Declining number of hunters? Your thoughts?

[Milk Weed Seed]

With the opening of crossbows, I see more people out during bow season. Seems like every yahoo to lazy to practice shooting a bow or never used a bow before thinks they run around and drive deer just like they would with a shotgun. I voted other because I don't consider these people bowhunters.

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[Scot]

There are far fewer hunters in the mountains surrounding my home area than there used to be.

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[Autumn Ninja]

A lot more hunters than there use to be...getting to be more and more every year.

[PLB]

Far fewer bowhunters and gun hunters in my area!! First off there are far less deer and way more predators than say 1995-2005 when deer numbers and success rates exploded in my region! Secondly, hunters by me are deathly afraid of bears and wolves and wouldn't dare step foot in the woods in the morning darkness! A lot of people have pulled out of our area because of dwindling deer numbers and increased predators. More and more hunters are pulling out of my big woods area because they now own a 40 or 80 and hunt that exclusively. The lack of doe tags in my area has caused a shift in gun hunters big time!! A lot of your bigger driving crews hunt where the tags are most readily available. Also the deer camps up here are darn near non existent. Now its just a guy and his kid instead of the 10 person camps who hunt all season.

[jlh42581]

I want to add to my reply...

It might not be necessarily more hunters as it is the same amount of hunters going after less and less ground. Theres also a lot of coat tail riders out there who see a guy hunting an area and go in there and hunt it too, because it must be good if hes hunting there.

I cant even tell you the amount of turkeys I have had shot off of my calling over the years. Two years ago, I didnt get a spring bird and I had 5 different birds either shot or busted off my calling by guys getting out, hearing me work a bird and getting between us.

[BowtechHunting]

I'll add to my reply...

In the last ten years (I'm looking at it now), there has been a roller coaster effect with the total number of hunters. It drops and increases, +/- 3,000. Obviously, there are 5x more gun hunters than bowhunters. I believe bowhunting has become more popular, but just like everything else people try it out for 1 or 2 seasons and then move on. I feel that bowhunting has become the "pop" of music. Like most of you said, I think it's largely due to the increase in TV personalities. This professional appearance makes it seem that bowhunting is simple and in reality it can be quite difficult and stressful. Personally, I would like to see that bowhunting number go down. Just because in my region that increase in hunting pressure along with the high population of coyotes, deer movement is greatly diminished. Call me selfish, and I'll admit I am, because I take seriously and I'm not here just to try it out. If I wanted the easy way out I would have spent my time during modern gun season and would've been done 2 months ago. Deer hunting is mediocre at best here and all the other external stresses makes it that much more difficult for those of us who have been bowhunting for 10 years or more. There are several hunters who lease out of state, as well as locals, that will practicality shoot you on the spot if you step foot on their land, and it's becoming harder and harder to find land to hunt on. People are just to paranoid these days. It's insane, but I can't blame them. Anyway, that's just me.

[JV NC]

Seems like every yahoo to lazy to practice shooting a bow or never used a bow before thinks they run around and drive deer just like they would with a shotgun. I voted other because I don't consider these people bowhunters.

I bought my new Hoyt compound in mid-Oct. and sighted it in the same afternoon (+/- 20-25 arrows).

With the exception of those 20-25 arrows.......I drew my bow 5X, this season. Those were the 5 deer I killed with it.

IMO, that's a pretty radical outlook you have.

[Autumn Ninja]

I bought my new Hoyt compound in mid-Oct. and sighted it in the same afternoon (+/- 20-25 arrows).

X2!

I've periodically shot 3-4 arrows through my bow this year, total of about 30-40 shots all year long. Just to make sure its still on.

[addisonlee]

Numbers v. percentage.....I'll give it the old college try...lol.

Let's say there were 200,000 hunters in NC (purely made-up number) in the year 2000. Let's say (another purely made-up number) the population of NC in 2000 was 6M.

