A little tougher question

[Doc]

Well, we have discussed why we think hunting is losing popularity. So I guess the next logical question has to be, "How do we reverse hunting's demise?"

[CharlieNY]

We have to be proactive in introducing new recruits to hunting. We should start out with our youth who will be the easiest to convert but we should also open ourselves up to taking along friends and even strangers. Be generous and give them any help that you can. As an example this last fall I saw a request from a total stranger on a waterfowl Facebook group who was asking if someone would take him along on a waterfowl hunt. This gentleman was from Florida and worked here 6 months a year. He had hunted ducks in Louisiana and wanted to hunt here in New York. I contacted him and invited him along for a Canada goose hunt. He accepted the invite but didn't have his gun here so I loaned him my backup gun. We had a great day that day. That same day I invited another stranger who had contacted me through this forum. He asked me if I would take him along on a goose hunt and he also came on that hunt. These former strangers are now new friends. There is no better way to promote hunting than to take along new recruits on actual hunts. The satisfaction you will receive is priceless and they in turn will pass on the sport of hunting.

[airedale]

I am pretty much in step with what Charlie posted, small game hunting and plenty of it.

Al

[First-light]

I've mentored a few kids that didn't have anyone to take them hunting. Have one coming up this year. My neighbor has a bunch of Grand Children. They all get a shot at hunting. They put the work in and he takes them along. In short I agree with the above and give an opportunity to someone and take them hunting is key. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

 That's take off the rose colored glasses. How the hell is anyone going to recruit new hunters, in  such a hostile hunting state? 

[wolc123]

19 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

 That's take off the rose colored glasses. How the hell is anyone going to recruit new hunters, in  such a hostile hunting state? 

Our daughter’s boyfriend has expressed some interest, maybe grandkids some day.  Preparing some tasty meals with the meat is always a good way to generate interest.

 The overemphasis on big antlers has done more harm than anything else, in my humble opinion.  Nobody needs that, but we all got to eat.  

[Doc]

One thing we need is for DEC personnel to interface more with schools and have a more visible public presence.

Also, we need the DEC to understand that we have a problem and they are part of it. What I am talking about id the closing of the DEC national hunting and fishing day in region 8. That was the most popular interface with potential hunters that we ever had going and then they shut it off. I don't know what their problem was, but it certainly is something that should have been solved rather than just shutting it down.

I place a lot of emphasis on the DEC becoming part of the solution because they are the ones that will someday be faced with the problem of no way of controlling future game populations as the hunters continue to phase out of the sport.

Also, every fish and game club, archery club, and such need to take a more active part in recruitment and in the politics of hunting, fishing and trapping. I know that most of them do have some kind of recruitment activities, but they have to step up the efforts even more. They all have to push membership drives that focus on youth participation. Annual youth hunts (plural) must become part of their itinerary. These are the organizations that can have some impact on hunter recruitment.

There needs to be more emphasis put on opening up private lands to hunting. That sounds good, and I have to admit that I haven't a clue how to attack that one. Perhaps habitat improvement on state lands. I often thought that it might be useful to renting out open fields to local farmers either for free or for a very small rent, so some of the land can be returned to agricultural uses (one of the best animal attractants going). Encourage selective logging on state lands to open up maturing state forests for better forage and undergrowth.

Maybe offering tax breaks to those farmers who allow open public hunting might also provide some additional hunting areas.

I don't know whether some of these ideas might be impossible to implement, but these ideas or some version of them could help acquaint the public with what hunting is and how it benefits wild critters and the environment in general. Hunting population importance has to become a prime focus of the DEC and outdoor activities clubs and organizations and the dangers of losing hunting as a resource has to be made clear to the public.

Just a few thoughts on the subject.

[Four Seasons]

20 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

Our daughter’s boyfriend has expressed some interest, maybe grandkids some day.  Preparing some tasty meals with the meat is always a good way to generate interest.

 The overemphasis on big antlers has done more harm than anything else, in my humble opinion.  Nobody needs that, but we all got to eat.  

I find it amusing the so called argument about meat against big antlers. Now you look at these two bucks for example. Who got more meat doing the same thing. My buddies son’s 110 pounder or my 189 pounder?  You think Ny state now kills more 2-3 year olds instead of yearlings of the past because they just get more meat?  Not at all. They want larger antlers and they get more meat right along with the package. Times have changed like it or not. It’s not good that we are losing hunters and not gaining but as the numbers show hunters want bigger mature deer with larger headgear and the spend millions of dollars on every aspect of hunting to reach that goal. Lock down land, food plots, better equipment and the list goes on. 

