Elk Bugler
Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2020
- Messages
- 57
Alright, I'm going to preface this by saying if you're easily offended don't read this.
Hunting has been in decline since the 1980's and 1990's depending on what state you live in. While there's probably thousands of reasons I'm going to detail the biggest issues I think hunting in this country faces in terms of the decline of hunting. For some background on me I'm 19 and have been hunting since I've been 15. I'm one of the "New Breed" that is sadly exceedingly rare. I've met a grand total of 3 youngsters in my 4 years hunting public land. I didn't shoot my first buck after following a pair of fresh tracks in the snow for a mile, walking quietly behind my grandfather and uncle (although I wish I could've) and I didn't shoot my first buck after applying for years to a "trophy unit" from a wealthy home in the suburbs. My first buck was taken on a small tract of private land on an unseasonably hot opening day of archery season. I couldn't have been more proud of myself I made a great lung/liver shot and he was down about 25 yards away from me. My first buck was a velvet 3 pointer and I couldn't have been more proud. I hunt both this small tract of private land and a variety of local public lands. My proudest hunting moment was last season when I took a beautiful fat public land doe on a very highly pressured property (probably the most pressured in the state and at least in the county) everything I have learned from hunting has been from the internet, YouTube, my own scouting, trial and error, and from one family friend to a much lesser extent my point is my experience definitely isn't typical and it's a miracle that I even started hunting in the first place. My interest in hunting started when I thought it would be a fun experience to go turkey hunting, so I did and this later evolved in a passion for deer hunting and I've been hooked ever since. I've been fortunate to harvest 4 deer in my 4 years of hunting and am happy to have a freezer full of meat that I spent hours brwaking down and processing myself. It feels good to have a connection to my food, it's healthier and great to know where it comes from.
So enough about me here are the reasons that I personally believe are most detrimental to the hunting community.
(Lack of access to land/perceived lack of access to land.) While it is very true that the days of knocking on a door and asking a member of your community if you can hunt his land is pretty much over, the small property owners don't want people on their property for liability reasons or percived liability reasons and all the large property owners either lease their land to a wealthy individual, a club with a ridiculous membership fee (I'm talking $1000 plus a year) or even hunting product companies to film shows on. And before people start saying that I'm bashing rich people and large companies I'm not and if you can pay 5 grand a year to lease a big property good for you but just know by doing so you're taking away opportunities from other people to hunt the same property. 20 people probably hunted farmer Ed's 1000 acres before it was leased in exchange for help and other favors. Not blaming anybody it's just reality. The next part of this equation is public land. While there is less public land than there was 10 years ago and even less than there was 20 years ago there's still plenty of public land in this country to hunt. (With few exceptions). My heart does go out to those in places like Iowa or Mississippi where there is next to no public land, however there is still some public land to hunt, but in most states access to public land is not as much of an issue as people make it out to be. And yes I'm guilty of exaggerating how hard it is to hunt public land as much as the next guy, however I don't do this anymore because this discourages going people like myself. When I was in high school I was one of the only people to hunt public land if not the only one, the other kids thought public land wasn't worth the time and that is problematic because once these kids graduate and move away, or go to college in another state they're going to stop hunting because they believe public land isn't worth it. There are a few states with very little public land but they are the exception most states have plenty of state forests, parks, national forests, wildlife management areas and a litany of other land open to hunting. We in the United States are blessed with so many millions of acres of public land to recreate on and this makes us unique to the rest of the world (yes I know Canada has similar "crown land"). Public land hunting can be hard and it is definitely harder than private land and there is definitely no comparison to a 1000 acre Illinois "trophy buck" lease, however not all is lost. I used to be one of those people who thought "hunting public land is impossible" and "not worth the effort" but this didn't stop me from trying harder each time. There are a litany of studies that show the vast majority of hunters will not venture more than a 1/3 of a mile from the road. What does this mean? The vast majority of public land especially the big tracts are relatively free from hunting pressure or face light pressure. Studies have also disproven the myth that "all public land deer migrate to private land during deer season" this is not even close to being true, whitetail deer are loyal to their range and simply move deeper into less pressured parts of public land with thicker cover when the pressure gets high. If you put in the work and venture deep into public land you will most likely be successful and I know this first hand. When I hunt public (which is what I hunt most) I go at least a mile in and that is why I'm much more successful than the other guys that set up near the parking lot. My point is if you put in the work you will be successful! This doesn't just pertain to hunting it pertains to everything in life, you don't get far unless you work hard.
