The future of hunting in America?

[laddy]

In some areas hunting access is such a pain that it is difficult to take kids hunting, if there is no adventure in it there is little interest.  I think people are at times brain washed into thinking they can buy peace of mind, they can buy success, and we all know that money can buy exclusive rights to hunting land that is off limits to the common man.  Can it buy that feeling of freedom and adventure that Aldo Leopold sought?  I don't think it can.

[vermonster13]

Good deal Fred.

[Hatrick]

Makes me want to pull out Leopolds "A Sand County Almanac" and read it again.

[Sawtooth]

Dave,

Good article...thanks.  In my mind, it goes farther than hunting alone.  It's our whole society, and it boils down to one word...EXCESS.  Everything has to be bigger, faster, louder, easier, and more externally stimulating.  I firmly believe it'll be the end of us eventually.  I agree with what others have said here...teach a child to love the outdoors, teach a child to hunt and fish ethically, teach a child to make the outdoor experience a centerpiece for their life.  This is the only way we'll perpetuate sensible hunting and protect our environment.  As for me...I'm teaching three.  Good luck to the rest of you.

[Steve Gabriel]

I've got a friend who's a real hunting fanatic.
Since I've never hunted, I loved listening to his stories.

Then he won a grizzly hunting trip thru some website. He was thrilled about having a dream hunt. He decided to bring his bow (compound) instead of his gun, because he wanted it to be really "challenging". The guy is my weight but 8" shorter than me and I'm no lightweight. I asked what he was going to do to get in shape for the Rocky mountains. He said there was no problem, since they'd be each have an ATV! He said the guide told him that the area where my friend's blind
would be would give him a good shot at a Pope and Young trophy!
3 months before the trip, he had never been to the place and he had a good chance at a P & Y trophy? He doesn't have to deal with the terrain?
He's being led to the "trophy" and the blind he's never seen  was built 3 months in advance?
   Where's the HUNT? I thought the trophys were for being an exceptional HUNTER! I never asked how he did.
After all,  I shoot a big Grizzly every weekend ... on my 3-D course ... and I walk to the bear.

Hunts like this or the one's on the Versus channel
turn me off. I think they do that to a lot of other people, too.

[laddy]

I take kids turkey hunting, what they like about it is the gobbles and mostly stump shooting where ever walk.  You just have to get them outside, canoeing is great way to get a kid outside and slowed down enough so they can start taking things in.  Jet skis, snowmobiles, and four wheelers are not the same.  They need something that keeps them interested and occupied that allows them to feel like they are part of wild.  Just like I like to hunt along side a stream or river, I love watching the river go by.  I find kids are pretty much the same, you just have to slow 'em down a little.

[Brian Krebs]

I take kids on bear hunting trips for free. I think its a good idea to do that when we can.

[Mark Albrecht]

Guys-
I think part of the problem is hunting is no longer democratic, we have allowed it to become big business and businees isn't democratic.  Business is about making money.  The North American Conservation Model was started by folks like George Bird Grinnel, Gifford Pinchot and of course Teddy Roosevelt.  It didn't serve the needs of the wealthy few, it served the needs of the common man.  We went from scarse game to an abundance of game in less than a century, by a conservation ethic that says wildlife is a public trust resource.  PUBLIC - not private.  Businesses are private and seek to reap financial gain.  As long as we allow easy to be thought of as better and as long as all we do is try to recruit youth we will lose our hunting.  Recruitment is vital but we must also recruit the non-hunter, through thoughtful discourse and education.  We also must police from with in, if we don't help raise the bar who will?

Hatrick do reread "Sand County Almanac" and share it both with a youth and a non-hunter.  Doing so has lead to some interesting discussions for me.  

I know I am preaching - and to the choir but we do need to be proactive if we are to save the wildlife for the public.

