The future of hunting in America?

[stmpthmpr]

Orion siad, "Somebody please say something to give me some hope".

Sorry...aint gonna be me.

Orion is correct... the writing is on the wall. I so often have wished I'd been born a hundred fifty years earlier than I was. I think about the changes this coutry has undergone in just that time and it boggles the mind. To think we can do anything to slow our population growth and our move toward liberalism/socialism is but wishful thinking.

There never has been a society that achieved wealth and order that didnt eventually self destruct. We like to think we are different, but history does tend to repeat itself.

The only real answers are political ones but again, money talks. Our capitalistic society has brought us our great standard of living  but it will also be our downfall. Im definitely not knocking capitalism, it has worked and there isnt any better way. We just havent yet seen what it can grow into. Nobody has lasted this long.

Have you considered what the Global Warming ruse and push for biofuels will likely do to our hunting?Farming will become even bigger business than it already has. The small farmer will be gone, replaced by corporate farmers. CRP programs will discontinue as that land will be needed to replace the food taken for fuel. And when CRP vanishes, so does a HUGE chunk of hunting opportunity.

If the liberals rule our government for as long into the future as I predict, more and more of our feel good, bunny hugging friends will make their way into state and federal politics, and along with liberal judge appointments, we will begin loosing our fight against the antis.

But dont totally loose hope. As long as there is big money in farming, there will at least be crop damage permits. Unless of course the government decides that it's more expedient or politically correct to just hire erradication contractors. Where ther's a need and a dollar, their will be contractors priming the political pump to get the work.

Does all this sound OUT THERE? Well, buckle your tree harness cuz we're in for a wild ride. If you're looking forward to it, just go out and vote for your friendly liberals and in a hundred years, 90% of the American people will be vegan, whether they wanna be or not. Cant have those cows eating our biofuel. They are already moaning about cows contribution to greenhouse gasses and the waste of grains to grow steaks and burgers that could be feeding third world countries instead.

I could go on but I need to move on to a subject
where its easier to pretend my cup is half full.

[vermonster13]

Here's a bit of hope for you. Vermont had a 4% growth in hunting and fishing license numbers last year and is on track to increase another 4% this year. May not seem huge, but it bucks the trend.

[HNTN4ELK]

Montana is also hunter numbers, not much but some.

The major contributing issue I see that is impacting our hunting and hunter population is societal. Fewer and fewer young people are taking it up...too many other things and activities taking up their time. Their parents and relatives have less time to spend at it, and with their kids on average.

I was so very fortunate to have been raised in a hunting and fishing and outdoor family to be exposed to it at an early age where it took root and stuck. My brother's son, shoots and infrequently hunts small game a bit, his father has hunted all over the world, and yet the kid would rather play gameboy at 12 than hunt. This trend I see repeated over and over.

There is nothing more constant than change, and were are seeing it.

Power and politics will have just as much impact on our hunting future as our kids.

Garo