(The social media hunters, the online trolls, and cyber bullies) I'm grouping all of these groups together because they have the same effect on young hunters for the most part. Everybody knows the kind of "hunter" I'm talking about, the trust fund kid who acts hyper masculine to compensate for his insecurity and thinks he's all that because daddy gave him money to shoot a 180 inch outfitted land buck or even worse a high fence pet and then brags on social media about it and shames other people often times teens and younger for shooting a doe or young buck. This behavior is detrimental and absolutely needs to stop we need to recruit teenagers and young kids into the hunting community and it doesn't matter if you shoot a doe, spike, monster buck, or an average buck, if you're out there having fun and contributing to conservation it doesn't matter what kind of deer you shoot as long as you follow all the regulations. There are great social media hunters out there that do wonders for the hunting community, however if you go in Instagram and see "trophy bucks" and "trophy elk" all day it gives young hunters unrealistic expectations which is also negative. It's just like teenagers being insecure because everyone on Instagram is a super model or body builder. Anti hunters, trolls, and cyber bullies have the same effect on young hunters as the (bad) social media hunters (and they're fans that shame hunters) they shame hunters for being ethical hunters just because they didn't shoot that 1/100 monster buck. Teenagers and young people live on social media and if they are shamed for being hunters it's a driving factor to stop hunting or more likely never even start hunting all together.
(Video games and Tv) this is pretty straight forward, we live in an instant gratification culture and TV and video games provide just that. It's scientifically proven that playing video games produces pleasure in our brains, most young people these days are so addicted to video games it's like a drug to them. Why sit in a treestand on a hot day or track deer through the snow in 10 degrees and probably not even bring a deer home when you can play video games all day with no effort involved and have a lot of fun.
(Decline of rural America and increase in urbanization and suburbanization) more Americans are moving to major cities or metro areas and suburbs and not having a chance to even go hiking let alone hunting or fishing in the city, hunters for the most part are looked upon and seen as a bunch of "gun toting rednecks) or some other ignorant slur. Ironically from my experience the hunters I have met who traveled from the city to where I live to hunt have all been immigrants from Communist Asian or former Soviet republics for them I think it has something to do with the feeling of freedom hunting gives you but I digress. Urbanization is killing young hunter's opportunities before they even start.
Hunting has been in decline since the 1980's and 1990's depending on what state you live in. While there's probably thousands of reasons I'm going to detail the biggest issues I think hunting in this country faces in terms of the decline of hunting. For some background on me I'm 19 and have been hunting since I've been 15. I'm one of the "New Breed" that is sadly exceedingly rare. I've met a grand total of 3 youngsters in my 4 years hunting public land. I didn't shoot my first buck after following a pair of fresh tracks in the snow for a mile, walking quietly behind my grandfather and uncle (although I wish I could've) and I didn't shoot my first buck after applying for years to a "trophy unit" from a wealthy home in the suburbs. My first buck was taken on a small tract of private land on an unseasonably hot opening day of archery season. I couldn't have been more proud of myself I made a great lung/liver shot and he was down about 25 yards away from me. My first buck was a velvet 3 pointer and I couldn't have been more proud. I hunt both this small tract of private land and a variety of local public lands. My proudest hunting moment was last season when I took a beautiful fat public land doe on a very highly pressured property (probably the most pressured in the state and at least in the county) everything I have learned from hunting has been from the internet, YouTube, my own scouting, trial and error, and from one family friend to a much lesser extent my point is my experience definitely isn't typical and it's a miracle that I even started hunting in the first place. My interest in hunting started when I thought it would be a fun experience to go turkey hunting, so I did and this later evolved in a passion for deer hunting and I've been hooked ever since. I've been fortunate to harvest 4 deer in my 4 years of hunting and am happy to have a freezer full of meat that I spent hours brwaking down and processing myself. It feels good to have a connection to my food, it's healthier and great to know where it comes from.
So enough about me here are the reasons that I personally believe are most detrimental to the hunting community.
