Comments by Eric Dinger
USA – -(Ammoland.com)-The future of conservation in this country relies heavily on our collective ability to reverse a devastating trend in hunter participation. Preliminary findings of U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (see below) indicate a 5-year fall-off of over 2 million hunters.
Since 1980, hunter numbers have fallen from nearly 18 million to the current count of 10.5 million. The preliminary findings are summarized well here. It’s never been more clear that now is the time to act.
But what can we do about it?
1. The Pittman-Robertson Modernization Act, which would afford state agencies the latitude they need to more strategically use their PR dollars is stalled in the House Committee on Natural Resources. Consider writing your Representative, urging him or her to ask Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, Chair of the Committee, to call a hearing on the bill. To get you started, here is the copy of the letter I wrote to the elected leaders from Nebraska.
2. No matter who you work for or what you do, if you make your money in the hunting industry, part of your job description should now include recruiting, retaining, and reactivating hunters. To learn more about what that means, please consider joining The Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports community, at www.nationalr3plan.com. It’s a free industry-member-only resource filled with helpful tools, plans, and conversation.
3. Accept the fact that the world has changed and will continue to do so. We are not going to rid the world of video games and cell phones. There’s nothing we can do about 80-game soccer leagues for 10 year-olds. People are going to continue to move away from rural areas. Families are going to lose their farms to inheritance taxes. Baby boomers are going to age out of their hunting days in the next 10 years. Lack of access is choking us, but hunting leases are going to continue to eat up large tracts of land.
Anti-hunting and anti-gun organizations are only going to pick up steam during this presidency – just like gun and ammo sales picked up steam during the last presidency.
Millennials are going to continue hunting for different reasons than generations-past. As an industry, we need to focus on creating solutions inside of the constraints of these tectonic realities. Here are some examples of things each of us can do;
- 1) hold a wild game feed and invite the families from the soccer team,
- 2) start a trap league, rather than joining a golf league,
- 3) build hunting opportunities for youth in programs like National Archery in the Schools, and high school trap teams,
- 4) invite a friend or neighbor to come along on your next hunting trip,
- 5) take the National Hunting and Fishing Day Pledge and invite someone as soon as you’re done – maybe even consider purposefully inviting someone who doesn’t look or think like you.
4. Remember what got you into hunting. It’s the only thing that works nearly every time: mentoring. If you have the time to be matched long-term with a mentor, please visit this form and submit your information. From there we’ll introduce you to the closest mentoring program we know of in your area. If you don’t have the time to mentor in-person, please consider becoming a Digital Mentor in the Powderhook app. It’ll take you a minute or two a week. If you’re part of an outdoor industry company and you’re interested in learning about how mentoring is the best form of marketing, get in touch with us here.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the “Orange Army” to engage. Each of us needs to do more, and we need to start now.
Sincerely,
Eric Dinger
Sorry, but I don’t buy anything the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service puts out. They are the ones who used trumped up, B.S. data to require steel shot for waterfowl hunting. They are the ones running the B.S. wolf re-introduction program in New Mexico and Arizona, which is nothing but a tree-hugger, Tofu-eating, Vegan butt-kissing scam and joke. I’ve seen these clowns in action over the years and if you think BATFE is bad, these guys are their little brat brother who would rather arrest and prosecute hunters on violating B.S. regulations than actually do something pro-hunting.
Why are perfectly reasonable & relevant posts being censored/removed?
If conservation is the only goal, why does it matter where the funding comes from? If you all care for the environment why not fund conservation with tax payer money?
This is not new news. Perhaps, instead of spending millions of $ to recruit possible hunters in a dying sport except for the wealthy, perhaps we should learn how to capitalize on the wildlife-watching sector, which has been steadily growing for years. The modern world is shifting to value wildlife alive. We should shift with it. Trophy hunting and trapping for fun and fur are shifting out of public favor as well. There will be no stop to this trend. Our world is rapidly losing wild habitat, which means we all lose. And people crave those moments when viewing wildlife… Read more »
This statement is very misleading: “Families are going to lose their farms to inheritance taxes”. If the decedent’s estate is valued at less than $5.3 million for an individual ($11.6 million for a couple), then there is no federal estate tax. There is no estate tax if transferred to a spouse. The estate tax affects less than 1% of the population. Of the actual number of family farms hit by the estate tax, only 20 farms in 2013 paid estate taxes and NO farms have been reported sold to pay off an estate tax debt. (there are about 2.1 million… Read more »
“Hunting” means different things to different people. Some people call it setting up a feeder and a blind 100 yards apart, getting dropped off an hour before dawn, and shooting the animal that comes to eat. I call that “baiting” and any fool can do that. Some people charge thousands of dollars per year to lease a small “lane” with a stand and feeder. If you want to “hunt”, then hunt but, if you “bait”, don’t call that “hunting”. Learn some field craft and, track and stalk your prey. Then, you can say you “hunt”.
I’m a farmer, who has tried to offer opportunities to young people to hunt. Although license fees, processing costs (not everyone is confident in cutting up their own deer) and the expenses of equipment that peer pressure label as essential, are an impediment to young landless hunters most do not stop hunting because of economic reasons. “People Suck” is the fact that I feel most threatens the future of hunting. Hunters who poach, steal treestands and trail cameras outright or by use and often give other hunters and landowners headaches with bad behaviors are what get posted signs erected, leases… Read more »
Overall, the gun and hunting community has not done a very good job in education and introduction to hunting and the shooting sports. Sure there are some programs that address each, but they are particular to a geographic region. Those areas that have large open spaces and a pro-gun/hunting culture. Those areas are not where growth of the hunting and shooting numbers will come from. Also, with private gun clubs and hunting clubs, they close membership to few and close out anyone who is not a friend, family or close associate of the core members. Other reason for the decline… Read more »
Big increases in license fees can only serve as a deterrent – they certainly have in my case.