10 million hunters

[daisygordoninc]

I read in this months issue of Guns and Ammo there are 10 million hunters
in America, and 9 million hunt only deer. That really surprises me, in Oregon
there are so many elk hunters and quite a few bear hunters, plus Antelope, etc.
Does that figure seem right to those of you who hunt for game other than deer?

[fordwannabe]

In Pennsylvania the number of hunters who hunt other than just deer s very small.

[Pisgah]

Does that figure seem right to those of you who hunt for game other than deer?

Yep. Here in SC, we have only deer and wild turkeys, plus a few bears in the NW corner of the state, that are classed as big game animals.
Coyotes are plentiful all over the state, and hogs in about half the state. They are classified non-game animals and can be hunted year-round on private land, but comparatively few folks seem interested. Small game, of course, is plentiful, but whereas every kid I knew went all-out for squirrels and rabbits in my youth that culture has pretty much died out as populations become less rural and kids migrate more to the fake world of computer games and social media and away from real-life pursuits like spending a morning in the woods with buddies. Nowadays in SC, there are probably 10 deer hunters for every squirrel hunter, 20 deer hunters for every rabbit hunter, and 100 deer hunters for every quail hunter.

[Pete44ru]

.

There's no question that the orchestrated drives by well-funded anti's (PETA, HSUS, et al) to vilify the words/language of hunting, giving human names to wild animals, and working to give human voice/rights to animals, is having an effect in driving down the number of hunters, starting at the base of our society - by "teaching" very young school children their mantra that the survival of the fittest no longer applies.

Hunters absolutely need to get non-hunters, young or adult, involved so halt or delay the decline of hunting - since it's the most direct way to combat the decline.

Hunting is a primary way that many American firearms owners use their firearms - the personal ownership & USE of firearms the thrust of the 2nd Amendment - and if that Constitutional freedom is not exercised , it will soon cease to exist.

.

[ywaltzucanrknrl]

I've read articles that pretty much say the same----I think the Midwest and Corn Belt has pretty high populations of folks that pretty much hunt deer. Not many opportunities for elk in those areas and lots of deer licenses and hunters, but I do see a lot of hunters here in the Rockies hunting for elk---both resident and non resident----in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, but I think they are still a minority compared to the deer hunters in states in the Midwest.

[daisygordoninc]

Because I grew up here in Western Oregon in the coast range mountains we had much game to hunt,
deer were only one of several things we hunted. Usually bears were killed while we were hunting
deer, no tags needed in those days. My 2nd grade teacher's husband was a trapper and usually brought
freshly killed cougars and bobcats or bears to our grade school for all of us to see. When I was just
old enough to hunt deer with my dad, maybe 11 or 12, we killed a black "timber wolf" very large,
while hunting deer. We thought we were doing the animals a favor to get rid of a well know killer.
I wished we had done the hide, but my dad didn't want to spend the time or money on that in those
days. I've been told by people who have heard my story that there were no wolfs in Oregon during
those years, sorry they are wrong.

[AJMD429]

All I've ever hunted is groundhog and whitetail deer, and the only other critters I shoot much are ferals (cats or dogs), raccoons, possums, and English House Sparrows (invasive pest species). Never was much for rabbit hunting or squirrel hunting, but if I can delete a coyote or horsefly I will; both seem equally hard to shoot.

I'd like to add elk, moose, wild hog, or alligator to the list someday.

My 2nd grade teacher's husband was a trapper and usually brought freshly killed cougars and bobcats or bears to our grade school for all of us to see.

Can you even imagine the fit the Snowflake Generation would have with that now....??

[daisygordoninc]

Yes, I have thought about that, we once tied a dead bobcat in one of the high school girls
locker before she arrived at school, and then followed her to her locker as she opened the
door and saw the bobcat looking straight into her face. I can still remember her scream.
We actually liked the girl and were friends with her, people had a better sense of humor in
those days. Today I suppose we would have been sent to jail.
At that same high school our principal came out to our cars in the parking lot and looked at
our hunting rifles because he liked hunting and rifles himself. He was tough with discipline
but very relational and we liked him.