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I could wall paper a house with un filled tags and applications that got me nothing.:s0154:

No offense but you have to take some accountability for that. I draw my 2nd choice unit every year and there hasn't been a single year that I haven't had an opportunity to shoot or harvested a buck. Sometimes I've missed the shot but I've always had the opportunity.

Besides, turkey, squirrels, rabbits, coyotes...there is so much more than just deer. Even if you don't bag anything a day in the woods is better than a day on the golf course in my book.
 
Lack of Recruitment
Lack of Training or Mentor
Cost Associated
Low Available Opportunity
Low Success Rate
Poor Public Imag

Right there says it all almost. In the case of oregon it would be nice if ODFW was more supportive of hunters.
also Fee hunting clubs are taking up all the choice hunting and limiting access from prime hunting locations .
When i was young there were lots of "welcome to hunt signs everywhere" i have not seen a "welcome to hunt sign" in a long time.

And don't forget oregon voters banned the use of dogs for cougar hunts so their populations are growing and wiping out deer and elk

as far as mentors this was address on this thread

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/hunting/68711-number-young-hunters-dropping-oregon.html
 
Rick elicker the ODFW head does hunt and he was just. In the news for it. As for welcome to hunt signs, that's just the way things go as population grows and expands. I bet the east coast was aweso me to hunt before it became as developed as it is, still plenty of tree stand hunting.

Things change as time goes on, as an industry you either adapt or die....we're as a whole not adapting well.
 
Besides, turkey, squirrels, rabbits, coyotes...there is so much more than just deer. Even if you don't bag anything a day in the woods is better than a day on the golf course in my book.

Absolutely! I was lucky enough to bag a muzz bull and a modern buck this year. I would rather be out in the woods any day. Some people are out there just to harvest an animal. While that is quite a bonus, there is so much more to being outdoors.


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

:s0114:
Most people around here drive all day long waiting for something to jump on the road. That might be a reason for the decline in hunters..... Fuel prices.
 
although there is less people getting involved with hunting there does seem to be a increase in shooting sports , hopefully someday this will translate into more ranges and more competitions . wouldn't it be great if shooting sports got as popular as football or nascar . A Fan participant sport rather than just a spectator sport.
 
The lottery system did exactly what it was intended to do. Reduce hunter numbers in the traditionally popular units, eliminate the 'Party Groups' and effectively remove the middle class from the sport of hunting.
 
So far I have gotten several middle aged guys into hunting and now they have way more guns than I do! It was a case where their families didn't hunt so they never learned how - I asked them along and trained them on safety and basic skills and I believe they will stick with it.
 
So far I have gotten several middle aged guys into hunting and now they have way more guns than I do! It was a case where their families didn't hunt so they never learned how - I asked them along and trained them on safety and basic skills and I believe they will stick with it.

:s0155: :drink: Another perfect example of why we need adult programs available. Good on you!
 
A little off topic, but I wonder where all of those license, application, and tag fees actually go. If ODFW is managing the wildlife so well, why is the deer population, hunter numbers, and success rates down? Just like any govt. agency, I suspect that the money they siphon off of the public is mismanaged. No real data here, just a blind allegation :)
 
way back when, I used to go up to my uncle's ranch in WY several times a year and shoot a brick or so a day dropping prairie dogs - must have shot at least 1500 a year easy. Back in the 80s I lived in CO and we used to go pheasant every year - great sport, fun, good eating - and the price of admission was, and I believe still is a small game license. Here in WA its like the old days for duck/goose but more $ - IIRC a pheasant tag in WA is another $100 or so. On top of that you can no longer use lead shot - guess they are worried about lead poisoning if you wing a bird, can't locate it, and some coyote eats it. When I was talking to some game wardens a few months back I mentioned coyotes becoming over populated - they agreed and suggested shooting as many as you can - apparently they spend tons on coyote abatement - especially around Vancouver as they eat people's pets and they get complaints. That abatement money could be better spent on improving habitat, more planting of game and fish, etc. Or if they wanted to get more for their money they could offer a $5 bounty on coyotes taken in the area - they said the abatement costs them something like $180 per yote just to avoid bad press from people who chose to move to the outskirts of town or out in the country then complain when fifi or fluffy get eaten by coyotes, bobcats, cougars, etc. After talking to them a bit I've decided to focus on hunting coyotes for the most part. I also have noticed that the usual population of 15-25 rabbits I usually see along the driveway and near the house has dropped to about 4. A few neighbors have lost cats and chickens in the last few months and I've heard a fairly large pack (say 15+) of coyotes in the woods behind the house and along the next ridge south.