(Lack of access to land/perceived lack of access to land.) While it is very true that the days of knocking on a door and asking a member of your community if you can hunt his land is pretty much over, the small property owners don't want people on their property for liability reasons or percived liability reasons and all the large property owners either lease their land to a wealthy individual, a club with a ridiculous membership fee (I'm talking $1000 plus a year) or even hunting product companies to film shows on. And before people start saying that I'm bashing rich people and large companies I'm not and if you can pay 5 grand a year to lease a big property good for you but just know by doing so you're taking away opportunities from other people to hunt the same property. 20 people probably hunted farmer Ed's 1000 acres before it was leased in exchange for help and other favors. Not blaming anybody it's just reality. The next part of this equation is public land. While there is less public land than there was 10 years ago and even less than there was 20 years ago there's still plenty of public land in this country to hunt. (With few exceptions). My heart does go out to those in places like Iowa or Mississippi where there is next to no public land, however there is still some public land to hunt, but in most states access to public land is not as much of an issue as people make it out to be. And yes I'm guilty of exaggerating how hard it is to hunt public land as much as the next guy, however I don't do this anymore because this discourages going people like myself. When I was in high school I was one of the only people to hunt public land if not the only one, the other kids thought public land wasn't worth the time and that is problematic because once these kids graduate and move away, or go to college in another state they're going to stop hunting because they believe public land isn't worth it. There are a few states with very little public land but they are the exception most states have plenty of state forests, parks, national forests, wildlife management areas and a litany of other land open to hunting. We in the United States are blessed with so many millions of acres of public land to recreate on and this makes us unique to the rest of the world (yes I know Canada has similar "crown land"). Public land hunting can be hard and it is definitely harder than private land and there is definitely no comparison to a 1000 acre Illinois "trophy buck" lease, however not all is lost. I used to be one of those people who thought "hunting public land is impossible" and "not worth the effort" but this didn't stop me from trying harder each time. There are a litany of studies that show the vast majority of hunters will not venture more than a 1/3 of a mile from the road. What does this mean? The vast majority of public land especially the big tracts are relatively free from hunting pressure or face light pressure. Studies have also disproven the myth that "all public land deer migrate to private land during deer season" this is not even close to being true, whitetail deer are loyal to their range and simply move deeper into less pressured parts of public land with thicker cover when the pressure gets high. If you put in the work and venture deep into public land you will most likely be successful and I know this first hand. When I hunt public (which is what I hunt most) I go at least a mile in and that is why I'm much more successful than the other guys that set up near the parking lot. My point is if you put in the work you will be successful! This doesn't just pertain to hunting it pertains to everything in life, you don't get far unless you work hard.
(The social media hunters, the online trolls, and cyber bullies) I'm grouping all of these groups together because they have the same effect on young hunters for the most part. Everybody knows the kind of "hunter" I'm talking about, the trust fund kid who acts hyper masculine to compensate for his insecurity and thinks he's all that because daddy gave him money to shoot a 180 inch outfitted land buck or even worse a high fence pet and then brags on social media about it and shames other people often times teens and younger for shooting a doe or young buck. This behavior is detrimental and absolutely needs to stop we need to recruit teenagers and young kids into the hunting community and it doesn't matter if you shoot a doe, spike, monster buck, or an average buck, if you're out there having fun and contributing to conservation it doesn't matter what kind of deer you shoot as long as you follow all the regulations. There are great social media hunters out there that do wonders for the hunting community, however if you go in Instagram and see "trophy bucks" and "trophy elk" all day it gives young hunters unrealistic expectations which is also negative. It's just like teenagers being insecure because everyone on Instagram is a super model or body builder. Anti hunters, trolls, and cyber bullies have the same effect on young hunters as the (bad) social media hunters (and they're fans that shame hunters) they shame hunters for being ethical hunters just because they didn't shoot that 1/100 monster buck. Teenagers and young people live on social media and if they are shamed for being hunters it's a driving factor to stop hunting or more likely never even start hunting all together.
(Video games and Tv) this is pretty straight forward, we live in an instant gratification culture and TV and video games provide just that. It's scientifically proven that playing video games produces pleasure in our brains, most young people these days are so addicted to video games it's like a drug to them. Why sit in a treestand on a hot day or track deer through the snow in 10 degrees and probably not even bring a deer home when you can play video games all day with no effort involved and have a lot of fun.
(Decline of rural America and increase in urbanization and suburbanization) more Americans are moving to major cities or metro areas and suburbs and not having a chance to even go hiking let alone hunting or fishing in the city, hunters for the most part are looked upon and seen as a bunch of "gun toting rednecks) or some other ignorant slur. Ironically from my experience the hunters I have met who traveled from the city to where I live to hunt have all been immigrants from Communist Asian or former Soviet republics for them I think it has something to do with the feeling of freedom hunting gives you but I digress. Urbanization is killing young hunter's opportunities before they even start.