It seems fewer and fewer people know anything about hunting, or even the animals we hunt, or used to hunt.

I had a heating & air conditioning guy in yesterday. He was about 45 to 50 years old, native Texan. While I was writing him a check he commented about the monster mule deer mount that he was standing under in my office.

I thanked him, and told him it was an elk.

Hopefully I never meet this guy in the woods, and if I do, hopefully he's not carrying a rifle, and mistakes me for a whitetail.

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Hopefully I never meet this guy in the woods, and if I do, hopefully he's not carrying a rifle, and mistakes me for a whitetail.

Trust me, I could tell stories about what I've seen or heard of locally that would curl your hair. But I won't. Not here. It'd give too much ammo to our opponents. So I won't go there.

Anyway, deer hunting is such a big deal in W TN that you find people of all ages literally everywhere including right young who are doing it or know someone who is or grew up on a farm where it's done or otherwise know all about it.

Day before yesterday our yard guy wanted to know where I'm having this year's 8 mounted. He had a bigger one and was looking for a taxidermist. I put him on to someone I found on the net in N MS. And just yesterday I strolled into the gun shop for a minor repair on my Model 41 and the guy behind the counter shows me a pic of the 10 he got on a place a stone's throw from where I hunt. And I never even met him before (the talk then turned to taxidermists). And a few weeks ago I go into a woodworking shop to have some plaques made to display antlers on, and what happens. The girl behind their counter shows me the pic of her son with his 12 he got in MS.

So the Old Game goes on. And so on and so forth...

Oh, yesterday I also did something I've been wanting to do. I dropped by the nat'l headquarters of DU and toured their museum and got to see Nash Buckingham's famous duck gun, the Burt Becker built Fox magnum that was lost in 1948 and only recently recovered. The one that was featured in his early books. Quite a story there. And I'm told they now have 600K members.

Hunting as a sport/culture is certainly taking a hit in the big cities where more and more of the population choose to live. I also think broken families, which are common these days, really contribute when the mother is either not a hunter or too busy trying to make a living/taking care of kids to teach the young ones.

OTOH, in Texas, it is at least holding its own, probably because of the emphasis on deer hunting. Small game hunting, such as squirrels, is nearly a thing of the past as far as new hunters are concerned.

I don't do it nearly enough, but I really enjoy squirrel hunting more than any other type of American furred game. I like bird hunting, of almost any kind (minus chukars ), more than big game.

I'm on a bit of a squirrel hunt at the moment. That HVAC guy I mentioned checked the ACs on the east side of the house and squirrels had chewed away the cover, packing, silicone and half the wiring where the AC connections penetrate the house. A smooth hole that a tennis ball would plug. That hole wasn't there a few weeks ago. That fury f***er is going to pay for that with his life. I've got a trap set.

The anti hunting message put out in schools.

The failure of hunting parents to place a priority on hunting or shooting sports.

While at the same time working hard at getting their children into organized sports like football, baseball ect.

I went to a large gun show in Houston last weekend and was mildly shocked, when I started paying attention, that the average age appeared to be about 50+, for both vendors and patrons. Kind of a wakeup call to our Hobby!

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Originally posted by p dog shooter:
The anti hunting message put out in schools.

Are you serious? What evidence do you have to support this theory? Every school district that I have taught in promoted hunting to some degree. Many HS's had a deer brag board with a reward for longest shot, biggest buck, etc.

While I have seen an overall decline in hunting culture in the school population, outside factors seem to be the culprit. In my area, I have found a lack of hunting can be attributed to a number of factors: reduced deer count on public land, access to quality hunting ground, and a lack of mentorship. I just dont see how schools inhibit potential hunters.

In WV, the kids get time off for deer hunting.

I was thinking the other day, what would happen if I hung a deer from a basketball goal, tree, or pole in my backyard. It used to be no big deal. I imagine now the city, the HOA, and the neighbors would all be down my throat.

One change in myself; I used to be very comfortable hunting on public land; up until about 1975. Now after 55 years of watching idiots with firearms, I can't bring myself to do it.

I can still remember when deer hunting was an excused absence from school in New Mexico. I didn't think that still existed anywhere.

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Originally posted by wasbeeman:
In WV, the kids get time off for deer hunting.

Most school districts are allow a certain number of days off of school per year, in EC its 10 days. Major illnesses are not counted against this number. It is up to the parent to decide how to use these days and are counted as 'excused absences.' As school districts get larger and larger, this seems to be the progression for school policy.
In some rural districts they make the student check in with each teacher prior to the absence. If they don't have any missing assignments and their grades are in order, the 2-2.5 days missed for gun season dont count against that number either.

I don't know about the hunting culture dying out.

It seems like everywhere I go to hunt is getting more and more crowded. Prices keep climbing (which I think of supply and demand not someone giving us the shaft) and landowners expecting to be paid for access given that people will pay for it.

Sure, some of it is purely habitat encroachment by people, but some is that numbers are really not down that much, if at all. I think that the big issue is that there are so many of us that trying to find a place to hunt is difficult, and with the game departments and hunting groups aggressively trying to recruit people, we have exceeded the "carrying capacity" of the land to support hunting as we knew it.

I know lots of folks who would not mind to go hunting, but given what the experience is these days (short seasons with too many people out there, too many frustrated folks behaving badly, and too many folks having their hand out for cash) that they would rather do something else instead. If you don't do too much hunting, you don't get a good background in it, you are even less successful, and then eventually get to the point where you don't even bother.

I know way too many people my age who used to hunt a couple times a year who now don't even bother buying a license. Heck, I am at that point with fishing. I enjoy it to some extent, but with all the people and the ridiculously low limits (that you will very unlikely catch) I just don't bother, the fun per dollar/hour of fishing is just not there for me anymore.

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Originally posted by wasbeeman:
In WV, the kids get time off for deer hunting.

Last I knew, it was the same for the first day of deer season in Pennsylvania.

There are apparently fewer resident hunters in Maine, nowadays.