Hunting traditions fade......

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doomsman

New member
Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources is researching how best to use social networking to recruit kids into the sport.
Maybe if the DNR wasn't such bung heads????
 
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beakjones

Member
As a twenty something, I have NO interest in hunting. I also wasn't raised in a hunting family. I enjoy how they try to insult the kids saying theyd rather be on facebook than hunt.

Excuse me? I am outdoors more than most people here. By far.

I bike 5 days a week in all season except winter. I XC and downhill ski in the winter and use my bike trainer 4 days a week to stay in shape. I guess I'm a classic example of us lazy people, right?
 
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maddogg

Member
Cost

I think that the cost of everything is prohibitive also. Gun, gear, license, finding a place, someone to teach. I do many different outdoor activities: hunt, fish, bike, snomobile, dog train, etc. and I can't have the best of everything so I get the mediocre of most.
 
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jonesin

Well-known member
hunting is declining in general, I think that access is a big factor.
I am a deer hunting addict, and I admit it, I would hunt every night if my wife would let me.
This year my 12 year old finally started going with me out back, (I was using him for a "dog") to try and kick the deer to me, he would carry his 410 and look for coyottes and varments. After getting our first coyotte, he now jumps at the chance to go "for a walk" as I call it. He has been bugging me all week to go sit in the shooting shack and maybe shoot a doe so we did some practice shooting the other day and hope to get another one in the freezer this weekend.
 
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jonesin

Well-known member
beakjones said:
As a twenty something, I have NO interest in hunting. I also wasn't raised in a hunting family. I enjoy how they try to insult the kids saying theyd rather be on facebook than hunt.

Excuse me? I am outdoors more than most people here. By far.

I bike 5 days a week in all season except winter. I XC and downhill ski in the winter and use my bike trainer 4 days a week to stay in shape. I guess I'm a classic example of us lazy people, right?
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no need to be offended
the fact that you and others don't hunt doesn't bother me, but the fact remains that my own kids usually stay inside rather than ride thier dirt bikes, horses or hunt with me just as the article suggests.
just my $.02
 
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snodogg

New member
Great to hear jonesin! Introduce a kid to the great outdoors!

Revenue from hunting goes a long way in providing $$$ for outdoor activities including non-game habitat, state owned wildlife areas, XC ski trails, snowmobile trails, etc...

The point of the article is the decline in license sales and little recruitment in bringing todays youth into the outdoors is going to limit the ammount of service DNR can provide.

DNR relies on license revenue to pay for pretty much everything, as that money goes into general fund...the DNR bashers need to quit all there outdoor activities and join facebook instead, you just might acommplish your goal of putting DNR out of biz.
 
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anonomoose

New member
beakjones said:
As a twenty something, I have NO interest in hunting. I also wasn't raised in a hunting family. I enjoy how they try to insult the kids saying theyd rather be on facebook than hunt.

Excuse me? I am outdoors more than most people here. By far.

I bike 5 days a week in all season except winter. I XC and downhill ski in the winter and use my bike trainer 4 days a week to stay in shape. I guess I'm a classic example of us lazy people, right?
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I am not sure if anyone here called you lazy for not hunting. This topic is about the long and steady decline in the hunting and fishing sport.

But since you brought it up, let me put this as delicately as I know how.

Since we all know that the sale of hunting and fishing equipment supports wildlife research and development, and the license sales puts money into the areas that are related to hunting and fishing from wildlife development to funding for eradication of unwanted species, and prevention of diseases which can dwindle the populations of wildlife, by participating in skiing and biking, you are NOT contributing to these funds, are you?

As these funds dwindle, due primarily because people stop hunting and fishing, and trapping along with all the other traditional out door activities, these agencies of government are hurting.

Hunting and fishing is not for everyone, but you don't have to shoot a thing and buy a license and get out there and walk around. You can release all the fish you catch so that others can enjoy the thrill of hooking a big one too.

It is primarily a participation sport that is learned...just like hauling out the turkey and ham at thanksgiving....it is a tradition that used to be participated in by way over half the population and more.

But today....the numbers have fallen faster than anyone could imagine.

Some of this is because it is viewed as an "unnecessary" sport. Where do you find the outdoor writer's articles these days....back page...behind the comic section.

In the Detroit area, nothing short of 250,000 hunters...primarily men take to the woods each November. Tune in to the TV new stations and they might...give it a 5 second spot.

If they had a marathon through downtown Detroit...with 1/3 that number of people turning out...they would have live reports, front page news, and progress reports while the race was running.

There is a huge segment of the population that (not unlike snowmobiling) figure that at best hunting season is a nuisance, and at worst a nasty sport that kills innocent little deer, birds, fish...etc.

