N.A. Apex predator.
Posted on 02/03/2020 6:45:21 AM PST by Alas Babylon!
snip: But today, that symbiosis is off kilter: Americans’ interest in hunting is on the decline, cutting into funding for conservation, which stems largely from hunting licenses, permits and taxes on firearms, bows and other equipment.
Even as more people are engaging in outdoor activities, hunting license sales have fallen from a peak of about 17 million in the early ’80s to 15 million last year, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data. The agency’s 2016 survey suggested a steeper decline to 11.5 million Americans who say they hunt, down more than 2 million from five years earlier.
“The downward trends are clear,” said Samantha Pedder of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, which works to increase the diversity of hunters.
The resulting financial shortfall is hitting many state wildlife agencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
There are huge areas that aren’t Outfitter controlled.
My mother made a lot of our clothes when I was a kid. Especially my sister’s stuff.
And if you go back to the 19th century and earlier. People didn’t just make their own clothes. They made their own CLOTH, from which they were made.
Times change. Heck, people prepare their own meals less and less today. The time, energy and cost of creating your own meals is approaching the point where it is cheaper to just buy it all prepared. And of course it is not as good as home made, but then, the same can be said for factory made clothing, often.
Too many wild feral hogs (mixed Russian boar and tame hogs gone wild) are hit by cars and pickups. Usually with heavy damage to the vehicle.
And too many fields of grain destroyed by hogs. It is impossible with heavy hunting pressure, traping, and even hunting from helicopters to control the population. Much less to eliminate them.
The gun grabber can simply forget that crap in Texas. Not going to happen. Ever. “Period”
That maybe so but in KS and Southern CO where I am familiar with, it is all controlled by outfitters.
Several partials of ground in KS always sell to out of state Doctors and etc who purchase for hunting. They kick the cows off and then the area becomes overgrown with red cedar trees that choke off the grass. Makes great deer habitat though!
I know a really good place to go deer hunting.
My back yard!
There are still fabric bolts sold and in demand. No, those days are not gone.
I don’t hunt anymore - too much work. Although I think hunters and hunting are a good thing, I’ve gotten too old with too many joint problems to tramp through the woods.
To that end I own both a Ruger Mini 14 and 30 Ranch Rifle. The Mini 30 fires a 7.62X39MM (AK-47) round. Soft or hollow points excellent for White Tail Deer. I don’t buy cheap Commie ammo either. Only Use Federal American Eagle.
And the guns don’t look scary. Not that I mind, but I don’t have to worry about some snowflake calling the sheriff when I’m out and about with ‘em.
Dear lefties,
Don’t complain when these critters eat your precious flowers, your, ahem, grass plants, your imported bushes.
It’s your own damn fault!
Yup, you and me both. I let others do the hunting for me and give me some meat.
I do still plant a large garden, and want my land hunted to keep Bambi and his relatives OUT.
You are correct. The fees and licenses are $$$ with no guarantee of success. I can buy farm raised for about the same cost per pound as a license on the hoof and get it year round.
I’m in southwestern Colorado and yes, there are many outfitters, but more people hunt without using an outfitter.
That is the problem here in New England. The farms have all been turned into subdivisions. However, there are small tracks of woods everywhere. NH is now the most forested state in the country. All the land that was cleared for farming in the 1800’s grew back with trees. The deer, bear, turkeys, coyotes, fischer cats, bobcats and even occasionally moose are all living in the suburbs where it is almost impossible to hunt with a gun.
We had 9 deer go through our 12 acre property on Friday afternoon. My son took a video with his cell phone as he was pulling in the driveway. A beautiful 10 point buck was bringing up the rear of the herd. However, even on my property it is hard to find a spot that is not within 500 feet of my closest neighbor’s house to fire a gun during hunting season.
We tend to have bigger single family building lots here in NH. So, the wild game have learned that they can live in our backyards. The lack of dairy farms means there are no more large plots of corn for the deer to eat. The deer around here eat acorns, apples and twigs.
Turkeys are everywhere around here. Twenty years ago is was rare to see them. Now, it is rare to have a day when you do not see them. I have seen flocks of over 30 birds. I had two toms and two jakes hanging out on my property all last summer. They were so accustomed to us that I could walk up within 25’ of them before they would move. Every night they would roost in the white pine trees out front by the road.
Shooting them would not exactly be hunting. It would just be culling the flock. The issue is, I am not a big fan of turkey anyway. Now, IF I could hunt for rack of lamb, I am in.
I still remember brutal anti-hunting and anti-gun TV shows from the 1970s. SAY GOODBY and THE GUNS OF AUTUMN.
Some of the shooting scenes were fabricated, especially the Polar Bear hunt. It was a tagging operation passed off as the killing of Polar bears.
12 acres? Know any bow hunters? Tell them about that 10 point and invite them over!
Is that the one where they were shooting the bears from planes and helicopters?
That’s right. I grew up on a ranch and we never bought hunting licenses.
N.A. Apex predator.
I haven’t been able to verify this story but when we first moved to New York this is what we heard. NYC owns Cannonsville Reservoir and one year they shut down deer hunting on it. A few years later during an extremely hard winter supposedly 30,000 deer starved to death. The story continued saying you could drive down country roads and see some just keel over. If anyone has more info on this reply. In any case, this will probably happen if hunting dies off.
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