Public lands and Hunting. Declining numbers of hunters

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  • Artillarylover

    Active Member
    Nov 5, 2016
    218
    Read somewhere that numbers of hunters are declining drastically across the US. A article i read by Vox? Stated that this is bad news for nra and gun owners because hunting provides more legitimacy to guns..

    What the article failed to mention (because it doesnt follow their agenda) is that hunters pay for the majority of aquisition and maintenance of public lands through licensing and fees. We are paying to help expand our rigjt to hunt. Im happy to buy my license each year and stamps for this reason and really dislike poachers (unless you have to due to extreme circumstances to help your family which fortunately i have never had to do)

    I wonder what can be done to get more young people into hunting. Im 28 and was introduced in highschool by some i dateds father. Only one person i know my age also hunts. Ive thought about inviting some people i know but worry about their gun handling and safety . even ethics.

    I worry as the numbers continue to decline public lands and rights could be jeapodized.

    Just some thoughts for the evening.
    Also would like to see me areas open to firearms. If not deer but small game. No reason you shouldnt be able to use a 22 at pretty boy for small game or patapsco in designated area. But as a lobbying block, hunters are ageing and shrinking. At least in my mind.



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    madmantrapper

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 6, 2009
    1,528
    Carroll County
    Public land used to be so crowded you would have a hard time finding a place you felt safe in the sixties and seventies and even up into part of the eighties. Now a days you can hunt anywhere you chose on public land, it is all but empty, You will find more on opening day then then the rest of the season but not crowded. There is a place in Garrett county that I've been hunting for fifty plus years, that you used to have to look hard for place to get off the road. Now days you won't see another truck for the entire season. Green Ridge used to be so crowded you could not find a camp site. Now days you have your pick. Sidling Hill is the same way. There are a few places neared Baltimore that show some interest such as Cunningham Falls and Frederick Water Shed but it ain't like it used to be.

    Paul
     

    Artillarylover

    Active Member
    Nov 5, 2016
    218
    Public land used to be so crowded you would have a hard time finding a place you felt safe in the sixties and seventies and even up into part of the eighties. Now a days you can hunt anywhere you chose on public land, it is all but empty, You will find more on opening day then then the rest of the season but not crowded. There is a place in Garrett county that I've been hunting for fifty plus years, that you used to have to look hard for place to get off the road. Now days you won't see another truck for the entire season. Green Ridge used to be so crowded you could not find a camp site. Now days you have your pick. Sidling Hill is the same way. There are a few places neared Baltimore that show some interest such as Cunningham Falls and Frederick Water Shed but it ain't like it used to be.

    Paul
    Ive seen some crowded spots but havent hunted opening day on public land for 10 plus years due to crowds. Mostly do muzzelloader and archery for deer anyways.



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    Artillarylover

    Active Member
    Nov 5, 2016
    218
    Pittman Rodmen Act (?IIRC), taxes all guns an ammo for acquisition and maintenance of public lands an wildlife management.
    I didnt realize gun and ammo taxes went to that too. Thats really interesting. Thanks for the info on the act. So basically i need to buy more guns and ammo

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    Pale Ryder

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 12, 2009
    6,234
    Millersville
    I too quit opening day some 10+ years ago. I was going to go tomorrow, but now see it's supposed to rain. Probably will put it off til Mon. Not feelin like getting up at 3 so I can make the trip just to get rained on around noon.
     

    j_h_smith

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 28, 2007
    28,516
    We are getting into an ear where many of the dads don't hunt, so their sons and daughters don't get the experience. It's a domino effect for most areas. Grand dad hunted and took dad, but when dad got married, hunting took a back seat. Now grand dad is too old to hunt, dad doesn't have the hunger and son/daughter doesn't have the exposure, so they never have the interest.

    Given that and the kid's baby sitters (console games and cell phones), many kids today wouldn't go outside to hunt if it meant going out on their back porch and pulling the trigger there. We are in for a world of hurt, and I don't see it getting any better.

