Hunting is ‘slowly dying off,’ and that has created a crisis for the nation’s many endangered species

Washington Post via MSN News ^ | 3 Feburary 2020 | Frances Sellers

[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.

[voicereason]

They need more hunting especially of deer. Too many deer are killing off the local vegetation.

Depends where you are located. Pennsylvania deer hunting is nowhere the quality it once was. Tags for this, extra permits for this, and lots of money getting squandered by the Fish & Game Commission.

[polymuser]

“Sometimes I get a lot of crap on FR for being a New Yorker.”

I regularly visit mid- and upper-New York state, and I know they are NOT like NY City dwellers. Uh uh! The flyover people and land are great.

Would love to have experienced the Borscht Belt in its heyday.

[GingisK]

I, for one, did not teach my boys to hunt. I did, on the other hand, teach them orienteering, survival, and small unit tactics.

[Does so]

I’m starting to use the microphone in my Smartphone. If you say 100 into a cellphone’s microphone, your sentence makes sense.

Ever-easy to understand the “mis-translation”. :)

[dljordan]

“I did, on the other hand, teach them orienteering, survival, and small unit tactics.”

Very useful stuff.

[Does so]

U.S. population has doubled since I was born. Fortunately, my two rural dwellings (NH and Florida) wouldn’t object to a shot or two.

[Badboo]

Here is West by God Virginia, but the hunting took place in NC (eldest son), VA and WV (me), and PA (middle son).

My wife is the eldest of 12, with 2 brothers so that leaves 9 sisters. None of them hunt. Besides she is the looker of the bunch.

[Oatka]

The media still talks about gun control in terms of deer hunting. “No one needs an AR-15 to hunt deer”.