An American perspective.

[Dunwaters]

Why We Suck at Recruiting New Hunters, Why It Matters, and How You Can Fix It

Baby boomers make up our nation's largest cohort of hunters, and they've already begun to age out of the sport. Within 15 years, most will stop buying licenses entirely. And when they do, our ranks could plunge by 30 percent—along with critical funding for wildlife management, advocacy for...

www.outdoorlife.com

Loss of participation is our biggest challenge.
While the article deals with the American experience, the issues are similar both sides of the Atlantic.

 

[Chris Richardson]

whilst I agree that we need to try and normalise field sports in general I think its an increasingly difficult thing in this woke virtue signalling day and age , that said ive managed to get 5 lads their fac in the last 3 years by giving them land to go on

 

[alberta boy]

I got involved with our Alberta Hunter Training program over 40 years ago . It's an option in high school here , it also teaches basic survival and navigation skills ( compass and map , no GPS ) It is all volunteer work and is hugely popular . I have taught the children of students I taught years ago , it's been an extremely rewarding part of my life . I don't keep track, but I've got hundreds of younger shooters involved in hunting , a high percentage of both men and women come from homes with no father involved strangely enough . Even with these efforts , our numbers are dropping too . It's becoming an increasingly urban world . Take a look around when you're out and about , how many have their heads buried in their phones ? Unfortunately ,that is the world for a majority of the population , they don't live in the same world as us . I really don't know the answer to this problem , it may be that there isn't one .

AB

 

[John Gryphon]

how many have their heads buried in their phones ?

Looking at TSD of course.

 

[Chris Richardson]

I got involved with our Alberta Hunter Training program over 40 years ago . It's an option in high school here , it also teaches basic survival and navigation skills ( compass and map , no GPS ) It is all volunteer work and is hugely popular . I have taught the children of students I taught years ago , it's been an extremely rewarding part of my life . I don't keep track, but I've got hundreds of younger shooters involved in hunting , a high percentage of both men and women come from homes with no father involved strangely enough . Even with these efforts , our numbers are dropping too . It's becoming an increasingly urban world . Take a look around when you're out and about , how many have their heads buried in their phones ? Unfortunately ,that is the world for a majority of the population , they don't live in the same world as us . I really don't know the answer to this problem , it may be that there isn't one .

AB

I remember doing the exams when I was there 12 years ago

 

[Mungo]

I really don't know the answer to this problem , it may be that there isn't one .

I think there is a very serious problem caused by the older generation themselves. Far, far too many stalkers regard young people with unconcealed contempt and erect barriers of cliquish exclusion to the sport.

Rather than being welcoming, they are hostile, judgmental, secretive and defensive.

You want young people to join? Stop being grumpy old farts!

 

[John Gryphon]

You want young people to join? Stop being grumpy old farts!

I`m yet to host anyone older than me iirc. I have issued a few invites to younger family members that have the "one day i will" idea. The ****s are so committed to the modern way of life that they seem to not be able to break away from it for a few days 'up the bush'.

 

[Tim.243]

I think there is a very serious problem caused by the older generation themselves. Far, far too many stalkers regard young people with unconcealed contempt and erect barriers of cliquish exclusion to the sport.

Rather than being welcoming, they are hostile, judgmental, secretive and defensive.

You want young people to join? Stop being grumpy old farts!

That is the UK sorted now on to the US problem
As their education system is published to be broken which need fixing first.

 

[Dazb1967]

whilst I agree that we need to try and normalise field sports in general I think its an increasingly difficult thing in this woke virtue signalling day and age , that said ive managed to get 5 lads their fac in the last 3 years by giving them land to go on

My son went to Uni here in the UK, He has grew up with shooting, fishing and hunting in general, We have always ate everything we have hunted and he loved it and would often come out with me when he was younger.
After he came out of Uni he was anti shooting and a vegan, He hasn't spoke to me since which is 10yr now because I will not change my ways.
My friends son also turned vegan during his time at uni but he's a non hunter but it often makes me wonder what is being pushed onto them whilst at Uni.

 

[Chris Richardson]

My son went to Uni here in the UK, He has grew up with shooting, fishing and hunting in general, We have always ate everything we have hunted and he loved it and would often come out with me when he was younger.
After he came out of Uni he was anti shooting and a vegan, He hasn't spoke to me since which is 10yr now because I will not change my ways.
My friends son also turned vegan during his time at uni but he's a non hunter but it often makes me wonder what is being pushed onto them whilst at Uni.

