Are we to blame for the decline in hunting as well?

I don't know what it is these days, but some hunters feel the need to segregate certain forms of hunting. Ammo choices, crossbows, distance shooting...the list goes on and on.

Some guys hate the commercialization of hunting...I personally love it. I love it, because my 12 year old loves some of the new, action packed, high tempo hunting shows that are on the market. He enjoys the action, the excitement, the music...Its stimulating to the younger market, and that is exactly what hunting needs.

You may not like the new "plastic" guns, or the electronics, or any of the other new "high tech" tools of the trade, but at least take comfort in knowing that it is drawing in a younger generation to a sport we all love. And just remember, they will eventually become old as dirt and forget how to use all those stupid electronics and will find their way to a more traditional style of hunting :p.
 
old hound said:
just get the proper licenses and find some crown land. Get a map, a knife and a compass. At first follow a creek or ridge so as you can not get lost. Just enjoy the outdoors.
If you see game relax, it is your choice as to shoot or not. Know your limitations. If you do down a deer, first cut its throat so as the blood will drain out. Then you can figure out how to get the hide off of it.
There has to books etc of how to dress a deer or any other animal. Help yourself a bit. Have fun. Sorry Joe for hijacking your thread.
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To a certain extent that all depends on your circumstance. Nearest crown land from me is about Gravenhurst that I am aware of which is 3 hours away. Only have one car in the family drop wife off at 9 am drive three hours north hunt from 12 pm till 3pm drive back pick up at 6 pm. with the current price of gas i just don't see that happening. Wife still needs to get to work and when she is on vacation for some reason she wants me home. I tried seeing about her taking time off in November but that's a no go her company is way to busy getting ready for Christmas. Lets not even get into the fact I need someone to watch the kids while I go play.

As compared to living in MB I could have taken a gun to work and gone hunting right outside after work. Rabbit, Prairie Chickens, Deer , hell at one point I had a deer on my porch during a Saturday in June while I was drinking a coffee. I sat still and she walked right past me It's all about where you live.
 
ninepointer said:
JoeNWT is right about the tendancy for us to act like know-it-alls and rain on a beginner's parade. This is not a good thing. But like someone else pointed out, access to hunting opportunities is by far a bigger problem.

Here' a challenge to every "established" hunter on this board. Take a beginner hunting this fall. You'll be glad you did, and I guarantee that the beginner will never forget it.
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I like this idea!

Im new I got a 30-30 and everything but I have no clue where to go the laws and all that other stuff make it sound like I need to go to the end of Canada to be allowed to shoot my guns.
 
Thanks all, for the replies and don't take this post as a call to end a good discussion. I was just wondering where many stood with regards to the intricacies of different firearms and how they applied to new hunters/shooters. While it's great to want to share your knowledge, it's important to remember not to overwhelm the new guys. Let them have their fun, once they're hooked they will have plenty of time to become know-it-alls!;):p

I sympathize with those that are finding it difficult to find places to hunt. I'm spoiled rotten here; I can literally drive 20mins from my house and hunt til my heart's content for some game. But you know what? For other game (deer) I have to MAKE time to drive great distances. And I do and I still love it. So yes, sometimes hunting is not quite so easy as it once was, but all it really takes is some extra effort.

Anyway gents, carry on!:)
 
CompBoy said:
To a certain extent that all depends on your circumstance. Nearest crown land from me is about Gravenhurst that I am aware of which is 3 hours away. Only have one car in the family drop wife off at 9 am drive three hours north hunt from 12 pm till 3pm drive back pick up at 6 pm. with the current price of gas i just don't see that happening. Wife still needs to get to work and when she is on vacation for some reason she wants me home. I tried seeing about her taking time off in November but that's a no go her company is way to busy getting ready for Christmas. Lets not even get into the fact I need someone to watch the kids while I go play.

As compared to living in MB I could have taken a gun to work and gone hunting right outside after work. Rabbit, Prairie Chickens, Deer , hell at one point I had a deer on my porch during a Saturday in June while I was drinking a coffee. I sat still and she walked right past me It's all about where you live.
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very true.
 
I was a kid that started in a similar fashion with a Churchill Arms LE #4 sporter. Although I could recite loads and ballistics by rote, I wish someone had taken me by the hand and shown me the basics of field marksmanship and the proper use of iron sights. Instead I had to figure it out for myself, and more than once I thought good shooting was beyond me. The learning curve didn't need to be so long.
 
brybenn said:
In southern ontario its the boom in turkey hunters that's closing up a lot of access. In years past I could sit in my tree stand the entire season and see no other soul. Now I have to kick new hunters out of my stand and ##### them out for trespassing.
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The blame does not lie solely with turkey hunters. Most of the problems we've encountered happened during shotgun-only deer season. When you've had the pleasure of some #### in blaze orange pounding on your door on the first morning of hunting season asking for access or finding armed tresspassers on your land then you begin to understand just how pissed off rural people get with s**t-for-brains asswipes who come in from neighbouring urban areas intending to hunt. Throw in unrecovered game, game shot illegally, near misses with livestock and horses, trash and beer cans on the side of road and hunting season becomes a very unwelcome part of the year.

My land is posted. I am the only one who hunts on it. During the shotgun-only deer season I will not walk the bushlot without wearing blaze orange at the very least.
 
Never mind. I was going to saw something profound, then realized that what's the point. The situation is what it is and there is very little momentum in the winds that would change things. We either seek to change things through action or just remain silent. So I bid you goodbye.
 
