunting is a privilege that can be taken away just as fast as we can vote. This leads me to the topic of this article: Quality Deer Management.
As I take youth hunters out in several states every year, I see how hard it is for hunters in other states to get land access. QDM is one of the causes of the decline in the national hunter population. In today's age of expensive hunting leases and private property, we have to stop and ask ourselves where this is leading?
Point restrictions have been a hot topic for several years. I am in favor of point restrictions (except for youth hunters), but people have to look at the second word in that phrase -- "restrictions."
Every year, we implement programs that are focused on growing more and bigger bucks. Again, I'm in favor, but let's look at the ramifications. First, most hunters don't realize that a buck eats almost twice as much as a doe. The synopsis is we just reduced habitat and lowered our carrying capacity. Without a supplemental food program, more bucks means less deer! Less deer results in lower opportunity and success rates and more discouraged hunters who simply quit. QDM also involves a set number of hunters for each particular parcel of land, which is again setting more restriction and lowering the number of hunters.
Now let's look at what happens when QDM starts to work and we begin to see more and bigger bucks. The few people allowed access reap the rewards (for a price), but the average hunter and the sport of hunting loses. As bucks get bigger, so does their value. As a landowner, why would I let you hunt my land for free when I know the next guy will pay me $500 a day? You can't blame the landowner for cashing in on this natural and renewable resource. What would you do in his situation? The result is more restrictions and more posted property. While Texas is a prime example of how to grow big antlers, how much of that state is open to the public? They say history repeats itself, and we are not that far from the time when only noblemen and wealthy landowners can hunt the King's deer.
Predictions have indicated that if the current decline in the national hunting population is not reversed, we will lose sport hunting within the next two decades! That's not a typo. I plan on hunting 20 years from now. How about you? The predictions are simply based on numbers. It used to be that around 10 percent of the overall population were hunters, around 10 percent were anti-hunters, and the remaining 80 percent were people who didn't hunt, but approved of the sport done in a safe and responsible way. Who knows what the statistics are today, but it doesn't look good for us hunters. There are several fantastic reasons we all go hunting, but the bottom line is we are contributing to the best wildlife management system in the world. We have a job to do, which is reaching a certain harvest goal for our individual states. The 80 percent of the population that does not hunt, but allows us to, knows this and that's the main reason they allow us the privilege. As the number of hunters and animals is reduced, so is the need for hunters and hunting. We are not only restricting ourselves into non-existence, but we are selling ourselves out of a job.
The hunting community should take a closer look at what we are trying to do. As much as I would like to shoot a monster buck next year, I would rather shoot spikes and does for the next hundred years. It's our heritage and traditions we are talking about; I believe we need to slow down and think about things a little more. All through this article I have told you that I was in favor of QDM. The scary part is that if I was an anti-hunter, I would also be in favor of QDM. Think about that at your next deer herd meeting.
Kevin Hoyt
The Future of Hunting
www.thefutureofhunting.com
Bennington, Vermont
[/align]
01-13-2006, 02:53 PM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 1,149
RE: The Future of Hunting.
Well we don't want to go down the same road England took.Basically it got to the point where only the rich could afford to hunt.So when push came to shove in the end they didn't have the numbers to politically fight against the antis.They lost and now they're hunting is coming to an end.
01-13-2006, 02:54 PM
#3
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Allston MA USA
Posts: 533
RE: The Future of Hunting.
Thanks. Kindastrange article though. He keeps saying hes for it, but his article is against it. Plus it dosn't seperate light AR's and true QDM.
But it does hit the one realbottom line regardless. HABITAT!
But it does hit the one realbottom line regardless. HABITAT!
01-13-2006, 03:30 PM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location:
Posts: 1,233
RE: The Future of Hunting.
Well intended....Horribly written...One sided story...
HUH?...
What the...!?
we will lose sport hunting within the next two decades!
The predictions are simply based on numbers
Who knows what the statistics are today
HUH?...
What the...!?
01-15-2006, 07:25 AM
#6
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Taunton MA USA
Posts: 220
RE: The Future of Hunting.
Not bad as an Op-Ed piece, but it leaves a lot to be desired as far as facts go. He may be right on the money andthe facts may be thereto back up what he's saying but without including them it's just an opinion.
Thought provoking article though.
Thought provoking article though.
01-16-2006, 08:20 PM
#10
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location:
Posts: 99
RE: The Future of Hunting.
Well written article that makes a point that was made in the American Hunter a few years ago: successful QDM=less hunters.
Forced antler restrictions (one part of QDM) is one of the reasons that PA lost 11% of its hunters in just the last year.
I don't know how many more years we can afford a hit like that, but if it continues, that 20 year prediction may be too long.
Forced antler restrictions (one part of QDM) is one of the reasons that PA lost 11% of its hunters in just the last year.
I don't know how many more years we can afford a hit like that, but if it continues, that 20 year prediction may be too long.
