Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters More big game hunters than bird hunters?

Just read something interesting in Mule Deer's ad for his shotgun. "as a recent poll of hunters by the NSSF indicates that there are around 10 million big game hunters in the U.S. and only two million bird hunters."

Now I would not have guessed that for a few reasons. Big game requires on average a larger amount of ground, one due to the size of the animal to be supported (okay, so whitetails can live in half a football field their whole lives). But also due to the weapons required, rifles mostly and even in shotgun areas most people use slugs which can stil go a ways.

Birds - upland or waterfowl - can be hunted in any old patch of ground or old pond, mostly. Their habitat is brush rows, edges and such, and the weapons used are short range affairs. Back in Florida, upstate New York and a few points in between it was quite common to see bird hunters out in fields real close to farm buildings or even subdivisions.

Point being there would seem to be tons more opportunity to hunt birds than big game.

Also, as we hunters get older, the thought of hauling/dragging some big-a carcass a few miles sets one to considering how much easier it is to tuck a few dead birds in your vest.

Anywho, that's my take. Was curious if anybody knows the reasons for the numbers above or just cares to speculate?

The BIG money is in BIG game, just ask any State DOW. Money = promotion and sales, pure and simple. Follow the money.

Just my 2 cents but......

Time - less time to hunt, also it takes less time to fill the freezer w/ a deer than a bunch a birds.

Work - gots to walk to find the birds, lots of folks huntin stationary nowadays.

Cover - #1 IMHO. Folks are building and farming all over the good bird habitat.

BTW, the first two are the reasons I like hunting birds.....more time afield, see more country, and get more bangs for your effort (especially the way I shoot).

elkjaeger

I used to spend a lot of time hunting pheasants. I have not been out for a number of years now. One factor is that I took up bow hunting a number of years ago, but my pheasant hunting was on the wane before that. The biggest problem that I face is one of access. The fewer pheasant hunters seem to have done an effective job of "speaking for" large tracts of huntable ground. Coupled with that you have farming practices that altered the terrain a great deal from that which I grew up hunting. A guess for me it's sort of a combination of teaching an old dog new tricks and my non-competitive nature.

I would be very happy to hunt upland birds and small game for the majority of my hunting. I do enjoy an occasional Deer hunt but Birds and bunnys are my favorites

The hunter numbers are shockingly low. I just rejoined the ranks of bird hunters because I found a place to hunt pheasant and once again have a bird dog. Finding a place to hunt pheasant wasn't easy and I am grateful to have it.

My concern is that protecting our hunting traditions from ever greater restrictions will be hard when big game hunters number 10 million out of 300 million (1 in 33) and finding bird hunters in a crowd is ever harder. That's discouraging news.

Ward

Our deer are a LOT of work for the most part, but so are those ##$%#$#$##&#!!! wild chuckar. If ever a bird deserved to die, it is a chuckar in a natural habitat.

I primarily hunt birds. Our season is about 110 days for chuckar and quail, while the deer season is three to four weeks, if you are lucky enough to draw a Resident tag...another reason I like to bird hunt.

Here is the main reason, however...can't do deer this way.

This is something I've been aware of most of my life (ever since I started noticing such things.) A couple of factors at play, I think. One is, there is very little bird hunting that doesn't require quite a bit of walking. We are a society in which a lot of people will drive three laps around the parking lot to find a parking spot fifty feet closer to the door of Walmart. The other is, people just get a bigger thrill out of killing bigger animals.

I'd just as soon hunt turkey, quail and ducks for the rest of my days.

That said, buying a shotgun without getting to shoulder it is a tough pill to swallow. Shotgun fit is SO important to good wingshooting.

Of course a few weeks hunting Sitka blacktails is never wasted time.

Maybe JB meant upland bird hunters, because the NSSF website shows three million migratory bird hunters alone.

Don't matter...it's way too few.

So why are there always people where I want to go bird hunting ?

DN

Yeah, the numbers I saw referred to upland hunters.

All this didn't really surprise me, as whitetails are considered big game and are essentially over-populated over much of the country. You can hunt them while sitting down, and a lot of landowners will let you do it, just to get rid of some.

Upland birds are getting scarcer over much of the country, especially where the most people live. Wild quail are almost on-existent in the South anymore, and ruffed grouse aren't exactly abundant anywhere east of the upper Midwest. What else is there in the eastern third of the country? Planted pheasants and a dwindling flight of woodcock.

Migratory birds are doing better in many parts of the East, especially geese. Throw in the middle part of the country, and you have the reason for more duck and goose hunters.

The most recent number (NSSF estimate) is about 15 million total hunters in the U.S.

Think maybe an aging population of us hunters may be a factor also...I am 61 will be 62 this fall...hunting quail in the desert Southwest is a track stars pursuit as these are all runners...not like bob white quail...thinking about mule deer, antelope, and elk hunting but my days of bear hunting or dreaming of safaris are over...especially after a triple by pass.
Yet I get licenses even in those years when I probably won;t hunt just to support the game that remains...share this joy with yound folks while you may....

I live in Nebraska and grew up in eastern Kansas in the 70's and 80's it was no trick to see 6 to 10 covey of quail a day now you can hunt for 2 weeks and not see that many, and if you love ponting dogs which i do it sucks to whatch a dog chase a rabbit or a deer over the hill. With 5.00 corn there is less ground to hunt birds every day. DK

Yeah the quail are gone...lots of theories...I remember hunting them with my grandfather as a kid...up till 78 or so there were alot, but they disapeared almost overnight. I'd give anything...all my guns, my bike, or whatever for one more hunt with him.

I'd love to call myself a birdhunter too. Sad truth is it's all huntin' and no bird here in westbuhgawd.

I think it's a sad sign of the times. How many kids started hunting birds and bunnies? Not any more. Momma comes home after a hard day of work and finds a couple of coney's in the sink....... can you imagine the scene to follow? JMO, Dutch.

Hunted birds (upland and migratory) first, starting in about 1981. At that time deer hunting in Kansas was still in it's infancy. It was quite rare to even see a deer during a day of bird hunting. Birds still get most of my days afield, more due to the fact that firearms deer season is 11 days, whereas by switching between migrants and upland birds, you can hunt birds almost continuously from 9/1 until early February when the goose season closes.

Another reason it might be less popular is that it's generally less subject to gadgetry and "trophy" pursuits. The gadgetry thing is slowly changing, but it's still nothing like big game hunting. About the only trophies involved are full limits and banded migrants.

OUTCAST,

My wife and I hunted deer with friends in Pot Lick Cove, West-By-God, last November. My wife actually saw a ruffed grouse, the first time either one of us has in several trips to your beautiful state.

+1

You couldn't be more right there. You hunt N Nevada for them? I chase them around in the Owyhees every year. I always loose a few pounds and the dog's pads are always tore up on those chuckar cliffs.