Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Amount of hunters in the woods

There is a fraction of hunters in northern WIs. compared to 15 yrs ago.

They've all come to Montana to hunt. I see almost as many Wisconsin license plates during the season as I do Montana license plates.

If I learned to deer hunt by sitting in a blind/stand, I'd likely be a golfer.

Good too see them getting some use out of their lands.

Costs and lack of access have taken their toll. Plus, people who actually work, have to work a lot more these days than they did 50 years ago to make ends meet. It just leaves lots less time and money for hunting. And if becoming a lifelong hunter is the goal, then starting out kids deer hunting is about the worst thing you can do. For the most part, it is boring as hell. But no one squirrel hunts or anything like that anymore, so kids don't really learn how to hunt. They learn to sit in a box and shoot an unsuspecting deer a hundred yards off. If they don't actually see a deer in front of them, they are bored to tears or texting their friends until one actually does appear.

Why do I keep reading that the amount of licensed hunters is going down each year, but I keep seeing more and more hunters in the woods? I speak generically, but it seems most articles I read are that we need to get more people involved in hunting so it's not a lost sport. Need to introduce youth to the sport, teach women to hunt, take a friend, all to show them how to hunt and share the sport so it's not lost as the older generations stop hunting. At the same time, I see more and more hunters in the woods and less and less game. Even more so, my state of Colorado wants to raise tag fees significantly. I can literally pay double the fee and see half the game - what gives????

that's it JB, it's a myriad of factors. human population increase, you name it. it's there and it's a factor. my son owns the basics, rimfire, shotgun, .308. and a ton of Kimber pistols. shooting is what he does, not hunting. shooting is more fun than hunting, and probably no more expensive. he hunted while growing up, and a lot of kids chastised him for it in his classes. he hunted anyways. but now shooting is the thing. it's action, it's a challenge. and he doesn't need to kill anything. i needed to bring meat home for the freezer. hunting was a manly action, and i wanted to be manly, and help provide food for the larder. now i can buy prime beef from kroger for less money than what i can drag in a deer and have processed, all in. so, times change. but, we're still human. we have the urge to hunt. it's in our genetics. and traditions die hard. it's sad on the one hand, but reality on the other. rural humans now are but a version of suburban and urban humans. and so it is.

[quote=Gus]that's it JB, it's a myriad of factors. human population increase, you name it. it's there and it's a factor. my son owns the basics, rimfire, shotgun, .308. and a ton of Kimber pistols. shooting is what he does, not hunting. shooting is more fun than hunting, and probably no more expensive. he hunted while growing up, and a lot of kids chastised him for it in his classes. he hunted anyways. but now shooting is the thing. it's action, it's a challenge. and he doesn't need to kill anything. i needed to bring meat home for the freezer. hunting was a manly action, and i wanted to be manly, and help provide food for the larder. now i can buy prime beef from kroger for less money than what i can drag in a deer and have processed, all in. so, times change. but, we're still human. we have the urge to hunt. it's in our genetics. and traditions die hard. it's sad on the one hand, but reality on the other. rural humans now are but a version of suburban and urban humans. and so it is.

Good too see them getting some use out of their lands.