I'm curious how far back folks go into public ground, most I've seen around here only travel about 100 yards from the entrance which explains some of the density problems. Before buying my own ground I looked into one of those wheeled contraptions that you take deer out on as a way to take a one man camp deeper into the woods.
Yep, I've got believe that there are less deer hunters today than in 2012..
2013 - 190,571 - 314,877
2016 - 169,801 - 314,283
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Two points here. Add more public land for the public to hunt. Access issues are driving people out of hunting. Less ground is owned by small farmers that used to give permission and most farming is large corporations that don’t even have a door you can knock on to try.
Second, if revenues are the concern how about we introduce some elk into the Hoosier national forest. Kentucky took in over 700k in 2015 from application fees alone. They could do like some western states and require purchasing a hunting license to apply. Elk are a huge monetary asset to every state that has a huntable population and I believe that we have enough public land in the south to support a couple thousand.
5 years in a row the privileges were steady. 2017 shows a 4% drop.
Going back to the original post, I do not see a drop in hunters by 100,000.
Nobody willing to teach me any of this ****. No land to hunt on that isn't swarming with other people to the point that I've *never* seen a deer on public land once in my life. Nonsensical caliber restrictions that require me to go out and buy a new pistol caliber deer rifle specifically to hunt with. Regular firearms season that's only two weeks. Ownership of huntable land is a pipe dream. The deer are quite comfortable staying in the cities where there is ample food and no predators.
Uh, yeah, is it any wonder deer hunting is increasingly an option only for a privileged few?
Lots of excuses are available though. A bit of envy too?
If all you do is sneer at new people who want to break into hunting, you have no right to complain when hunting becomes a thing of the past.