    I buy hunting licenses and all of the stamps for my wife and my son and me. I haven't stepped into the woods for the last 5 years because of health issues, the wife hasn't been out in 25 years and only my son goes out with his bow maybe 4-6 times each year. But I will continue to buy the licenses to help.

    I just don't see this generation adding to the hunting community. Maybe we can get them into shooting targets, but I think hunting will be lost (major city areas) and only done in the very rural areas and where the folks need to hunt to feed their families.
     

    BeoBill

    Crank in the Third Row
    MDS Supporter
    Oct 3, 2013
    27,064
    南馬里蘭州鮑伊
    The biggest danger I foresee to public hunting lands is their takeover by anti-gun hikers and the like. Seems to me I recall the PETA droids stage a demonstration at one of our WMAs a few years back; this may become more frequent as well as the Lefty Loons become more emboldened.
     

    Artillarylover

    Active Member
    Nov 5, 2016
    218
    The biggest danger I foresee to public hunting lands is their takeover by anti-gun hikers and the like. Seems to me I recall the PETA droids stage a demonstration at one of our WMAs a few years back; this may become more frequent as well as the Lefty Loons become more emboldened.
    Alot or hikers are unaware that places allow hunting. I always worry about someone confronting me because im hunting or something and they not realizing its public hunting ground call police for seeing someone with a gun.

    Peta is stupid. Im all for ethical treatment of animals but we are animals too who hunt... So we must be ethical in our harvesting of forest resources and ethical to pets and domesticated animals ib our care

    Are they going to pay for the management or do they think it just tales care of itself?

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    j_h_smith

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 28, 2007
    28,516
    The biggest danger I foresee to public hunting lands is their takeover by anti-gun hikers and the like. Seems to me I recall the PETA droids stage a demonstration at one of our WMAs a few years back; this may become more frequent as well as the Lefty Loons become more emboldened.

    Yes, but I do believe that most states have laws that's illegal to interfere with a hunter while in the woods/hunting.
     

    ClutchyMcClutcherson

    Active Member
    Aug 29, 2016
    703
    Odenton, MD
    We are getting into an ear where many of the dads don't hunt, so their sons and daughters don't get the experience. It's a domino effect for most areas. Grand dad hunted and took dad, but when dad got married, hunting took a back seat. Now grand dad is too old to hunt, dad doesn't have the hunger and son/daughter doesn't have the exposure, so they never have the interest

    I think you hit the nail on the head. This is true for me as well. I hinted from the time I was ten until my wife and I had our first child. Now with a 5,4,2, and 5 month old, I literally have no time to hunt like I used to.

    However there is hope. My 5 and 4 year old shoot a 22 rifle and a BB gun. And my 5 year old has been squirrel hunting with me. We watch hunting and fishing shows on tv all the time, and they go with me fishing for little trips here and there. So they have that exposure, and they’re definitely interested. I have full intentions of getting them in the woods to hunt as they get a little bit older. As much as I’d like to take them now, they’re still just a little bit too young. But we do go on woods walks sometimes at different places looking for animals like deer and squirrels.

    I agree the culture of our society is changing and going away from hunting. Everyone can have a part in fixing it though. Take a kid hunting or fishing, and it could give them an interest for the rest of their lives.
     

    Inigoes

    Head'n for the hills
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 21, 2008
    49,365
    SoMD / West PA
    We are getting into an ear where many of the dads don't hunt, so their sons and daughters don't get the experience. It's a domino effect for most areas. Grand dad hunted and took dad, but when dad got married, hunting took a back seat. Now grand dad is too old to hunt, dad doesn't have the hunger and son/daughter doesn't have the exposure, so they never have the interest.

    It's not the dad's in today's families in suburbia.

    Most adult people today were raised in suburbia, and now their kids are growing up in more developed suburban locations.

    One of the most critical aspects to keeping the traditions of hunting alive, is hunter safety. Teaching people to get out in the wild and hunt safely is important, because they cant learn it at the end of a Cal-de-sac.