[elkbow]

as a videographer all i can say is,money talks!we all share in the american dream and we are all looking to make our quality of life better in one sense or another or we'd all be on some type of government assistance.its our own fault in a sense because we make it possible for people to take advantage of what we have learned and know from either learning these skills the hard way or having them passed down to us from fathers and grandfathers.think before you do!(example)you've scouted an area before hand and patterned a nice buck or heard turkeys in an area that has no pressure,your talking with someone and they express to you that either they themselves or a child would enjoy the opp. to hunt and out of the goodness of our hearts we agree to showing them the pleasures of the great outdoors,that child or person harvests that animal with your help,he or she has no idea what it took to make that harvest a reality,we feel about ourselves and the fact of the matter is that we've cheated them out of the opp.to do for themselves.
 you can give them the fishing pole but don't catch the fish for them!RIGHT or WRONG we've created this WELFARE NATION.when you give people an unearned advantage over others you either become a guide or a POLITICIAN.i had a sucessful season,my freezer is empty of whitetail venison but my do-it-myself elk is ohhhh so sweet!

[Mark Albrecht]

I agree that money talks - so do people.  Big money didn't want Roosevelt to set aside so much public land so they tried to stop him and to a degree they did.  It was the common man that helped get Pittman- Robertson passed - in 90 days!!!.  Our North American Conservation Model is the envy of others.  Now big money  wants to make it easier to kill - not to hunt in my opinion.  Big money wants to claim our game for their profit. If we really want to save hunting we need to talk - to speak up and to move against big money.  Please don't forget that we almost wiped out our native game in the late 1800's.  It took the efforts of many to get the state and federal governemnt to help conserve our resourses.  We are reaping the benefits of our forefathers efforts.

"The 'greatest good of the greatest number'applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those alive form but an insignificant fraction.  Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day moinority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations"  Teddy Roosevelt

Creating financial gain for the few at the expense of the many sounds more like an aristocracy than the democracy.  It takes talking louder and stronger by the many to talk louder than money.  We owe this to ourselves and more importantly our unborn generations.

" The North American conservation is outstanding for many reasons.... Unlike earlier historic movements in Africa, Asia and Europe, which were almost consistently tied to an exclusivity tradition, spurred by caste notions...in Greek and Roman culture, by monarchist traditions of the Middle Ages, or by the aristocratic world views of the post-Renaissance and colonial periods, the 'in situ' emergence of our tradition was based explicity on inclusivity.  Wildlife and Access to it was to be in the public domain, by law."   Shane Mahoney Canadian wildlife biologist.

"...to preserve game...for...all lovers of nature, and to give reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the skill of the hunter, whether he is or is not a man of means"  Teddy Roosevelt

Yes money talks and it always has and always will - let us not be mute in comparison.  Mark Albrecht

[Mrs Stickman]

Nicely said Mark.  I agree.  Speaking up should be done in a respectful but forcefull manner.  People listen better when they are treated with respect.  No matter what class they are in.

[laddy]

The power system you describe is an oligarchy, it was what Russia actually was in its hayday.  It seems that every thing government and business is gushing the wealth up faster and faster, well very little is being done to help the bottom line.  Our disintegrating dollar may help some, but for the most of us it means that the dollar we had five years ago is now worth 60 cents, putting things even further out of balance.  I wouldn't hold my breath thinking party politics is going to change much of anything.  The NWO folks have a firm grip on their priorities.

[Mark Albrecht]

Laddy

Can't disagree on your choice of terms - I actually had used oligarchy first and changed to aristocrcy to meld better with TR's quote.

Not sure the semantics matter.  The main point is aristocracy, oligarchy or whatever our wildlife management and conservation ethic is moving rapidly away from a "Public Trust Resource", and we are rapidly losing the "Democracy of Hunting" - both tenets of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

My biggest point is we need to speak up to restore what was fought for by our forefathers and not to accept the handouts thrown our way.  If we here can't find common ground, then I fear for the future of our wildlife.