Oh the leftist agenda is truly at work in universities

 

[Martiniblack577]

My son went to Uni here in the UK, He has grew up with shooting, fishing and hunting in general, We have always ate everything we have hunted and he loved it and would often come out with me when he was younger.
After he came out of Uni he was anti shooting and a vegan, He hasn't spoke to me since which is 10yr now because I will not change my ways.
My friends son also turned vegan during his time at uni but he's a non hunter but it often makes me wonder what is being pushed onto them whilst at Uni.

So so sorry to read this. Ethically, I am not sure of more moral meat than venison/rabbit/pidgeon given it’s secondary to numbers management. I don’t blame a university for your son’s choices but wider cultural stances very much now mainstream. Add the overwhelming fact our generic shooting community is well established in ‘decline mode’ and things are rough.

 

[Apthorpe]

This is just another consequence of demographic changes caused by excessive immigration. The cohort of people who are now, say, 70 years old are 90% British and cohorts of younger people are only 60% according to the census (which is bound to be a significant overestimate, as is typically the case). It's obvious that participation will fall drastically and that will also go for other rural activities like conservation volunteering and so on. It's another facet of how we've ruined the country with excessive immigration.

Perhaps rewilding is a sensible policy given how many of the younger cohorts don't give a fig for the environment save seeing it as a place to build over.

As a bright spot, I run a small shoot which has very healthy levels of young participation. The last day had four guns under 25 and we usually a range of young beaters from age 4 upwards. Stalking requires people to be a bit older.
Lots of shooters are old because younger adults don't have the time or money - owing to excessive tax levels which older people don't pay.

 

[Dunwaters]

Britain is slightly outside the curve.
You live on a very crowded island, access to hunting opportunities have always been restricted. That serves to insulate you from what’s happening in the rest of the world. The fact that shooting is regarded as expensive and exclusive insulates you further. There are always people on the waiting list.
The problem is easy to see, the younger cohort still dependant on their parents and whose parents are themselves involved are well represented, we lose them when they leave home and become independent because they just dont have spare time or cash or access to to a dog or a car.
In short, they’re economically worse off than their parents, less spare time, less disposable income and dependant on public transport.
We get some of them back in their mid thirties - forties when they’ve made a few bob and are secure, but only if their wife and kids let them.
We need to widen the pool beyond our current white male dominated participation.
Forget the lead restrictions, this issue is what will dramatically reduce participation in all shooting sports over the next 20 years.
This single issue is where BASC and your other organisations need to concentrate.

 

[Tim.243]

Britain is slightly outside the curve.
You live on a very crowded island, access to hunting opportunities have always been restricted. That serves to insulate you from what’s happening in the rest of the world. The fact that shooting is regarded as expensive and exclusive insulates you further. There are always people on the waiting list.
The problem is easy to see, the younger cohort still dependant on their parents and whose parents are themselves involved are well represented, we lose them when they leave home and become independent because they just dont have spare time or cash or access to to a dog or a car.
In short, they’re economically worse off than their parents, less spare time, less disposable income and dependant on public transport.
We get some of them back in their mid thirties - forties when they’ve made a few bob and are secure, but only if their wife and kids let them.
We need to widen the pool beyond our current white male dominated participation.
Forget the lead restrictions, this issue is what will dramatically reduce participation in all shooting sports over the next 20 years.
This single issue is where BASC and your other organisations need to concentrate

Who is this "We" in Eire the guide has to carry the rifle for an overseas guest...

"people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"

In Ireland, a guest or any other individual cannot carry a rifle without a valid Irish firearms certificate for that specific weapon. It is a criminal offence to possess or use a firearm without this documentation, even on private property.

"Pat there is a Stag pass me the rifle" "too late it has gone"

Here my overseas guest pay the temp cost and use the rifles to my conditions for the length of the trip

 

[Chris Richardson]

Britain is slightly outside the curve.
You live on a very crowded island, access to hunting opportunities have always been restricted. That serves to insulate you from what’s happening in the rest of the world. The fact that shooting is regarded as expensive and exclusive insulates you further. There are always people on the waiting list.
The problem is easy to see, the younger cohort still dependant on their parents and whose parents are themselves involved are well represented, we lose them when they leave home and become independent because they just dont have spare time or cash or access to to a dog or a car.
In short, they’re economically worse off than their parents, less spare time, less disposable income and dependant on public transport.
We get some of them back in their mid thirties - forties when they’ve made a few bob and are secure, but only if their wife and kids let them.
We need to widen the pool beyond our current white male dominated participation.
Forget the lead restrictions, this issue is what will dramatically reduce participation in all shooting sports over the next 20 years.
This single issue is where BASC and your other organisations need to concentrate.