As for hunting numbers declining in general - you may be able to contribute some of this to a reduction in family size as well. Figure that up into the 80s it wasn't uncommon for families to consist of 3+ children and now (at least from what I've noticed) the average is 0-2 kids. That means fewer kids to learn, smaller families in general means less uncles/cousins to go hunting with, less likely to have family farms to go hunting on, etc. I know most of the time we went hunting back in Colorado it was on family farms or friends family farms. Now I don't think I know anyone locally that has a real farm or even anyone with more than 15 acres. Add to that the number of people who were raised in big cities and have a complete disconnect between meat and animals as all the meat they ever ate came from the grocery store. Oh - don't forget the teachers that are opposed to hunting and guns in general that try to push their agenda on your kids. My niece had a few teachers that started to sway her a bit and she started trying to say it was wrong to drive non hybrid vehicles and hunting was immoral, etc. Turns out one of those teachers overheard her mention my brother going Elk hunting and started asking her what the elk had ever done to her (and that if you want meat go buy it in a store so poor bambi doesn't have to get shot)...

OK - off the soap box for now...
 
Fuel prices, cost of licensing, fear of being shot by people who have no business owning firearms, L.E.O. who are way to enthusiastic about trying to find a reason to ruin my hunting experience. Back in the day.. when i was young, you didnt need a wad of cash to go harvest some meat.. its just easier, cheaper and safer to go buy my meat from the store.
 
Fuel prices, cost of licensing, fear of being shot by people who have no business owning firearms, L.E.O. who are way to enthusiastic about trying to find a reason to ruin my hunting experience. Back in the day.. when i was young, you didnt need a wad of cash to go harvest some meat.. its just easier, cheaper and safer to go buy my meat from the store.

^^This^^ And it is by design
 
but I wonder where all of those license, application, and tag fees actually go.
To pay for additional road closure programs, Environmental Projects designed to reduce hunting opportunities, the multitudes of 'Wildlife Biologists' who count the deer and say the same two things why their numbers are declining, "The poach take is as much as or higher than legal" and "For every vehicle hit deer you see there are at least 7-8 you don't" (heard this with my own ears) and I can go in and on. ODFW has become nothing more than a pro-environmental, anti-hunting organization, much like the USFS but while they constantly tout their wildlife and fishing projects we see less and less on our end.
 
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.

How do you figure? Are you just adding the cost of the hunting license versus the golf session? I think hunting is more expensive. Ammo prices are up, there are way too many fees for not reporting your last year's hunt (even if you didn't kill anything) and the tags don't even go back into preserving the wildlife. Add that to the cost for gas to travel, the time off needed to go hunting (at my job good luck trying to get off hunting season unless you have 10 years or more senority) to go hiking out in the woods against hunters that have no concept of "hunting etiquette".

What do I mean by "hunting etiquette"? Well, while you are out stalking trails and waiting in observational possitions- other hunters ignore the dusk/dawn daylight requirements, drive around in ATVs, drink, shoot anything that moves and then leave their illegal carcusses for you to take the blame.

The woods are rampant with these kinds...two years ago I was "glassed" by some 20 y/o with a .308. I felt like running up to him, pointing my pistol at his head and asking him how he liked it.

Land owners are sick of it too. People cutting fences, driving on their fields and destroying their livelyhood has caused many of them to simply post "No Trespassing" and lock all their gates. One farmer was so pissed at a guy for parking right in front of his gate (so he couldn't get in or out) that he walked all around his property with a blow horn screaming for him to move his truck...unfortunatly I happened to be in that area hunting as well.

People are just stupid with guns out there too...shooting over roads, up hills with houses, near town...it's sad because these people are just 10% of the gun community but they are representing all of us.
 
I see very few rule changes from year to year. So maybe I'm missing something? Can you give me some examples?

What I meant was part of what this fellow says below. Also, when I was a kid, I bought a tag for the unit I wanted, and went hunting. Simple as that. Now we have this bulls#!t point system, point saver, lottery, blah, blah, blah. To hell with it all.

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.
 

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