# of hunters down my butt

[Steelhead]

I would like to know about bowhunting numbers and trends in that specific arena of hunting.

It may have peaked and leveled off a few years back maybe and may be on the decline possibly?maybe not?

But currant bowhunters compared to when I started bowhunting 25 years ago.I would bet the number of bowhunters has dramatically increased!!!

It would be interesting to see data on that from  bowhunting license/tag sales.See what the curve looks like over the last 30 years or so

[Aim Small]

I find more bowhunters in the woods and also it has become harder to get the coveted privae land spots for deer hunting of any kind in my neck of the woods.  I hunt geese also and have yet to be turned down, but with these waterfowling programs on TV on the rise that may get harder to come by too.  
TV Advertizing=exposure and people
land base dropping drastically=crowds

The other side is the "big woods" I hunt in the Alleghany National Forest area sees less people than it once did.

I went out to do a little scouting and did not see one deer.  I saw a humming bird and an elk.  There are not too many people in Northwest Iowa elk hunting these days.  But come this weekend with the overlap of youth season and archery opener it will be a war zone.  I will not get into everything that I have seen with the youth season thing, but dads need to show the kids how to be both safe and legal.  The barrage of shots that were taken last year an hour plus after sun down did not impress me at all.  Nothing is worse than having an overzealous father getting his kids to shoot at a deer way after legal shooting hours.  I maybe should have bought that farm last year and declared it a longbow only zone.  It is way too crowded around here.

[-Achilles-]

They raised the squirrel limit from 6 to 10 because of lack of hunters here.The only time I see many hunters is during gun season.I never run into a bowhunter during bow season unless its someone with me.

There is no question that hunting numbers are going down overall.

[Clint B.]

In my area, it seems that more and more private land is posted. Either no hunting is allowed at all or hunting permission is very restricted. A recent trend is that the land is leased to just a few hunters.  This confines the bulk of the hunters to public lands and private lands where hunting is still allowed.

Studies have shown that if you get 1/4 mile or more away from the nearest road or trail that can be accessed by vehicles, you will start to lose most of the other hunters. They say many hunters don't like to stray too far from their vehicle for fear of getting lost or not being able to walk very far or simply not wanting to walk. One of these researchers suggested that you take your topo map and shade in a 1/4 mile buffer zone along each side of all such roads. The unshaded areas left between the roads would be considered sanctuary areas for deer when pressured by hunters. Your strategy would be to hike back into the thick cover very early and be waiting there when the other hunters move the deer toward you.

This strategy doesn't seem to apply to most of my hunting areas, which are mostly small woodlots, well broken up by county roads, farm roads and pastures you can easily drive through. It should work in large forested areas though.

[helo]

In my neck of the woods I ran into more bowhunters this year than I ever have. In canyons that I have bowhunted since I was knee high to a grasshopper in which I had to myself and a couple of other guys it was a joke this year so for my part of the woods bowhunter numbers are not down. Cant speak for other areas but around here no shortage of hunters.

[mrjsl]

Originally posted by Clint B.:
In my area, it seems that more and more private land is posted. Either no hunting is allowed at all or hunting permission is very restricted. A recent trend is that the land is leased to just a few hunters.  This confines the bulk of the hunters to public lands and private lands where hunting is still allowed.

Studies have shown that if you get 1/4 mile or more away from the nearest road or trail that can be accessed by vehicles, you will start to lose most of the other hunters. They say many hunters don't like to stray too far from their vehicle for fear of getting lost or not being able to walk very far or simply not wanting to walk. One of these researchers suggested that you take your topo map and shade in a 1/4 mile buffer zone along each side of all such roads. The unshaded areas left between the roads would be considered sanctuary areas for deer when pressured by hunters. Your strategy would be to hike back into the thick cover very early and be waiting there when the other hunters move the deer toward you.

This strategy doesn't seem to apply to most of my hunting areas, which are mostly small woodlots, well broken up by county roads, farm roads and pastures you can easily drive through. It should work in large forested areas though.

This was my first personal strategy for deer hunting. I hunt big woods / swamps. My buddy and I took a map of a NWR and ruled out anything within a mile of where a car could go, and 1/4 mile from where any boat could go under power. That focused us on a small area in the center of a 20,000 acre refuge which we accessed by boat and a whole lot of walking, and over the years that followed we killed a lot of deer out of that area.

We found other areas close to navigable water that people overlooked as well, but we had success right from the start by ruling out 80% of the NWR with our one mile rule.

[Joed]

25 year old new hunter here from a non hunting family. Shot a bow as a kid and now feel like it's time to learn and experience some ancient knowledge. I have been going out into my woods and have been within shooting distance of a buck and a doe but im not eager to take a shot yet. Right now im more concerned with learning and teaching myself to be a proficient outdoorsman. If this culture I have grown up in and the current state of our country has taught me anything it's to slow down and learn all it takes to care for myself and family and among many new things to learn and try on  top is  the ability to procure my own food.

[Shifting Shadow]

Hunting public land in North Dakota I have never seen another hunter outside of our group. But then we have more deer than people in our State. Gosh, I dind't realize we have that many people, lol.