Lets discuss: How will hunting change in the future?

[foggy]

When I look back in time....hunting has changed quite a bit. Very few people bought land to manage for hunting in time gone by.....and you seldom had to get permission to hunt birds, etc. Fast forward to today and it's a whole 'nother ball game.

Look to Europe and you will see more regulations and lots of hoops to jump thru before you can get a license or hunt. Here is a little snip from another site I was reading:

German Hunting/Laws - the class
Sup guys,

We hit the ground here in late July and its been very busy. I heard all this stuff about you can't bring weapons, you can't own weapons, you can't hunt, its too expensive, etc..... Well, when we got here I found all of that untrue and enrolled in the US military hunting class. There are 2 ways to own a weapon in German, be a sports shooter or be a hunter. I didn't even need to compare the 2 options, hunting allows you to own weapons, store them at home, shoot AND of course hunt.

So I'm all signed up and they hand me the syllabus and I realize this isn't as easy I thought it was going to be. Classroom instruction and range time come out to 93 hours. Safety test, shooting test (100 meters rifle, then running boar, then running rabbit), written test and oral exam. I have to learn all the animals (ages,sexes, breeding, birthing, teeth) variations of weapons, ammuniation, laws and traditions. The bonus for that is, a lot of the names are in German......

So, if have wandered where I have been, well the last month has been taking this class!

I'll have some pictures soon.

Chris

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[j-bird]

As the demand on resources increase so will the value of those resources. As that value increase the distance between the "haves" and "have nots" increases. It was unheard of to charge for hunting access 50 years ago. It's fairly common today and in the next 50 years it will more than likely be the norm. As such the simple opportunity to hunt will be reduced. Couple that with a population that is ever shifting away from a rural environment and growing up with nature, hunting and even firearms and hunters will become even more of a minority. As such the politics and regulations will increase as well. We will see a shift in hunting to more closely resemble what is seen in Europe eventually - I just don't know the time frame.

If you hunt a place for free now - count your blessings. Sooner or later someone is going to place a value on that access and you will either pay it or someone else will. Hunting on public ground will become increasingly crowded and those that can afford it will tie up as much ground as they can. Leasing, outfitters and even high fence operations will only increase. Hunting WILL become a sport of those with the economic means in this country at some point.

 

[foggy]

I hate to see more fees, regulations, restrictions and such. But I also feel some of the education referenced in the German classes could be good for our sport. It definitely would reduce the hunters tho.

 

[SD51555]

I'm afraid for it. Here's what I see.

*MN continues to gobble up land and manage it poorly where there are no animals to hunt.
*The masses will get angry and sick the politicians on the well to do with private land (potatoes in park rapids, buffer battle etc...)
*Critters will decrease and limits will not. Fish and game will be harvested into collapse.

 

[kabic]

How about this scenario....

The government privatize the deer heard, there are no more wild deer and the only opportunity to hunt them is behind a high fence.

 

[foggy]

At one time I was going to go on a moose hunt in Norway. There was to be some instruction and you had to pass a running moose shooting test to get a licesne. I am told that they let you shoot till you passed.....but some guys took quite a few shots to get a license.

IIRC....they would go on "drives" and have posters do the shooting. Never did get that hunt in.....got too busy to pursue it. :( o_O

Seems that most hunting in Europe is by the landowners or the 1%ers.

 

[bat man]

Landowners where I own can not lease hunt rights for enough to pay the taxes.

Hunters here don't value deer enough to fight the current social (aka funded special interest) battle. They like to hunt but will lose the war of social deer mgmt.

Politics will dictate what hunting looks like and that means cash. If the hunters won't pay, NDA to the rescue? Nope. The hunting industry will need to step up. Their future is money motivated.

 

[MoLandOwner]

Landowners where I own can not lease hunt rights for enough to pay the taxes.

Hunters here don't value deer enough to fight the current social (aka funded special interest) battle. They like to hunt but will lose the war of social deer mgmt.

Politics will dictate what hunting looks like and that means cash. If the hunters won't pay, NDA to the rescue? Nope. The hunting industry will need to step up. Their future is money motivated.

NDA is a joke! Try getting a hold of someone there once and tell me how that goes!

The Hunting industry is losing steam, Sportsman clubs memberships are down everywhere across the country. It will be very difficult to battle big industry in the future, just the way it will be. The rich will have quality hunting and that will be it. I hope I am wrong, but I don't think so!

 

[sandbur]

Will the high school clay target leagues keep the shooting sports alive? We have 200 schools involved and another 100 are considering teams.

 

[MoLandOwner]

Will the high school clay target leagues keep the shooting sports alive? We have 200 schools involved and another 100 are considering teams.

I am glad you brought that up. That is one thing that has been growing and has been getting kids off the couch and outside. I think it should be a mandatory sport in High School!