[Doc]

38 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

 The overemphasis on big antlers has done more harm than anything else, in my humble opinion.    

I'm afraid that deer hunting has taken a turn toward measuring success by the numbers. This has been sold so hard that I doubt that we will ever get back to a simpler measure of satisfaction. It is too bad, because I suspect that our losses due to elitism may be higher than we imagine.

[escpen]

I think lack of access to hunting ground is one of the biggest issues for the future of hunting. Several folks here have already taken new hunters out with them, but for that to persist and expand, that new hunter needs to take new hunters as well. Eventually that original landowner’s property would get overcrowded, thus the need for more access.

I think some tax incentive for landowners to open up their ground for hunting, like is done in several other states, might be a way to help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[First-light]

2 hours ago, escpen said:

I think lack of access to hunting ground is one of the biggest issues for the future of hunting. Several folks here have already taken new hunters out with them, but for that to persist and expand, that new hunter needs to take new hunters as well. Eventually that original landowner’s property would get overcrowded, thus the need for more access.

I think some tax incentive for landowners to open up their ground for hunting, like is done in several other states, might be a way to help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree with you but being a land owner and letting a stranger on my land I just can't do that. It's just not safe. I need to get to know the person and get the right feel for them. That's my choice. Once again I'll say new hunters get to shoot what they like then better yourself the next year. Worst thing you can do is dictate to a new hunter what size buck they can shoot on your land. I believe in QDM but let that hunter get there on his or her own. 

[escpen]

8 hours ago, First-light said:

I agree with you but being a land owner and letting a stranger on my land I just can't do that. 

Totally agree - I can't do that, either.  But there are certainly those that can - maybe fewer and fewer as time goes on, but they are still out there.  I have a neighbor to the south of one of the properties I hunt that does just that.

[Grouse]

I don't think hunting's demise will end until will effectively address the demise of the entire country.  Hunting's future depends on the country's future.

[Northcountryman]

I agree with Grouse that theres a correlation there between the two.  I just don't see it turning around anytime soon, at least not in our state ,due to our cultural shift past 30 yrs or so.  If you go down south, huntings still popular as a pastime among the youth; even there, though, its experienced a decline.  Young people today , generally, have no interest in getting up early and goin out in the cold and sitting in the woods, because most of their Dads dont, and Grandpa-who did- is dead now. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

21 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Our daughter’s boyfriend has expressed some interest, maybe grandkids some day.  Preparing some tasty meals with the meat is always a good way to generate interest.

 The overemphasis on big antlers has done more harm than anything else, in my humble opinion.  Nobody needs that, but we all got to eat. 

 

As far as the antlers go. I don't know a single soul that doesn't like big antlers. Big bucks yield a lot of meat. Their less work to process, hardly no fat. Doe have their place, but they don't get near the  recenition the antlers do, hanging on the wall.

 

[knehrke]

I actually think that the answer is simple and impossible to address at the same time: increase property access.

If kids can't find a place to hunt, then everything else becomes window dressing. And has become the norm in this country, there's an increasing divide between the haves and have-nots

[Daveboone]

On 1/28/2024 at 11:06 AM, landtracdeerhunter said:

 That's take off the rose colored glasses. How the hell is anyone going to recruit new hunters, in  such a hostile hunting state? 

NY has some of the longest hunting seasons in the country, and absolute gobs of public access for hunting. That doesnt even bring in that you cant throw a rock without hitting fishable waters. Politics aside, I dont think it has any bearing on hunting parents getting their kids /friends kids, whoever, out in the woods. The barrier is the parents ...my generation and my sons, who have moved from being a participant in sports to a spectator. Hunters...recreational hunters, do not have any difficulty obtaining legal hunting arms or ammunition in reasonable quantities for hunting. Avid target shooters, competitors, etc. feel the sting with limited supply much more.

[Doc]

21 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

 

As far as the antlers go. I don't know a single soul that doesn't like big antlers. Big bucks yield a lot of meat. Their less work to process, hardly no fat. Doe have their place, but they don't get near the  recognition the antlers do, hanging on the wall.

 

I didn't see that as a reason-for-hunting in the other topic on why we hunt. Is that what it is all about?......recognition? Do we need recognition for our hunting achievements? Maybe so. If that's the case nothing we can do in hunting will ever satisfy new hunters because the general public really doesn't give a damn how big the deer are that we get. Quite the opposite. You are more likely to get spit on for killing Bambi.....lol.