[laddy]

I think perhaps local and state is where the trend will need to be addressed.  On the national level a very few power brokers can be influenced by a very money brokers, and drown out the truth of the efforts made by our fore fathers in this conservation movement.  I think we would be better off if we don't alienate others in society that would like to preserve land for free healthy outdoor activities. As example, there are a lot of bird watchers, hikers, and canoeists out there.  Many of them hunt, I have run into guys that I taught how to shoot longbows in the middle of Canada on their own canoe trips.

[Mark Albrecht]

Right-on!!!!!!!

I hunt, I fish, I vote, but I also try to recruit non hunters and less commited hunters.  Forget the antis unless you just want to be frustrated. (I say forget as far as converting not as far as watching what they are up to or what they are saying)  I find many folks feel different about someone who puts time in and builds a bow or arrows and respects the land - both public and private.

I still think and hope that local grassroot action can and will influence public conscience.  That is the starting point.  Its the folks who value nature and are out in it that we can touch - but only if we conduct ourselves in a respectful and honorable fashion.

Kudos to you "laddy" for working to build our coalition of concerned outdoorsman!!!!!

[Bakes168]

Couldn't agree more, we don't need all of the newfangled things to have success or enjoy hunting.
It's kind of taking away the true essence of hunting.

[pobs]

as far as the whole outdoor TV thing is concerned, ever notice when you watch a hunting show there's those "this program sponsored in part by PSE, Mossy Oak, Easton, Bushnell etc. the companies themselves push a lot of the gear toting.

[Dittybopper]

Well pobs, I came to the conclusion that those shows are basically 1/2 hour commercials for the gear of the sponsors.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, per se, but you should keep in mind that their whole reason for sponsoring those shows is to make you buy their stuff.

[SL]

Yep, the prostitution of wildlife will force people to give it up. Everyone has a limit. I blame it all on Trophy Management and mindset. Some of my best hunts have been fruitless. You wont see that on the outdoor channel!

On a side note,my wife bought me some of your books...great reading! Take care.
SL

[Mitch-In-NJ]

Do we have a defeatist attitude or what?

All this talk of the "end of hunting".  I think it time we flexed our considerable muscle and fought back.

We talk of the antis not only with disdain but with fear.  Why?  Is their point of view that strong and that correct?  I don't think so, but even I feel overwhelmed by them at times.

What is it they possess that makes them so formidable?

Money, sure.  But more than that they have a message that the masses can sympathize with.  They protect puppies and kittens.  At least that's all that 90% of people know.

And that's how they market themselves.  And what do we do?  We argue that killing is right.  It's a very hard argument to make the non-hunter swallow.

We have our organizations.  The NRA does a good job getting word out about issues, mobilizing hunters / shooters and they have considerable political clout.  But they also have Ted Nugent as an outspoken member.  Not a symapthetic figure by any stretch.

And the NRA has a very poor public image.  From the moment Heston made his "cold, dead fingers" proclamation the NRA has been lambasted by every form of media.

What we need, I think, is an organization that is as sympathetic as the HSUS and whose message is not about fighting for our rights but protecting our planet or some such feel good message.

Why can't we exploit the parts of what we do that people can relate to?  Conservation, outdoor recreation, comradery.  We could be the "protect our natural resources from commercial development, spend time with family and friends, watching the sunset" group ... that also protects the rights of hunters, anglers and shooting enthusiasts ... just as the HSUS is the group that protects puppies and bunnies ... and is fiercly opposed to the killing or eating of animals.

Wouldn't having such an organization, well funded, be paramount?  And rather than be disgusted by technology and its invasion into hunting, let's use it to our advantage.  Let's bang on the doors of the companies that make and sell these things and get donations from them.

We'll never stop the industry from introducing new technology.  They are in it to make money and if they think you would buy a blood trailing light then they will build it.  So the best we can do is profit from their success.

Am I wrong?