The percentage of people who hunted (v. the overall population - in the year 2000) would have been just north of 3%.

Let's fast-forward to 2011. The number of hunters in NC (again...made up for the sake of the example) is again, 200,000. But, the population has risen to 7M.

One could cite the percentage of hunters in NC has fallen. But, the truth would be....the number of hunters hasn't changed.

I hope that made sense.

I see your point. I'll be sure to bring it up at the conference. Thanks for the reply.

Keep the replies coming guys. I would like to give as much input as I can at conference from everyone.

[addisonlee]

Bowhunters numbers are up but gun hunting numbers are down.Most of the places we used to have access for gun hunting (deer drives) have been leased out to 1 or 2 hunters.Others have been sold with access denied.And others family relation have taken up hunting.The days of the huge deer drive crews are almost a thing of the past around here.What used to be 4 different groups of 10-15 guys pushing hard every day are now getting together a day or two.If you dont have places to go this is where you are going to lose your hunters.The more deer hunting becomes a pay to play sport the more hunters you will lose.

Thanks for your input. Great example with the deer drive.

[addisonlee]

I have to say, everyone has very good points and examples here. I'll be sure to use all your inputs at the conference.

I see we've all identified hunter numbers are up and down in different areas, but what are you thoughts on the younger generation? Are they picking up hunting like you did when you were their age? 8yrs old up to early 20s.

Thanks again for everyone's reply. Keep the great feedback coming BEAST brothas.

[forgehunter]

I have to say, everyone has a very good points and examples here. I'll be sure to use all your inputs at the conference.

I see we've all identified hunter numbers are up and down in different areas, but what are you thoughts on the younger generation? Are they picking up hunting like you did when you were their age? 8yrs old up to early 20s.

Thanks again for everyone's reply. Keep the great feedback coming BEAST brothas.

Speaking as someone who has a couple of teenegers, I will say that i think that the numbers are declining... kids these days want instant gratification... I know of a couple of my kids friends that either have no interest in trying to hunt even though thier parents do or have tried and given up for various reasons. One big one being the lack of deer being seen here in Wisconsin. It is very discouriging for kids to sit in the woods for 5 to 7 days and not see deer. Plus kids these days are spread thin cause of the sports they are in. there are so many sports that are played year round now that the time just isnt there for them. also some of the kids that may be interested have parents that have to work 2 jobs just to make ends meet and there is not much time or money left for extra things like equipment for hunting...
If we want this great sport to continue the next couple of generation needs to recruted adn hown that this is a great sport.

[Zap]

Definately less young folks hunting.

[headgear]

It might not be necessarily more hunters as it is the same amount of hunters going after less and less ground.

I think this is important to look at as well. Land is much harder to come by and pressure is up because we have more hunters using less land, especially on public.

[snoman4]

When I started bow hunting in 1983 at the age of 10 I was the only one of my friends that bow hunted. We had one archery shop within 80 miles of my home and that was Bear Archery in Gainesville, Florida. My middleschool brought out a archery program in 1985 and the number of bow hunters my age increased exponentially. Now most if not all of the guys I hung around with bow hunt and have brought there children up bowhunting. We now have many archery shops within 80 miles of my home and lots of clubs to shoot at. I think bow hunters percentage wise are definitely on the increase but over all hunter numbers percentage wise may be down some.

Loss of hunting land, cost of leases, crowding of public land, aging of baby boomers, and too many other things for kids to do have all brought the overall percentage number of hunters down nationwide. I think there are more hunters now than ever because of population increase but i think the per capita percentage of people that hunt is lower.

Addsion,
Check the movement of people from the Northeast and more Northern climates to the south over the 25 years and you will see where all your hunters have gone. The hunter numbers have pretty much steadily increased in the Southeast US as the demographics of where people live and retire have changed. Hope this gives you a little food for thought and another avenue to explore why numbers may be down in some areas and not in others.