[landtracdeerhunter]

2 hours ago, Doc said:

I didn't see that as a reason-for-hunting in the other topic on why we hunt. Is that what it is all about?......recognition? Do we need recognition for our hunting achievements? Maybe so. If that's the case nothing we can do in hunting will ever satisfy new hunters because the general public really doesn't give a damn how big the deer are that we get. Quite the opposite. You are more likely to get spit on for killing Bambi.....lol.

A pat on the back doesn't hurt.

 

[Four Seasons]

1 hour ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

A pat on the back doesn't hurt.

 

And the demise of hunting is not coming because people want the biggest and the best of the species they can get. Exactly the reason Ny hunters now take more 2 year olds then they do yearlings. Many older hunters want the challenges and the rewards of taking older bucks. And spend millions of $$$ to achieve those rewards. Hunting is changing in many different ways. 

[steve863]

1 hour ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

A pat on the back doesn't hurt.

 

Highly unlikely that you will get a pat on the back from a non-hunter.  Maybe if the non-hunter happens to like venison and you share some with them you might get a pat on the back but otherwise don't be expecting one.  Trophies on the wall or you telling them that you shot a huge buck that you were after for a couple of years will be of absolutely NO interest to a non-hunter.  Only to other like minded hunters will big antlers be of interest.  Most non-hunters can accept hunting for meat but it's a whole different story when the emphasis is put on hunting for trophies.

[steve863]

16 hours ago, Daveboone said:

NY has some of the longest hunting seasons in the country, and absolute gobs of public access for hunting. That doesnt even bring in that you cant throw a rock without hitting fishable waters. Politics aside, I dont think it has any bearing on hunting parents getting their kids /friends kids, whoever, out in the woods. The barrier is the parents ...my generation and my sons, who have moved from being a participant in sports to a spectator. Hunters...recreational hunters, do not have any difficulty obtaining legal hunting arms or ammunition in reasonable quantities for hunting. Avid target shooters, competitors, etc. feel the sting with limited supply much more.

Great post.  Hunting isn't going anywhere anytime soon in NY.  We are being given more hunting opportunities every year so it's highly unlikely that it will all be taken away overnight.  It's always easier to blame politics or everyone else for hunting's demise but the real problem is probably closer to home.  Hunting has become way more of a selfish pastime compared to what it was when I started hunting, so this alone hasn't helped matters.

[Daveboone]

52 minutes ago, steve863 said:

Great post.  Hunting isn't going anywhere anytime soon in NY.  We are being given more hunting opportunities every year so it's highly unlikely that it will all be taken away overnight.  It's always easier to blame politics or everyone else for hunting's demise but the real problem is probably closer to home.  Hunting has become way more of a selfish pastime compared to what it was when I started hunting, so this alone hasn't helped matters.

Dad and many of his and earlier generation were much more social hunters....They liked being outdoors and getting together with their friends, but were not any where near as avid as many (but fewer) hunters are today. I had the bug from an early age. I am amazed by the other hunters I know who have never taken thier kids out. But they probably spend more time with their kids doing other things...soccer, baseball, etc. 

[Doc]

But the original topic question is "How do we reverse hunting's demise. There is another topic that deals with why hunting is slipping in popularity. This topic is about how do we fix it, or what may slow it down a bit.

Nobody is saying that hunting will disappear tomorrow, but I don't know too many people who are thinking that the activity is as popular as it once was. So, if we recognize the problem, do we have any ideas as to how to solve or slow the problem down as much as possible? Or have we all just resigned ourselves to the fact that the sport that we all have attached ourselves to so rigidly will someday not exist as we have enjoyed it?

[steve863]

43 minutes ago, Daveboone said:

Dad and many of his and earlier generation were much more social hunters....They liked being outdoors and getting together with their friends, but were not any where near as avid as many (but fewer) hunters are today. I had the bug from an early age. I am amazed by the other hunters I know who have never taken thier kids out. But they probably spend more time with their kids doing other things...soccer, baseball, etc. 

Same here.  Seems like MOST of the hunters I know have kids and hardly any of them hunt.  Looking back on things I don't remember these hunters putting any real effort into passing on the tradition to them.  Makes little sense but I guess everyone puts more importance on the other sports/activities you listed.  There is time for only so much I guess in a kids life and the parents.  The kid scoring a goal in soccer or hitting a homerun in baseball will give him and the parents more bragging rights to everyone around them hunter or non-hunter than killing a deer or a couple of rabbits would.