Why hunter #'s continue to decline...but why?

daiello91 · Mar 7, 2012

No other outdoor recreational activity besides hunting teaches you such a vast knowledge of the forest and wildlife. Hiking, camping, skiing, four wheeling, mushroom picking...all great activities but none offer the true wild experience, knowledge, adrenaline rush and organic meat you obtain through hunting.......

Click to find out why...

slimmer13 · Mar 7, 2012

Doesnt seem to be the case in this neck of the woods. In fact this year I hunted muzzleloader because I was so fed up with all the morons saturating the woods during modern season, and I was amazed how many muzzleloaders were out and about.

daiello91 · Mar 7, 2012

Hunter #'s in Washington have also declined. With the lack of logging on federal land and deer numbers below management objectives it sometimes seen like there are more hunters because people are concentrated in smaller areas.

150k deer hunters in '98
126k deer hunters in '10
16% decline.

Modeler · Mar 7, 2012

IMHO, it's because hunting is mostly handed down from parents to children. Some of those children choose not to hunt, as the parents pass on and their kids aren't there to "replace" them the numbers decline. I was never taught how to hunt growing up, and I'd like to start now as an adult. Unfortunately there isn't much of a system in place to teach neophyte adults how to hunt, which further reduces the numbers.

Greg

Mutoman · Mar 7, 2012

Many of us are getting fed up with increasing tag and license prices and decreasing access and area. I didn't even buy a hunting license last year!

daiello91 · Mar 7, 2012

Modeler614 said:
IMHO, it's because hunting is mostly handed down from parents to children. Some of those children choose not to hunt, as the parents pass on and their kids aren't there to "replace" them the numbers decline. I was never taught how to hunt growing up, and I'd like to start now as an adult. Unfortunately there isn't much of a system in place to teach neophyte adults how to hunt, which further reduces the numbers.

Greg

Modeler614, I guess you didn't read the link I posted eh?

Mutoman said:
Many of us are getting fed up with increasing tag and license prices and decreasing access and area. I didn't even buy a hunting license last year!

Yeah it has gone up but as I point out in my article it's still cheaper to hunt than a lot of other adult activities like golf.

civilian75 · Mar 7, 2012

In my case, lack of mentor. I joined the gun culture in my latter years. I was born and raised in an urban environment, with deep anti-gun sentiment. Moved to Oregon 11 years ago; I have since asked many, many of my closest friends who hunt to give me a hand to no avail. I've been a DIY kind of guy in many areas in my life. This won't be one of them. I truly believe this is something that needs to be taught on the field, not the classroom. At this rate I'll go to the grave w/o ever shooting a darned sage rat.

Ironbar · Mar 7, 2012

Yeah, lemme tell you something. When I was a kid, there was plenty of area to hunt deer around Salem where there was a VERY good chance of scoring every year. More and more land went private. Existing private land was posted no hunting. There were fewer and fewer places to hunt.

I went out in to the coast range in 2010. There were so many people crawling all over the place that there probably wasn't a deer within 20 miles of where we hunted! Forget it! I'm just about done with it. ODFW can go f*** themselves too. They seem to make it harder and harder every year with new rules, regulations, and increasing fees for everything.

EMP9596 · Mar 7, 2012

State of Washington Press Release:

Does WDFW press release reveal serious fault with WA wildlife management?

A press release from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife announcing the Jan. 6-7 meeting of the Fish & Wildlife Commission may have inadvertently vindicated long-time critics of this state's Resource Allocation-based hunting regulations.

Resource Allocation is the regulatory structure that has been in place for more than 25 years in the Evergreen State that requires hunters to choose between modern firearms, black powder or archery for hunting deer and elk, and not be able to hunt alternate seasons to increase their time afield and boost their odds of notching a tag. Critics say it has resulted in loss of substantial opportunity for hunters, pitted user groups against one another as they compete for a smaller piece of a shrinking pie, and some argue convincingly it has been a contributing factor in the loss of tens of thousands of hunters from the ranks. Some have quit, others have gone elsewhere to spend their recreational money. They may have a point.

MORE: <broken link removed>

daiello91 · Mar 7, 2012

Ironbar said:
Yeah, lemme tell you something. When I was a kid, there was plenty of area to hunt deer around Salem where there was a VERY good chance of scoring every year. More and more land went private. Existing private land was posted no hunting. There were fewer and fewer places to hunt.

I went out in to the coast range in 2010. There were so many people crawling all over the place that there probably wasn't a deer within 20 miles of where we hunted! Forget it! I'm just about done with it. ODFW can go f*** themselves too. They seem to make it harder and harder every year with new rules, regulations, and increasing fees for everything.

Yeah as the population grows in the state that'll continue, but there is still way more huntable land in Oregon & Washington than almost anywhere else in the country.

Well its pretty easy to get away from people. Get away from the clear cuts & roads. That's where most people congregate.

