|
|
Post by jjas on May 5, 2019 14:37:45 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by dbd870 on May 5, 2019 14:46:23 GMT -5
Seems reasonably accurate
|
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 30, 2019 13:47:14 GMT -5
Being a baby boomer and age 66 I still hunt. I spent over 120 hours hunting during deer season last season. I have introduced my oldest grandson to hunting as a way to ultimately replace me. He is working with a friend to teach him to hunt. So we have some momemtum. I have two more grandsons coming up.
My question is how is the health of hunting incumbent on baby boomers? My answer is that it is incumbent on every hunter. I get it that we are aging but still wonder how it is our fault that hunter numbers are decreasing
I just read about a book the premise of which is that baby boomers have stolen the economic and financial future of millennials. I was amazed that a book with such flawed reasoning would get published let alone be newsworthy. My conclusion: us older folks are an easy target albeit the wrong ones
|
|
|
|
Post by butlerj on Jun 4, 2019 21:20:48 GMT -5
I don't see it being a baby boomer issue. Just times are changing, young men and teens are more interested in other things than hunting due to the what is in crowds.
I have had very few friends or class mates that were into fishing and hunting growing up even being in semi rural Hancock county. I've got my 4 yo and 8 yo and my nephew into fishing, they're baiting their hooks and tossing the fish back now. My oldest has gone turkey hunting with me still need to get them in a hunter Ed class this year as long as it is in Hancock.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2019 6:34:57 GMT -5
This large anomaly (baby boomers (1946 and 1964)). What we have been seeing the last 5 years is the recess back to a more normal number of kids with a percentage being hunters. Some stores are long gone. The bad news is now the tide has gone the other way. Where are the families with kids??? So many families with 0, 1 or 2 kids.
|
|
|
|
Post by jjas on Jun 5, 2019 6:53:11 GMT -5
butlerj
It's a boomer issue in so much as that was the largest number of hunters (from a generational standpoint) in history that are aging out and not being replaced.
Many of us can provide anecdotal examples to try and challenge that fact, but the reality is the only growing segment of hunters I see proof of is women. But the truth is when you start at such low numbers, any increase looks huge, and in all actuality they won't come close to replacing the hunters we're losing.
The bottom line in this is really quite simple...
As the number of hunters continues to drop, the political clout that came with those numbers drops as well and that means that the voices of anti-hunting groups or just non-hunters will carry more weight and hunting as we know it may very well disappear.
|
|
|
|
Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Jun 5, 2019 7:32:21 GMT -5
I think the majority of it comes down to access.
Places where abundant, quality public land exists (the west, namely), the demand for hunting licenses are at an all time high. Many tags that just five years ago were undersubscribed and never sold out, now take sometimes 2-3 years to draw, with thousands of unsuccessful applicants. State application systems have seen a huge increase in the number of applicants entering their draws over the last few years.
When the baby boomers started hunting, access was not difficult to obtain. Even when I started hunting about 25 years ago, we could hunt more of the surrounding properties than we couldn't.
Now a longtime hunter will usually do whatever he has to do in order to continue hunting. That may mean buying land, leasing property, or cultivating relationships that lead to hunting access. Somebody new or interested in the hunting lifestyle is likely to not have these resources available at that crucial time in their life, nor the level of commitment to make that kind of investment.
That guy in the article that was all alone in his hunting cabin.. Hard to believe that guy can't find anyone that wants to hunt with him. Southern Wisconsin is known as a trophy whitetail destination. Check out Basecamp's website and look at lease prices for where he's located. If his deer camp is empty, it's because they've cinched it up tight to newcomers, not because nobody wants to hunt deer anymore.
|
|
|
|
Post by jjas on Jun 5, 2019 10:07:43 GMT -5
lawrencecountyhunter
I think it depends upon your definition of access. Like you said, if you're willing to spend the time, the cash and/or make the trip, there are opportunities to hunt.
For many casual hunters, (or hunters that are strapped for time or cash), I think it comes down to what many consider affordable access, or access near their homes. But it's not just access to hunting land, it's also access to places to shoot your bow, or your gun. I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I can shoot my bow in my back yard. But many people don't. Many subdivisions and/or the cities they live in don't allow it. I've been a member of the same gun range for 35+ years. The waiting list to get into that range is years long. Where do people go to shoot? How much will it cost? How far would you have to drive?
I know many will say that if you aren't that serious then tough. If you aren't willing to work extra to buy or lease land, then tough. And I get it. But most deer hunters back in the day, weren't anything like they are today. When I first hunted people would never have spent the time we do on hunting now. Nor the cash on high end bows, guns, etc like many of us do now. Deer hunting wasn't the "only" season for most of them. It was just "another" season that followed dove, squirrel, rabbits. You just hunted.
Those days are gone, and many people look @ hunting (and shooting) and feel it's turned into an expensive, time consuming, pain in the a$$. And while it's easy to say, that's "their" problem, in the end it's going to be all of our problem.
As I said earlier...As the number of hunters continues to drop, the political clout that came with those numbers drops as well and that means that the voices of anti-hunting groups and/or non-hunters will carry more weight and hunting as we know it may very well disappear.
I think that goes for shooting too.
|
|
|
|
Post by beermaker on Jun 5, 2019 10:42:07 GMT -5
I do not have time to read the entire article.
For me hunting depends 100% upon access to land. As I write this, I have nowhere closer than 90 minutes from the house that I would take the time to hunt. I've leased in the past, and would do it again given the right opportunity, but it is hard to justify the cost.
My daughters will most likely NOT learn to hunt because I simply do not have anywhere to take them. I'm certainly not getting them ready at 4:00 am for a 90 minute drive. I can just hear one of them complaining about getting cold at sunrise and wanting to go to the truck. They do love to fish and I consider myself blessed for that. I have two private ponds within 15 minutes of the house and I take them every chance possible.
|
|