I don’t know about expensive or exclusive the little walk one stand one syndicate I’m on coats £460 for 8 days shooting granted not big bags but 20s to 30s , most of my stalking land is free apart from one estate which I rent , my biggest cost to be honest is diesel and time

 

[wytonpjs]

I don’t know about expensive or exclusive the little walk one stand one syndicate I’m on coats £460 for 8 days shooting granted not big bags but 20s to 30s , most of my stalking land is free apart from one estate which I rent , my biggest cost to be honest is diesel and time

^^^ Exactly this. My small 650 bird shoot (10 days) is £330 a year. My DDM membership costs £25 a year and I now pay for one of my 3 permissions the sum of £500 a year. On average, my diesel to support stalking, attendance at best practice events and shooting related shows, events, etc, is costing my £400-500 a month. Fuel is the biggest outgoing I have

 

[Mungo]

My son went to Uni here in the UK, He has grew up with shooting, fishing and hunting in general, We have always ate everything we have hunted and he loved it and would often come out with me when he was younger.
After he came out of Uni he was anti shooting and a vegan, He hasn't spoke to me since which is 10yr now because I will not change my ways.
My friends son also turned vegan during his time at uni but he's a non hunter but it often makes me wonder what is being pushed onto them whilst at Uni.

As a Uni lecturer, I have to say it’s certainly not the staff that drive this.

I’m very explicit about what I do - everyone in my department knows, and I use the staff social email list to advertise venison. Never had any criticism, and had plenty of people start conversations out of curiosity who then go on to buy venison or even ask to come out with me.

The students are a different issue altogether. The social pressure there to conform to a very narrow set of ‘woke’ values is extreme. They have become deeply intolerant - and very reactive to our (staff) attempts to encourage open debate and alternative viewpoints. Students were always more left wing than average, but it has become progressively more extreme, especially since COVID.

The sad thing is, the extremists are actually a very, very tiny minority (as is so often the case), but they dominate the atmosphere, and the sensible majority just keep quiet and keep their heads down.

 

[CAVHUNT]

I'll only speak of the state of Victoria in Ozland. Between 30 June 19961 and 30 June 2024, there has been a 101.2% (27,504) increase in the total number of Game Licence holders. I'd suggest that is because we have a growing sambar population spread over millions of acres of state forest public land which is open to hunting. There's been a 57% increase in game license costs in 2024 but the number of participants just keeps growing.

Mungo mentioned this re older hunters - "Rather than being welcoming, they are hostile, judgmental, secretive and defensive. ". It is what I hear about the reception new hunters get when attending hunting club meetings/activities. It also extends to the target shooting only disciplines and associated clubs.

I also agree with the comment about us baby boomers being the most active generation when it comes to hunting. This is now tempered by the fact that most boomers are now getting old/er with failing health to continue hunting so they're stopping going. Me...at 76 I've got some health problems but still going bush although I do avoid the really steep climbs and stopped wading across fast flowing streams in winter. In a concession to my age/issues I now carry an EPIRB. Beam me up Scotty.....hehe.

 

[wytonpjs]

Lots of shooters are old because younger adults don't have the time or money - owing to excessive tax levels which older people don't pay.

Not quite true for all. I'm on the cusp of 70, still working and being crucified in tax terms despite being a poor civil servant!

 

[Dunwaters]

Who is this "We" in Eire the guide has to carry the rifle for an overseas guest...

"people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"

In Ireland, a guest or any other individual cannot carry a rifle without a valid Irish firearms certificate for that specific weapon. It is a criminal offence to possess or use a firearm without this documentation, even on private property.

"Pat there is a Stag pass me the rifle" "too late it has gone"

Here my overseas guest pay the temp cost and use the rifles to my conditions for the length of the trip

True, in Eire you cannot legally borrow a gun, you need a cert for it. The Gardai will issue a visitors certificate valid for 1 year .
I’m fairly certain that the practice of handing a rifle that he does not have a cert for to the guest to take a shot is legally questionable.
Whats your point?