What will deer hunting look like in the future

[wolc123]

It is hard to imagine that the deer hunting could get much better than it is now in NY state for us meat hunters.   A couple little tweaks, that might make things a touch better, would be full inclusion of the crossbow, and a third buck tag for those of us who purchase a gun, archery, and ML licences.   Maybe we will see one or both of those within the next 100 years.              

[Doc]

Cultures evolve over time. Hunting has undergone a culture change and is a fading pastime as people's interests change. I have seen huge changes just in the span of my own lifetime and the changes are accelerating.

[E J]

On 7/27/2017 at 0:17 PM, Four Season Whitetails said:

Look at the schools and the teachers for the big decline in any hunting related growth. Even in this area now they downplay hunting and killing. Now add in the gun problems of the world and you have negative after negative. Your state parks will be used by the paying campers and bird watchers. 

You are right about school and teachers. My eight year old told me this spring I was ruining the natural habitat when I was working ground for a deer foot plot of corn! It blew me away

[Larry]

I’ll be using a Phased Plasma Rifle in the 40 watt range. Good an enough for the Terminator it’s good an enough for me.

[Five Seasons]

I see a trend with some millennials to go back to our roots. You may very well be surprised with the hipster movement if hunting stays pretty primal. 

[Five Seasons]

On 7/29/2017 at 2:52 AM, Doc said:

Cultures evolve over time. Hunting has undergone a culture change and is a fading pastime as people's interests change. I have seen huge changes just in the span of my own lifetime and the changes are accelerating.

evolve and cyclical need to be paired here. There was a huge boom in gadgets and tech over the last 20 or so years. The hunter of 2005 looked nothing like the hunter of 1993. But what I also think has emerged over the last maybe 3 to 5 years is a push back against all the tech, gadgets and junk we ate up by the handful in the early 2000's. I see people openly refuse the ozonics and other nonsense being pushed on tv. Heck, i see most hunters avoid the tv shows all together. I see hunters accepting that their 5 year old compound is just fine and they don't need to drop $2k on 3fps improvement. I see guys picking up the recurve even.

The only new tech i'm interested today is stuff that keeps me in the stand longer. You get my money if you keep me warm with less bulk, otherwise I'm not spending money to change the color of my harmonic stabilizers lol.

[Padre86]

If people here are so worried about declining hunter numbers and declining public support for hunting, they should make more of an effort to reach out to new audiences and bring new people into the culture.  What I find interesting about hunting, at least in NY, is that while there still is a thriving culture and community, it's very much an 'old-boy' network; by that I mean it is to your benefit to know people and be connected with local communities in order to gain leasing opportunities or hunting access or even to meet up with other people to hunt with.  

 

I'm a relative newcomer to the this activity; I didn't hunt growing up and hardly anyone in my extended family hunts.  I wouldn't say that atmosphere has been unfriendly.  Actually, I was welcomed in and met a great bunch of people to hunt coyotes with in western NY.  But I'd say as an outsider looking in, the overall culture and community was a bit standoffish.  As an inexperienced hunter, not many people, outside of one distant relative, were willing to talk specifics with me on deer hunting, locations and tactics; there's been a lot of trail and error on my part to figure this stuff out, which I've enjoyed a lot, but I can see how that would be intimidating to other newcomers.  Likewise, where I live in Rochester, the hunting culture just doesn't get a lot of representation, or if it does it's usually not positive (stuff like Cecil the Lion).

 

Hunter #'s have declined over the last few decades, but we are seeing a revival of sorts where hunters are finding new ways to reach new audiences (youtube, social media) and new demographics are getting involved (I think female hunter #'s are higher now than they ever were in the past).   But hunters have been a small minority of the overall population for a while now.  The key to hunting's survival, IMHO, is to earn and maintain the support of the public at large; I think something like 60%-70% of US citizens still support hunting in some form or fashion.  We've got to do what we can to maintain that margin of support, which means representing our culture in a professional manner and having conversations with non-hunters (even those who are expressly against hunting).  I know there are people out west who do a decent job of this (people like Steven Rinella and Randy Newberg) and I know of some writers based here in the east whose work I also respect.  

Edited August 28, 2017 by Padre86

[Culvercreek hunt club]

3 hours ago, Belo said:

I see a trend with some millennials to go back to our roots. You may very well be surprised with the hipster movement if hunting stays pretty primal. 

The two largest sections I see growth in is with women and with the lacavore movement. The drive to avoid chemicals and be more organic is putting a focus on getting your own free range meat. If we capitalize on this and get them involved it will help. We also realllllllly have to work on putting forth a positive hunter image. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

1 hour ago, Padre86 said:

If people here are so worried about declining hunter numbers and declining public support for hunting, they should make more of an effort to reach out to new audiences and bring new people into the culture.  What I find interesting about hunting, at least in NY, is that while there still is a thriving culture and community, it's very much an 'old-boy' network; by that I mean it is to your benefit to know people and be connected with local communities in order to gain leasing opportunities or hunting access or even to meet up with other people to hunt with.  

 

I'm a relative newcomer to the this activity; I didn't hunt growing up and hardly anyone in my extended family hunts.  I wouldn't say that atmosphere has been unfriendly.  Actually, I was welcomed in and met a great bunch of people to hunt coyotes with in western NY.  But I'd say as an outsider looking in, the overall culture and community was a bit standoffish.  As an inexperienced hunter, not many people, outside of one distant relative, were willing to talk specifics with me on deer hunting, locations and tactics; there's been a lot of trail and error on my part to figure this stuff out, which I've enjoyed a lot, but I can see how that would be intimidating to other newcomers.  Likewise, where I live in Rochester, the hunting culture just doesn't get a lot of representation, or if it does it's usually not positive (stuff like Cecil the Lion).