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Maybe Ontario needs to follow the example of Alberta. The Alberta Hunter Education Instructors Association is mandated to run the firearms safety program and the hunter safety program for the province. They are also mandated to promote hunting. The result is that youth and women hunters continue to grow annually, bowhunter numbers increase on average of 5% annually and we see regular growth in the number of hunters. The program also promotes fishing and trapping. They run a number of programs to support hunting including a provincial mentoring program. The province also supports a stakeholders meeting which allows hunting and fishing organizations to provide direct input into the regulations concerning hunting, fishing and trapping. God bless Alberta!
 
Morpheus32 said:
Maybe Ontario needs to follow the example of Alberta. The Alberta Hunter Education Instructors Association is mandated to run the firearms safety program and the hunter safety program for the province. They are also mandated to promote hunting. The result is that youth and women hunters continue to grow annually, bowhunter numbers increase on average of 5% annually and we see regular growth in the number of hunters. The program also promotes fishing and trapping. They run a number of programs to support hunting including a provincial mentoring program. The province also supports a stakeholders meeting which allows hunting and fishing organizations to provide direct input into the regulations concerning hunting, fishing and trapping. God bless Alberta!
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I'm not sure as to what Ont does in regards to hunter education. I wouldn't think it would be too much the past while with mr mcquinty at the helm.
I know years back they did run a trapper coarse.
God bless Alberta is right.
 
powdergun said:
The decline in hunting has a lot more to do than the barrage of info a newbie faces. In my experience the largest factor is the frustration with access.

New hunters hear story after story about " the good old days " or great hunts many of us have had. However, when they start hunting many of the places they have access to are over crowded, posted, or just too far away. This can shut down a prospective hunter pretty quickly.

Land that was once accessible is now filled with acreages and any most hunters tend to keep the best spots to themselves.

Another factor is the general attitude of many of the younger generation ( Not all of them so no offense intended). They are raised to have an attention span of 30 seconds and everything must be fun and provide immediate feedback. How many newbies are willing to to hunt for an entire season and never see a legal animal or go fishing for five hours without a bite. When I was young I never pulled the trigger on a deer four two years and I fished all summer and caught less than ten fish. As I got older things changed and my successes improved.

I don't think all the gun techno jargon is the reason for declining hunters. The reason can best be described by an experience I've had.

I was asking permision to hunt on a fellows land. He said go ahead. He had a son and I asked if his boy liked hunting. He said he was too busy playing video games. If any of us grew up on a farm in prime deer country would we be spending a saturday in hunting season on the couch pushing little buttons ?
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I agree with this, as a new hunter, the most difficult part of getting into it is the availability of land, and associated costs(courses, gas, gear(aside from guns)). As for all the gun jargon, and technical arguments people have, I personally found them interesting.
 
CompBoy said:
In Ontario we need less hunters not more it's hard to find land to hunt.
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Now that's an awesome attitude to have...

The problem isn't too many hunters, the problem is too many hunters who live in the city try to hunt to the only available land within an hour of their home...take a drive, you'd be amazed at how much land there really is.
 
I used a 303 for two years and then got my hands on the 30-30 rem as I was in the bush more then open fields. I also cut the weight by (it felt like) 20 lbs.
I would say the majority of hunters prob started off with a 303 maybe that might be a good pole to start as to what was peoples first "hunting" rifle.
 
Best is the enemy of good.

joe-nwt said:
Do we make shooting in general far more complicated for the average newbie than it really needs to be?
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I do. Not that I want to or intend to, but I do.
"The best is the enemy of good." — Voltaire
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I'm sure that statement (attributed to Voltaire) is true, and I try to remember it.

P.S.: Great thread!
 
Hi, I'm fhg1893, and I'm a newbie hunter! I'm looking to hunt waterfowl this year, and if I meet the right person, I'd love to try something bigger.

I've joined my local skeet/trap club, with the intention of finding more experienced hunters who wouldn't mind showing a courteous, serious newbie the ropes.

I've personally taken three different people to the club, as my guests in the past three months to try to grow the shooting community. One of my guests passed his exam two or three weeks after I took him to the club. Now, every time he talks to me, he's talking about what shotgun to buy. One of the others is going through some troubles just now, but wants to get geared up once he gets himself sorted out.

You know what I've been told when I've asked the probing questions? I've been told that most hunters don't want to do this because they're afraid that the newbs will move in on their favorite hunting spots, and they won't be able to get any game.

So to those who have that mentality, thanks very much for showing me exactly what not to do.

I'll manage to get out and hunt anyway!

Thanks to some cliquish hunters, I'm finding it really hard to keep slogging away and keep my morale up. Everything is crazy expensive.

I'm not going to let a few elitists stop me, but it sure as hell would be helpful if someone would be good enough to take me out and help me getting started. I'd be real happy to express my gratitude to such an individual with a two-four, or some other meaningful token of my appreciation.

But given how things have gone for me so far, I'm not about to hold my breath.
 
I have been around guns my whole life and hunted with my uncles since I was able to walk, and this site, and many others, is often sort of intimadating to me when I ask a question. Kind of like the guy who asks " Should I get a 22 as my first rifle?" At first its, no get a 22-250 then At the end he is getting told to get a .338 win mag because it will kill a gopher and an alaskan grizzley. So he gets the .338 tikka for $1200, buys a $30 box a bullets, takes one shot, blows his shoulder apart and gets turned from hunting and shooting.
 
I live in Cold Lake, and presently I see alot of road hunters in the past couple of years.
This reminds me of how crazy/congested it was in areas of NE Ontario, such as the Petawawa National Forestry. Now it's not that bad here, but it's on it's way to that level of stupidity.
I still have tons of room to hunt, but up here, oil exploration is a two edged sword. Survey trails make for handy hunting areas, that is until a cherry spot is cleared for a pumping station or wellhead.
Then it's off to different areas all over again.
 
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