 

[bat man]

Will the high school clay target leagues keep the shooting sports alive? We have 200 schools involved and another 100 are considering teams.

Will these new shooters be active activists to help hunting. Nope. Thats for the older guys. They may have a soft spot for hunting related issues but they wont step up and giddy.

Money. Money. Money.

Who will spend money to support hunting as we know it.

I was doing some consulting work today and word is sales at Bass Pro and Cabelas were way off the goals. But nobody wants to talk about lower deer numbers dampening hunter spending.

Money makes things happen.

 

[sandbur]

I am glad you brought that up. That is one thing that has been growing and has been getting kids off the couch and outside. I think it should be a mandatory sport in High School!

I just read Outdoor News and it said there are 300 schools involved this year. 5600 youth were registered for the Alex shoot this week and they mention 20000 spectators-some via on line, I guess.

 

[SD51555]

My biggest concern is the battle over land rights that's sure to only get worse the deeper the divide gets between the do'ers and sitters. The victim class waits for a community organizer to roll up and tell them it's not their fault. "Follow me and we'll get them rich (people earning over $30,000) people."

 

[sandbur]

Will these new shooters be active activists to help hunting. Nope. Thats for the older guys. They may have a soft spot for hunting related issues but they wont step up and giddy.

Money. Money. Money.

Who will spend money to support hunting as we know it.

I was doing some consulting work today and word is sales at Bass Pro and Cabelas were way off the goals. But nobody wants to talk about lower deer numbers dampening hunter spending.

Money makes things happen.

I spend a whole lot less money at Cabelas as compared to 10 years ago. I can easily drive buy and not stop at all. Could it just be that as we age, we tend to spend less on outdoor sports?

 

[sandbur]

The youth clay shoots are great...but they'll have next to zero impact on deer hunting IMHO. That league may keep some shooting sports afloat, but deer hunting won't be one of them.

I agree, Stu. I kind of changed the drift of foggy's thread.

 

[sandbur]

No worries. To be fair, foggy's post was about the future of hunting...not just deer hunting. I could see the youth clay shoots keeping upland game bird and waterfowl hunting alive. I can't tell you how many of my friends who used to go deer hunting have quit....but they still chase pheasants, grouse, ducks, and turkeys. I'm pretty much the last hold out I think :oops:

Many of my friends have gone the other way, including myself. I no longer duck hunt, I do walk around and call it partridge hunting, very few pheasants to hunt, and I have no interest in turkeys except as a nuisance. Our only real interest is in deer hunting.

 

[SD51555]

I spend a whole lot less money at Cabelas as compared to 10 years ago. I can easily drive buy and not stop at all. Could it just be that as we age, we tend to spend less on outdoor sports?

The Cabelas story is one to be concerned about. As a company I think they're still ok. Their growth is not in their stores. Their same store sales are flat to slightly off (especially since the ammo/gun hysteria died off). They are still growing overall via new stores and their credit card operations. I own some stock in Cabelas so I keep close tabs on them.

 

[SD51555]

if the government gets into the business of taking privately owned rec land away....we got much bigger problems than the future of hunting.

I don't think there'll ever be a blunt "take." I think you'll see a progressive chipping away like the president's health care plan. Food plot regulations, dirt regulations, what you can cut regulations, a shift towards higher land taxation etc.

 

[Freeborn]

Will these new shooters be active activists to help hunting. Nope. Thats for the older guys. They may have a soft spot for hunting related issues but they wont step up and giddy.

Money. Money. Money.

Who will spend money to support hunting as we know it.

I was doing some consulting work today and word is sales at Bass Pro and Cabelas were way off the goals. But nobody wants to talk about lower deer numbers dampening hunter spending.

Money makes things happen.

Agree on Cabelas, their product mix has been getting away form serious hunting and outdoor equipment for years. I rarely stop anymore as the stores carry less equipment that interests me.

The future of hunting, most trends I have seen point to no growth and an aging demographic. I still think recreational properties will be in demand as the general population grows but due to people wanting property for multi-purpose activities. I think hunting won't change much in the next 20 years but then a decline in hunter numbers will occur. Hunting quality could improve with less pressure but with hunters having less influence who knows how government controls deer numbers.

Tuff to predict the far away future but land is a limited resource so access to quality hunting will most likely decline.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. But if I had to…

1) a steady and prohibitive increase in ammo prices, firearm prices, licensing, etc.
2) mandatory gun owner and hunter liability insurance
3) a continuing decline in the recruitment of young hunters
4) a loss of huntable land…both private and public
5) an increase in the demand, and thus cost, of private guided hunts
6) an exponential increase in the number of ridiculously useless gadgets, gear, trinkets, scents, etc. that hunters think they can't do without
7) D&DH will publish an article called "Top 10 Strategies for Bagging That Late Season Buck"