I believe it is having long term impact on this tradition.
 
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luke_duke

Member
Anonomoose- I agree with your post.

Where I live in Ohio it seems the past 20-30 years there has been a lot of people moving/building in the country. With this, a lot of their city values seem to be brought with them. One of the things I noticed some of these people that might own a acre or two of property seem to think they might own the 100 surrounding acres. They might not like the pickup truck sitting along side the road or near their property and feel they need to call law enforcement or dnr. This this type of carp is rampant here where I live and I feel goes a long way over the years in providing a negative outlook on hunters and the sport of hunting. Just my .02 for the area I live in.

A big part of my income comes from our family farm operation and it's safe to say with our size of operation that the income we lose from wildlife is in the thousands of dollars a year. Actually, it might be alot more than this. This is not why I hunt but I often wonder what these people who don't support hunting would think if they had an animal in their yard that cost them this same amount every year to maintain.
 
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beakjones

Member
anonomoose said:
Since we all know that the sale of hunting and fishing equipment supports wildlife research and development, and the license sales puts money into the areas that are related to hunting and fishing from wildlife development to funding for eradication of unwanted species, and prevention of diseases which can dwindle the populations of wildlife, by participating in skiing and biking, you are NOT contributing to these funds, are you?
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Interesting... I thought when I paid my yearly fee to the state forests that I was.....paying my yearly fee to the state forests.....? Same thing with XC skiing, you pay to play. Also, the trails I ride were built ENTIRELY by volunteers. Not a single cent of your money was used for that construction. So there's some loss on overhead there.

I have no problems with hunting, I'll probably do it in another 15 years when I finally destroy my knees from the stuff I do now. I wear orange while biking during the hunting season.
 
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robocopf7

New member
I have seen two trends in the 20 years that I have been hunting. First, the ownership of good, hunt-able private land is rare anymore. Second, todays youth are constantly stimulated. They have difficulty sitting still and being patient. Everything is now, fast, and with no waiting.

I grew up on a farm, which was 120 acres. We had farm crops and cherry trees. Deer were a dime a dozen, and hunting them was a matter of which was the biggest. Since my parents have sold the farm, my hunting group has been forced onto state land. Since then, our success rate has declined 99 percent. We see drunks, morons, and inconsiderate people now. We now call it camping with a purpose instead of deer camp. If we were more die hard hunters, I am sure we would have given up hunting. We still see some deer, but now just does, and hardly any bucks.
As far as kids, I take this observation from seeing several relatives and my own son. I know a lot of kids would love nothing more than to go hunting, many are cannot sit and wait very long.
 
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anonomoose

New member
I think another reason hunting is fading into the woodwork, is that we are gettin further and further from providing our own food for the table.

We head to Kroger, pick out our meat, pay out the bucks and head home to fix it. Or we go to the restaurant every single day...no kidding there are people who never cook.

Combine this with the negativity of hunting, and the result is predictable.

Hunting is ever evolving sport....it is a time to get out side and walk and get back to nature. Learn what sort of track each animal makes in the snow....examine where a woodpecker found grubs, and why he chose that tree to chunk a hole in rather than another tree next to it.

Find a real honest to goodness paper birch tree the likes of which the Indians used to use to make a canoe from.

Study the lay of the land....identify places based upon unique characters, go examine why a tree grew crooked, or why a rock formation sits all by itself far from any others.

Listen to the stillness....watch for signs of life even in the dead of winter...or while sitting there reflecting on everything you have seen from that spot.

These are all examples of hunting culture that I am afraid are on their way out. Folks are more concerned with the road dust on their beemer...what will kill moles, than they are figuring out how they could sustain themselves if they had to do it. It has become unimportant.
 
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luke_duke

Member
robocopf7 and anonomoose-I once again agree with your posts. There are some things mentioned that I never really thought of much before.

Some other thoughts---It seems there is less and less small farmers and more and more large farmers where I'm from. With this said, not all farmers allow hunting so there can be less opportunities depending on certain areas. One thing I have seen that some people who buy land and spend 250,000 to a million on property can get a little uptight over letting people hunt their woods because they spend huge amounts of money and they get to use the land for free(kind of like getting a new car and having other people drive it). This sometimes brings into play the leasing of hunting land.

Just in the past couple years we have bought a little over 400 hundred acres of farm ground and I have been fortunate that it has come with a couple tracks of woods. We try to buy land without woods because who wants to pay 3,000 to 6,000 an acre for woods that don't produce any income. Also, we have picked up 500 acres of new rented ground with some prime hunting property that I get to hunt but we have always let the property we own open for hunters to hunt deer and coyote.
 
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