However, in all honestly I would like to know what you meant by ODFW makes it harder and harder with new rules and regulations? I see very few rule changes from year to year. So maybe I'm missing something? Can you give me some examples?

civilian75 said:
In my case, lack of mentor. I joined the gun culture in my latter years. I was born and raised in an urban environment, with deep anti-gun sentiment. Moved to Oregon 11 years ago; I have since asked many, many of my closest friends who hunt to give me a hand to no avail. I've been a DIY kind of guy in many areas in my life. This won't be one of them. I truly believe this is something that needs to be taught on the field, not the classroom. At this rate I'll go to the grave w/o ever shooting a darned sage rat.

I agree 100% adult education / outreach is a major lack as I pointed out. I ran for the open VP spot in OHA so hopefully I can help change that here in the next couple years.

EMP9596 said:
MORE: <broken link removed>

Thanks for that info.

RVTECH · Mar 7, 2012

IMHO, it's because hunting is mostly handed down from parents to children. Some of those children choose not to hunt, as the parents pass on and their kids aren't there to "replace" them the numbers decline.

Two very profound reasons - the above quote is one and the 2nd is the lottery system. The Lottery has absolutely destroyed the once traditional 'Hunting Parties' that used to be a big social event for many (even if everyone did not 'tag out') but the way the system works (in Oregon anyway) a party cannot be guaranteed to all get tags in any year so many party members started to put in for tags individually and those that did not get tags would go along just for the trip and as time goes along with less tags available in the popular units fewer party members would even make plans to go as fewer members were getting tags. The parties broke up and so it ended. I have been hunting in Oregon over 30 years and have seen this first hand - It happened to my party.

Mutoman · Mar 7, 2012

Gelfreak91 said:
Yeah it has gone up but as I point out in my article it's still cheaper to hunt than a lot of other adult activities like golf.

Cheaper than many things (golf, gambling, collecting private jets, etc); however, that doesn't take away the impact of the price increases for those who's primary recreation expense is hunting and fishing. It is sad that hunting and fishing, things that most of us grew up using as cheap recreation, can be compared to higher-level recreations like golf. When one factors in the price increases in ammo, gear, and gas, hunting and fishing may actually compare cost wise to the weekly golf game.

RVTECH · Mar 7, 2012

things that most of us grew up using as cheap recreation

I don't think we chose outdoor sports because they were less expensive than others, But it was something we grew up doing, liked doing and continued to do and it just so happened it was not a real expensive undertaking but that has changed. I work in the RV industry and have seen the once solid Middle Class RV'r (who used to make up the majority of RV owners) be pushed out by a whole new and completely different 'RV owner' now capitalizing the industry.

sheepdip · Mar 7, 2012

civilian, are you kiding? you have never shot a sage rat? wow i guess that we take things for granted. a cousin of mine lived on a place just out of monument, the summer of 68. his dad bought all the .22 shells we could shoot. back then a brick would cos $4.50 i have no idea how many thousands of sage rats we shot. literally tens of thousands over the years. honestly.t

ericb · Mar 7, 2012

For me it is the ever increasing costs and decreasing chances of getting a tag. For hunters like me who want to put meat in the freezer, I put a hundred bucks in before I ever find out if I get a tag, and a hundred or so more in if I get one (every 3 years or so for a buck, and every 6 years or so for a bull), and that's all before I ever step into the woods. For a couple hundred bucks I can guarantee beef in my freezer, so with my limited income, I do that. What is the point of living in rural Oregon if you can't even get a tag to hunt in your own area? If I was a millionaire landowner with a few thousand acres I would be happy to get my LOP tags every year, but as a serf I have to play the lotto, which in the end makes venison cost about the same as lobster.

sheepdip · Mar 7, 2012

where do you get lobster that cheap?

daiello91 · Mar 7, 2012

ericb said:
For me it is the ever increasing costs and decreasing chances of getting a tag. For hunters like me who want to put meat in the freezer, I put a hundred bucks in before I ever find out if I get a tag, and a hundred or so more in if I get one (every 3 years or so for a buck, and every 6 years or so for a bull), and that's all before I ever step into the woods. For a couple hundred bucks I can guarantee beef in my freezer, so with my limited income, I do that. What is the point of living in rural Oregon if you can't even get a tag to hunt in your own area? If I was a millionaire landowner with a few thousand acres I would be happy to get my LOP tags every year, but as a serf I have to play the lotto, which in the end makes venison cost about the same as lobster.

I hear ya. The lottery system really isn't the best. No advantage to local residents unless you have 40 acres, then you get LOP which is a nice perk but obviously not everyone can own 40 acres.

sheepdip · Mar 7, 2012

I am trying to get my grandson involved, kinda looks like he may join us, his sister has no interest. 50%

daiello91 · Mar 7, 2012

Fat Jesus · Mar 7, 2012

Weird, this is the first year I've bought my hunting license and applied for tags in 14 years. Time to get back into shooting some food. Racing got too expensive