Posted on 11/12/2006 2:56:52 PM PST by shrinkermd
MINNEAPOLIS - Fewer youth are taking up the hunting traditions of their parents and grandparents, according to licensing numbers from the Department of Natural Resources.
And that has DNR officials worried, as the state's whitetail herd continues to grow.
"We can't manage deer populations without people out there shooting them," said DNR big game specialist Lou Cornicelli.
A decline in hunters also could affect conservation funding - because about 85 percent of hunting revenues in the DNR Game and Fish Fund comes from deer hunting fees.
"There appears to be a generational shift in Minnesota away from all outdoor activities, including hunting, fishing and wildlife watching," said DNR researcher Tim Kelly.
Over the past five years, the number of Minnesota hunters between the ages of 16 and 44 declined almost 11 percent. This fall, Minnesota's 500,000 deer hunters are expected to kill about 250,000 of the state's 1.3 million whitetails.
The decline is often blamed on urbanization, more single-parent families, participation in youth team sports, and a lack of hunting opportunities....
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Start hunting classes in school.
Start hunting classes in school.
When I was a kid, the whole getting up before dawn thing didn't appeal to me...
Hard to overcome the immense amounts of anti-hunting propaganda in schools, and also in a wide variety of cartoons with anthropomorphic animals.
The other big problem is hunting (and even fishing) is now perceived as some weird backwoods redneck activity. There's absolutely no youth culture interest in it - when is the last time you saw a Mountain Dew commercial with hunting?
I suspect that in the more urbanized states (New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, etc.), and particularly those where you can get a lot of important laws passed by direct vote (California) hunting, and possibly fishing, will be banned within 30-40 years - eventually it will only be legal in places like Arkansas and West Virginia.
Basically, the only thing to do now is to get the right to hunt and fish in State constitutions, requiring much effort and supermajority votes to make it illegal.
When I was a kid I was so excited to go hunting I'd wake up before the alarm went off. Truth be told, that still sometimes happens as an adult.
At the rate of development, there won't be much land to hunt on anyway. Shooting ranges will be about the only "hunting" in due course.
Hunting is expensive,time consuming and difficult.
There are a mryiad of regulations, firearm use is discouraged by local gubbermint types especially the police.
The DNR makes hunting a pain in the rear.
Its not surprising no one wants to go out and subject themselves to a shakedown by some warden looking to score points. Fishing is the same way.
There isn't much schools could do if it was mandated by the state and game wardens taught the classes. I think boys and girls would sign up . The parents might be a problem though. You could make it a father /son thing. Dads are just too busy nowdays.
Except for those ranges where people live in earshot of the shooting. Then the commie/lib busybodies will work to have them shut down for "disturbing the peace".
Now I have no problems getting up early. But I mainly hunt birds, so it really isn't even necessary.
I was raised in a family of hunters, but it doesn't appeal to me that much. I go sometimes to socialize with family and friends, but getting up in the middle of the night to go sit out in the cold doesn't hold any attraction for me. Glad others enjoy it, but I don't care for it that much.
Hard to get out in the woods when the kids get all the action they need from their Play Station 2.
What's real has tended to blur the last few years.
........and my game-boy won't fit in my duck blind.
Hunter retention and hunter recruitment are the two biggest buzz words at DNR where I live (NC)....public hunting land is key...many guys spend more time hunting a place to hunt than actually hunting....the days of knocking on the farmhouse door and getting permission are long gone....any hunting land within 60 minutes of a metropolitan area is generally "clubbed up"...land that the state used to lease for public hunting now goes to private hunt clubs who will pay more....with the decline in human hunters other "hunters" are on the increase: cougars, coyotes, feral hogs, bears and wolves are now being reported in areas where they were once exterminated...
This is BS.
The kids in the cities do a lot of hunting and killing.
Most rabbits are nocturnal......so it stands to reason you would be more likely to be going to sleep about dawn.....
All that meat, eggs included just come from the grocery store.
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