 

Hunter #'s have declined over the last few decades, but we are seeing a revival of sorts where hunters are finding new ways to reach new audiences (youtube, social media) and new demographics are getting involved (I think female hunter #'s are higher now than they ever were in the past).   But hunters have been a small minority of the overall population for a while now.  The key to hunting's survival, IMHO, is to earn and maintain the support of the public at large; I think something like 60%-70% of US citizens still support hunting in some form or fashion.  We've got to do what we can to maintain that margin of support, which means representing our culture in a professional manner and having conversations with non-hunters (even those who are expressly against hunting).  I know there are people out west who do a decent job of this (people like Steven Rinella and Randy Newberg) and I know of some writers based here in the east whose work I also respect.  

Interested in getting involved in an organization to share what you have learned to this point and pick up on some new information?

Edited August 28, 2017 by Culvercreek hunt club

[Padre86]

18 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Interested in getting involved in an organization to share what you have learned to this point and pick up on some new information?

I'm open to the possibility.  What organization are you talking about?  Feel free to send me a PM.

[Five Seasons]

20 hours ago, Padre86 said:

 an inexperienced hunter, not many people, outside of one distant relative, were willing to talk specifics with me on deer hunting, locations and tactics; there's been a lot of trail and error on my part to figure this stuff out, which I've enjoyed a lot, but I can see how that would be intimidating to other newcomers.  

not many folks will let you in their favor spot. That may seem unfriendly but it's just the nature of the beast. Many of us spent years doing just what you mentioned "trial and error". Even with a long line of hunters in my family, there is something to be said for putting in your time. Now don't get me wrong, I was blessed and well educated. But after the honeymoon teen years of "sit here boy". I was expected to help with prep and scout. And i have always been a dragger lol.

When I moved, the trial and error of unknown land was frustrating but highly rewarding. I think many hunters here love to help new hunters if they're open minded. But I don't know of many who will bring you onto their property. It's too expensive, too rare and deer are too sensitive to pressure. It's been said 1000 times, but hunting decline is by and large the result of less good public or open land to hunt. Hunters are partly to blame. We find a honey hole, lease it and post it up. So are lawyers scaring every little old lady with some land that she will be sued if a hunter gets hurt. And then of course there's the obvious urban sprawl.

finally there is A LOT to learn, which seems intimidating. I've taken many hobbies over the years and my head always starts to spin at first. And with hunting, the beauty is that it's not meant to be easy. That's the best part!

[Padre86]

5 hours ago, Belo said:

not many folks will let you in their favor spot. That may seem unfriendly but it's just the nature of the beast. Many of us spent years doing just what you mentioned "trial and error". Even with a long line of hunters in my family, there is something to be said for putting in your time. Now don't get me wrong, I was blessed and well educated. But after the honeymoon teen years of "sit here boy". I was expected to help with prep and scout. And i have always been a dragger lol.

When I moved, the trial and error of unknown land was frustrating but highly rewarding. I think many hunters here love to help new hunters if they're open minded. But I don't know of many who will bring you onto their property. It's too expensive, too rare and deer are too sensitive to pressure. It's been said 1000 times, but hunting decline is by and large the result of less good public or open land to hunt. Hunters are partly to blame. We find a honey hole, lease it and post it up. So are lawyers scaring every little old lady with some land that she will be sued if a hunter gets hurt. And then of course there's the obvious urban sprawl.

finally there is A LOT to learn, which seems intimidating. I've taken many hobbies over the years and my head always starts to spin at first. And with hunting, the beauty is that it's not meant to be easy. That's the best part!

 

Yeah, I don't expect other hunters to show me or anyone else their favorite hunting spots; that's not really what I'm talking about when referring to the challenges facing a new hunter.  

I'm talking about experienced hunters engaging and helping new hunters, providing guidance on issues like: how to process the deer meat; how to scout and identify deer habitat and food sources; how to find leases on private land;  where and how to hunt on public land; ect.  Heck, just getting into an affordable lease on private land is pretty tough in my area, and it shouldn't be like that given the huge amount of viable deer habitat that exists in western NY.  A lot of hunters I know either have actual land to hunt or have personal connections in the rural counties through which they've worked out hunting agreements; those aren't necessarily viable options for most city or suburban dwelling hunters and those issues present some challenges.  Like I said earlier, I've enjoyed the learning process, but I can see how other prospective hunters might get discouraged and shy away from the sport due to such issues.

I'm still very surprised that with all the farm country that exists not more than 10 minutes outside of the city of Rochester, there are very few farmers in my area who advertise hunting opportunities on their land.  I'm sure some want to hunt their own land, but as I drive through the countryside during fall season, I know for a fact that a lot of them don't.  You can go knocking door-to-door to seek out potential leases or hunting opportunities, but overall it's a difficult proposition for a new hunter to find and figure out those kinds of arrangements. 

After the hunter education course, there just isn't a lot of guidance and direction for new hunters seeking opportunities, at least for those coming from cities and populated suburbs.  And hunting culture doesn't have much representation in those areas either.  It's those population centers that have increasing influence over hunting policy and general conservation legislation, so it's in our best interests to cultivate aspiring hunters from such areas and to have open dialogue with the rest of the non-hunters.  Otherwise, we're leaving an open opportunity for groups like PETA and HSUS to come in and sway popular opinion on such matters.

[Five Seasons]

NY is not a great place to find hunting land. When 5 acres is a lot, you know you're fighting an uphill battle. Lease hunting is a piece of cake down south. 

Those farms that are left (see comments above) are long spoken for. They're not making new land.

And i think processing videos and hunting tips are more easily available than ever before. Lots of tips here on this site alone. Sites like carbontv and countless magazines and articles to help new hunters. I myself would be glad to help, just pm me or start a new thread.