    Its not father passing down to child anymore, a lot of moms are stepping up because they want to hunt also. Attendance in hunter education classes are roughly 1/3 to 1/2 female of present day classes.
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,817
    Self taught hunter and fisherman. Dad was a city boy from Brooklyn NY. He had no interest in the outdoors. Mon? Suburban. I grew up watching Wide World of Sports. That's where I got my drive. Kids today are taught all kinds of bullsh*t in school. We all know that. One of them is anti-gun, anti-hunting and fishing. "Animals have rights!". Only way I see saving outdoor sports is by saving our schools. They go hand-in-hand.
     

    44man

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 19, 2013
    10,129
    southern md
    Self taught hunter and fisherman. Dad was a city boy from Brooklyn NY. He had no interest in the outdoors. Mon? Suburban. I grew up watching Wide World of Sports. That's where I got my drive. Kids today are taught all kinds of bullsh*t in school. We all know that. One of them is anti-gun, anti-hunting and fishing. "Animals have rights!". Only way I see saving outdoor sports is by saving our schools. They go hand-in-hand.

    This is a great post

    The only other thing I would add is that every hunter, shooter, fisherman or avid outdoorsman should endeavor to pass his or her passion on to as many kids as possible.

    I do all I can to introduce as many kids to hunting and shooting as I can

    My son and two of his friends along with two of my younger cousins are hunting today because I did all I could to get them into it.

    Good thing to since I am nursing my wife with her broken ankle and nursing my own cancer and I missed my first opening day of deer season since 1976, but I feel good that the boys are there in my stead
     

    gwchem

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 18, 2014
    3,434
    SoMD
    Self taught hunter and fisherman. Dad was a city boy from Brooklyn NY. He had no interest in the outdoors. Mon? Suburban. I grew up watching Wide World of Sports. That's where I got my drive. Kids today are taught all kinds of bullsh*t in school. We all know that. One of them is anti-gun, anti-hunting and fishing. "Animals have rights!". Only way I see saving outdoor sports is by saving our schools. They go hand-in-hand.

    Similar story here. We at least had cub scouts and sometimes went fishing. Had friends who hunted. Would've been nice to learn as a kid, instead I started teaching myself in my 30s.
     

    newmuzzleloader

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Apr 14, 2009
    4,765
    joppa
    It's not the dad's in today's families in suburbia.

    Most adult people today were raised in suburbia, and now their kids are growing up in more developed suburban locations.

    One of the most critical aspects to keeping the traditions of hunting alive, is hunter safety. Teaching people to get out in the wild and hunt safely is important, because they cant learn it at the end of a Cal-de-sac.

    Its not father passing down to child anymore, a lot of moms are stepping up because they want to hunt also. Attendance in hunter education classes are roughly 1/3 to 1/2 female of present day classes.

    Both Jim's post and yours mimics how I grew up. On our LR wall hung a 10 pt Dad shot before he was married. We lived in brand new house in a brand new neighborhood where Dad used to go rabbit hunting but not once did he go hunting while I was growing up. I have taken my step daughters and their boyfriends hunting. I take my boy and his friends shooting and my boy goes hunting with me sometimes. More often than not in this part of Md kids grow up in tight subdivisions with nowhere to even experiment with bb guns the way I did. It doesn't help matters that it's getting hard to find a place you can hunt without paying n arm and a leg to do so.
     

    Artillarylover

    Active Member
    Nov 5, 2016
    218
    I plan to take my daughter hunting when shes older. I know my wife will have a fit and ive invited my brother a few times and hes considering it. He lives in manassas and they are opening the park behind his house to archery hunting for rhe first time. You need to get a license and belong to a archery club. I told him to get on it asap because the only way they will keep that area open is if there is interest.

    I talk alot about hunting at work. I actually had a vegan tell me they think its more ethical to hunt for food than to eat from factory farms which i thought was interesting... Thats a sentiment few and far between though

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    DCutdSE

    Rebel Scum
    Jan 2, 2009
    81
    I'm in the boat of having a father who didn't hunt so I never learned as a kid. Now I'm in my mid-30s and looking to get in to the sport. I've completed Hunter Ed, have a license but missed the MD Mentored Hunt Program this season. Any tips for finding someone willing to take a newbie out of MoCo out and showing the ropes? I suppose this is as good a forum to post a request.
     

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