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Thread: JWM: The new face of hunting

  1. #1
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    JWM: The new face of hunting


    In a survey of college students, researchers found those interested in hunting came from more diverse backgrounds than traditional hunters. Credit: Vidal Nordli-Mathisen

    https://wildlife.org/jwm-the-new-face-of-hunting/

    As the number of hunters wanes and agencies look to boost their ranks, they may be looking in the wrong places.

    The next generation of hunters in the U.S. may look very different from past generations, researchers found. Instead of focusing on the usual white, rural males, recruitment efforts may find more success targeting interested hunters who are more diverse in terms of gender, race and ethnicity.

    These potential hunters “look totally different from the current hunting population,” said TWS member Lincoln Larson, a co-author of a study of college students’ interest in hunting published in the Journal of Wildlife Management. “That was exciting for us — to see this profound interest in hunting in these groups that have no connection to hunting in the past.”
    An associate professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at North Carolina State University, Larson and his team surveyed 17,203 undergraduate students and public universities in 22 states from 2018 to 2020 to gauge their perspectives on hunting.

    Most current hunters fit the traditional mold, his team found. They were overwhelmingly white and male and came from rural areas. But the picture shifted when the researchers looked at potential hunters — students who had no hunting experience but were interested in trying it. Among that group, 47% were female, and 38% identified as Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Asian, American Indian or other. Forty-three percent of these potential hunters came from urban hometowns, and 74% had no immediate family members who hunt.
    “The most interesting thing to me is this potential hunting group,” Larson said. “If you can get them to understand hunting, to appreciate it, to support it and become a hunting advocate, that’s huge for the future of wildlife management and conservation in general.”

    Hunting has historically played an important role in wildlife management and conservation in the United States. Hunting licenses help fund state wildlife agencies, and taxes on firearms and ammunition fund federal dollars that go to state wildlife conservation efforts.

    But in recent decades, the number of hunters in the U.S. have been on the decline, resulting in so-called R3 initiatives to boost hunter recruitment, retention and reactivation. Those efforts may be missing the greatest potential for new hunters, though, Larson said.

    “If you keep preaching to the choir, you’re going to get the same results,” he said. “Consistently, we’re seeing R3 efforts doubling down on the same populations: young, white males in rural areas. Many of those people would become future hunters without any sort of intervention.”

    In still unpublished research, Larson looked at college workshops aimed at nonhunters and found what he said were promising results. Those programs may need to be structured differently from traditional hunting courses, though, he said, since their participants may be hunting for different reasons than their predecessors. Many have no cultural or family ties to the activity, Larson said, and they are more interested in “ethically-sourced meat” or connections to conservation than a trophy on the wall.

    College is an ideal time to reach out to these potential hunters, Larson said, because it is a time when many young people are seeking new identities and new activities they may carry with them for the rest of their lives.

    Recruiting college students may not just create more hunters, Larson said. It may create more support for wildlife conservation too.
    “There is an opportunity here,” he said, “if we approach it the right way.”

    David Frey is managing editor at The Wildlife Society. Contact him at dfrey@wildlife.org with any questions or comments about his article. Read more of David's articles here.You can follow him on Twitter at @davidmfrey.
    Last edited by silveragent; 07-13-2021 at 09:11 AM.

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  3. #2
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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    The biggest problems facing hunting today is lack of animals.
    Lack of animals due to lack of habitat and living space for animals.
    You can recruit billion man armies to the show but if they don't bring home the bacon most of them will drop out.
    There are very few places on earth anymore that have truly wild animals. (BC, Alaska and Russia)
    And even BC and Alaska and slowly being depleted.
    Any place on earth popular with humans is going to be low on wildlife.

