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

[chariot13]

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

I think it's due to the mandatory reporting on large game, even if you don't hunt at all that season but simply have a tag. I don't want to waste my time telling an already over bearing bureaucracy anything more about something thats none of their business. Plus upland bird & varmint hunting works just fine for me without the added hassle.

 

[Gunner3456]

A lot of our population - baby boomers - are aging.

I've simply lost interest in killing deer and elk. We have bucks on our property all the time (turkeys, ducks and geese too) and last year I could have shot the biggest 5 point blacktail I've ever seen in the wild. I could have shot him right out my great room window any day for the first week of the season. My wife and I decided we'd rather have him live to breed, pass on his genes, and to enjoy watching him.

He was hanging out with other nice bucks too, but we left them alone.

Hardly a day passes when I don't have wild turkeys to watch. Last year's newborns are now almost full sized. The turkeys haven't yet started to breed but when they do, they'd do it right out of our window. Soon. It's unmistakeable with the toms strutting it out with their feathers and all. Once the females are bred, they'll run those toms off and that's fun to watch. Pretty soon the females are back out on the lawn with about a dozen tiny chicks each. Then we watch them grow up, learn to fly, begin to nest in trees, etc.

Last week 16 turkeys walked right past me as I stood in the driveway. They aren't even afraid of me.

 

[Gaius]

I believe it's the more and more urbanization and the more technology advances, the more trade and manual skills get lost. People make more money in their suits and nice clothes, and it's easier for them to shop at New Seasons for their organic meat.

 

[markpeters1970]

Civilian75 or anyone else for that matter, lets take things into our own hands, If you ever want to get a group together for a Christmas Valley sage rat adventure, I'm in! Sometimes the best way to change is to just make it happen. I want to make sure I learn the ropes, even by trial and error, so that when my two boys are old enough I can introduce them into a life long adventure.

 

[daiello91]

Civilian75 or anyone else for that matter, lets take things into our own hands, If you ever want to get a group together for a Christmas Valley sage rat adventure, I'm in! Sometimes the best way to change is to just make it happen. I want to make sure I learn the ropes, even by trial and error, so that when my two boys are old enough I can introduce them into a life long adventure.

check out ifish.net they have a group predator hunting event in Jan or Feb. Obviously too late for this year but that is the biggest oregon & washington hunting forum, I've seen plenty of new people get taken on hunts cause of that site.

 

[Big 10mm]

Up here in WA we have lost over 40% of our hunters since the 80's. Dave Workman's account of resource allocation just about explains it all. It has nothing to do with managing animals...all resource allocation did was split up hunting camps and pit hunter against hunter...fighting against each other over scraps of an ever shrinking pie.

Fast forward 30yrs and we have deer and elk seasons that are a joke of their former selves....seasons drastically shortened, seasons moved earlier to warmer weather times, antler point restricitions all over the place. Lowest kill rates and a regulation book that is the thickest in the West.

 

[RVTECH]

The good ol' days.......

 

[Scott]

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!

Roger that................. It is cheaper for me to go back home (WI) and hunt then it is here except for the travel part. Plus I get trophy whitetail at that.

Plus they raised the pheasant tags here to a hundred. I am not paying that much to shoot penned birds.

 

[Mutt]

The ever increasing cost and the rediculous over regulating is the main reason that many people I know stopped hunting.

 

[daiello91]

However, doesn't everything in life and society changes and people are required to adapt. The way we buy food is different, internet has changed the way we communicate, the highway system has changed how we travel, life is ever changing is it too much to expect people to adapt to change (I'm not talking "hope and change" here)?

We still have plenty of opportunity for success and (at least in Oregon) parties can use the application system to hunt as a party/group.

How much of this is an inability or refusal to adapt to new ways?

I'm not singling anyone out so much as I am thinking outloud...

 

[RVTECH]

is it too much to expect people to adapt to change

Yes daiello, it is - especially when the 'change' drastically inhibits the way of life 'The People' (you speak of) have come to know and only seems to satisfy a bunch of city-fied liberals who have no idea of what a rural environment is all about and only results in frustration and anger for those of us who live and recreate rurally - and I speak for many.

We still have plenty of opportunity for success and (at least in Oregon) parties can use the application system to hunt as a party/group..

No we don't. The lottery system has virtually eliminated the ability to have a party/group hunt - ask anyone who has hunted pre-lottery.

 

[lucky guy]

"How much of this is an inability or refusal to adapt to new ways?"

Agreed. Successful hunters adapt to the situation on the ground whether or not we like the changes. Tougher conditions make a tougher hunt but the success is that much sweeter. It is the journey Grasshopper!!

I've been lucky enough to take an elk 4 of the last 5 seasons, including a 300" bull. The hunt I treasure the most is not the 300" bull, it's the cow that I chased solo for 5 days on cross-country skis. I have never been so bone tired as I was after breaking that carcass down and skiing it out on a sled. Never been happier with any hunting trip though!

Complain about fish and game all you want (I sure do). Just don't forget to get out there and chase em anyway!!!! Something good might happen.

 

[lucky guy]

Exactly right Daiello! That camp started out as a chukar camp 5-6 years ago and some guys would take a day or two and call for dogs or cats. We've had a dozen guys and more dogs on a good year. Now a few more guys are showing up to hunt predators and that's great too.

Family friendly camp, no horseplay with firearms, no wildlife violations, but other than those fairly reasonable restrictions everybody's welcome.

 

[daiello91]

Yes daiello, it is - especially when the 'change' drastically inhibits the way of life 'The People' (you speak of) have come to know and only seems to satisfy a bunch of city-fied liberals who have no idea of what a rural environment is all about and only results in frustration and anger for those of us who live and recreate rurally - and I speak for many.

I understand the rural vs urban divide clash. We're not talking about adaptability as a whole here but only 1 topic, hunting. I do agree that the rural environment has changed the way we can hunt (to a degree). No dogs for cougar & bear etc. However, the points system wasn't some urban groups ballot measure. Unless you consider ODFW an urban group similar to that of HSUS, Oregon Wild, etc.

I think plenty of people adapted. Look how many people buy cougar & bear tags in the off chance they see one during deer season? That has increased the amount of those predators harvested annually vs solely depending on people that actively pursue them.

Look at states that have eliminated baiting for deer. I was a tree stand bow hunter and hunted over bait for several years back in Michigan but because of CWD that rule has changed. You have to adapt.

No we don't. The lottery system has virtually eliminated the ability to have a party/group hunt - ask anyone who has hunted pre-lottery.

I know it's obviously more difficult (can't just go buy your tag), but it's not eliminated. I have a few friends that do the group hunt camp thing and don't have issues so long as everyone applies. How is that all but eliminated?