    I was watching some documentaries recently regarding European wildlife and in some countries where human population has decreased by as much as 15 % in the past decade, some wildlife species are making a comeback.
    Some south central and south eastern European countries that have mountain ranges, lynx, bear, wolves and foxes are coming back in good numbers.
    Human population growth is a good indicator of wildlife status.
    Sure as day.
    1. Human over population
    2. Government burden and overreach

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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    Quote Originally Posted by adriaticum View Post
    The biggest problems facing hunting today is lack of animals.
    Lack of animals due to lack of habitat and living space for animals.
    You can recruit billion man armies to the show but if they don't bring home the bacon most of them will drop out.
    There are very few places on earth anymore that have truly wild animals. (BC, Alaska and Russia)
    And even BC and Alaska and slowly being depleted.
    Any place on earth popular with humans is going to be low on wildlife.

    I was watching some documentaries recently regarding European wildlife and in some countries where human population has decreased by as much as 15 % in the past decade, some wildlife species are making a comeback.
    Some south central and south eastern European countries that have mountain ranges, lynx, bear, wolves and foxes are coming back in good numbers.
    Human population growth is a good indicator of wildlife status.
    Sure as day.

    You make it sound like wildlife will disappear in BC and Alaska.
    However it couldn't be further from the truth.
    We have an ever increasing population of bears, mule deer is in good shape, elk stable, moose numbers are low, so is caribou.
    Even though hunting success might decrease, but I don't think to an alarming rate.
    Those who live in the interior will always manage to bring home the bacon.
    Just like anytime in history, some species decline, while others are on the rebound.
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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    Quote Originally Posted by wildcatter View Post
    You make it sound like wildlife will disappear in BC and Alaska.
    However it couldn't be further from the truth.
    We have an ever increasing population of bears, mule deer is in good shape, elk stable, moose numbers are low, so is caribou.
    Even though hunting success might decrease, but I don't think to an alarming rate.
    Those who live in the interior will always manage to bring home the bacon.
    Just like anytime in history, some species decline, while others are on the rebound.

    Big game species are on the decline everywhere where numbers of people are increasing.
    Why would BC be any different?
    In 1990 BC human population was 3.2M.
    Today BC has 5.2 M.
    30 years almost doubled.
    You tell me where things are going.


    Elk population is stable from last year, but 50 percent lower than 10 years ago.
    That doesn't mean it's stable.
    1. Human over population
    2. Government burden and overreach

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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    I hunt as part of the culture war. I've no desire to change the image of hunting.
    Quote Originally Posted by ElectricDyck View Post
    ....i dont buy ** fish ..its like buying your stolen tools back from a crack head..

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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    The biggest threat to hunters is the giving control or just plane losing opportunity to the nation within a nation, banning of guns and banning of hunts because its deemed unethical. I think amount of animals and habitat is way down the list of threats..
    "Our arrows will block out the sun!" "Then we shall fight in the dark!" K.L. Government is not the solution to our problem, it is the problem. R.R. “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” M.F. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClJ...fYFveARiWyqjQA

  8. #7
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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    John Barness, the writer, had a great line about it. "The area I use to hunt, is now a housing development." We in BC are lucky.

    Hunting involves a much greater study of your surroundings than say just hiking through the wilderness. More effort in looking, the more you see God's great gift.

  9. #8
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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    Quote Originally Posted by Surrey Boy View Post
    I hunt as part of the culture war. I've no desire to change the image of hunting.
    Using hunting as a tool in your "culture war" is abhorrent. All you are doing is harming fellow hunters.

  10. #9
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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    Quote Originally Posted by Danny_29 View Post
    Using hunting as a tool in your "culture war" is abhorrent. All you are doing is harming fellow hunters.
    I have a traditional family too.
    Quote Originally Posted by ElectricDyck View Post
    ....i dont buy ** fish ..its like buying your stolen tools back from a crack head..

  11. #10
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    Re: JWM: The new face of hunting

    Quote Originally Posted by Surrey Boy View Post
    I have a traditional family too.
    You are an abhorrent human being, you patriarchal tyrant!!!

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