Hunter Recruitment

Weighty issues.

The impacts Boomers are going to have in various industries while not known, are projected. I don't see why the logic wouldn't apply to hunting. The province is also aging, I could be wrong but I think the currect mean is around 42-43 and is projected to increase to 45 in the not too distant future.

Now lets consider youth today.
Cell Phones, PS4 and Netflix over getting out in to the outdoors

Now lets consider urban sprawl and other things.

I took my daughter and her BF camping this past weekend.
It was his first experience camping....period. I was shocked when he found fresh water clams and he was like a 10yr boy discovering things...

We talked a lot about the nature things be it bears, White tails, and more. So much of that was his first real world experience, eye opening to some degree.
Kudos to him, he was not only enamoured, had a great time and keen to learn. By the end of the weekend he was helping to build a bed of coals so we could cook over an open fire.


I couldn't help but wonder given various things if in time things wont be vastly different from today. When many already are disconnected from nature and the outdoors.

"Our children"
The vast majority of whom.......................

I wouldn't be surprised to see big game hunter numbers on the decline. I have owned my deer camp for 20 yrs and have seen our neighboring camps decline in numbers. Access to big game ground is getting more and more difficult. As population increases hunter numbers should also to some extent. It would be interesting to see the stats on percentage of population that hunts? With the booming population in both snow and Canada geese and the Southern access to this hunting I wouldn't be surprised if waterfowl is growing faster than other hunts. I see lots of people with big long beards it seems. I also think hunters go yhrough phases as they age. I was a devoted big game hunter for years. Moose, deer, bear, caribou, antelope. Rifle and compound bow. Now I truly couldn't care less if I bag another moose or bear in my remaining years. Still love deer camp but really don't care if I shoot one. Doing a duck hunt next month, havent done that in years. When in CEGEP in Quebec we use to hunt snows every day they were in. I now love the simplicity and numerous oppurtunities of upland hunting more and more.im not giving up on big game but it won't be the focal point of my hunting plans going forward.

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Originally Posted by tbasse01

MikePal

the answer is pretty simple for hunter recruitment

I am a new hunter 1 year

I went to the course with 7 other people we took pal non and restricted and hunting course

all 7 of us purchased only small game license for predator hunting

I am the only one who has bought turkey and deer tags of all my buddies

and with the older hunters passing on or not hunting due to health the numbers are going to drop

shooting sports are huge and growing and a lot just take the hunting course "just in case " but 90% are for shooting sports and the hunter course is just a by product

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Thanks for posting some insights, sheds some light on the topic. Your experience seems to reflect what is happening and why Hunter Recruitment is failing.

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Originally Posted by terrym

I wouldn't be surprised to see big game hunter numbers on the decline. I have owned my deer camp for 20 yrs and have seen our neighboring camps decline in numbers. Access to big game ground is getting more and more difficult. As population increases hunter numbers should also to some extent. It would be interesting to see the stats on percentage of population that hunts? With the booming population in both snow and Canada geese and the Southern access to this hunting I wouldn't be surprised if waterfowl is growing faster than other hunts. I see lots of people with big long beards it seems. I also think hunters go yhrough phases as they age. I was a devoted big game hunter for years. Moose, deer, bear, caribou, antelope. Rifle and compound bow. Now I truly couldn't care less if I bag another moose or bear in my remaining years. Still love deer camp but really don't care if I shoot one. Doing a duck hunt next month, havent done that in years. When in CEGEP in Quebec we use to hunt snows every day they were in. I now love the simplicity and numerous oppurtunities of upland hunting more and more.im not giving up on big game but it won't be the focal point of my hunting plans going forward.

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Most of your questions were answered in the thread Terry...

Only 3% of the population Hunt (and declining)....Waterfowl is one of the few that is not in decline presently, with an small annual growth of about 1%, but that was after steep declines for many years that have not been recovered.

I wonder how many actual "hunting/man days" still happen? Some probably used to buy a license even if they didn't get out? With the prices now I bet many stopped doing that.

That's one of those things that's very difficult to measure. The only practical way to get it is through surveys, and the problem with surveys is you always want to measure something you should have measured 20 years ago.

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Originally Posted by JBen

...I took my daughter and her BF camping this past weekend.
It was his first experience camping....period. I was shocked when he found fresh water clams and he was like a 10yr boy discovering things...

...I couldn't help but wonder given various things if in time things wont be vastly different from today. When many already are disconnected from nature and the outdoors.

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What you said reminded me of a young kid I met about 40 years ago. He came out to a friends farm in Quebec. He was an intercity kid from Chicago. When he saw where milk actually came from he almost passed out. Would not drink milk for the rest of the visit. I asked him what was wrong and he said that all his life he thought milk was produced just like Coca Cola. When I explained to him where his eggs and hamburgers came from that was almost the limit for him. I thought he was pulling my leg but he was't.


One thought is getting them to come along with someone to see what an experience a hunt can be. I know that they can't actually participate in the hunt but considering we are trying to recruit I would imagine it would be Ok.

As a new hunter (first year hunting started last Sept 2014) who is starting this sport in his 40s I've found it pretty frustrating to get started. I don't come from a hunting background and I've had to teach myself what I can by reading and trial and error. There was a lot of trial and error and not much success for me last year.

I'm near Ottawa and my experience is that it's difficult to find land that is within a reasonable distance that isn't already crawling with hunters. I walked the Marlborough forest for a while and then stayed out of it - never saw a rabbit, spooked grouse maybe twice, never saw a deer there. Saw plenty of other hunters though.

In the spring I found some new (to me) crown land for turkey hunting and the most excitement I had was when I called in another hunter (sexxy turkey noises!) I'm glad we didn't shoot each other.

I'm loving being out in the woods. I'm having fun toting my shotgun around and having a purpose when I'm out there. The downside is it's not so easy to figure it out all on your own. I'm considering hunting with a local guide this coming year at least once so I can observe and learn.

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Originally Posted by walkinandsittin

As a new hunter (first year hunting started last Sept 2014) who is starting this sport in his 40s I've found it pretty frustrating to get started. I don't come from a hunting background and I've had to teach myself what I can by reading and trial and error. There was a lot of trial and error and not much success for me last year.

I'm near Ottawa and my experience is that it's difficult to find land that is within a reasonable distance that isn't already crawling with hunters. I walked the Marlborough forest for a while and then stayed out of it - never saw a rabbit, spooked grouse maybe twice, never saw a deer there. Saw plenty of other hunters though.

In the spring I found some new (to me) crown land for turkey hunting and the most excitement I had was when I called in another hunter (sexxy turkey noises!) I'm glad we didn't shoot each other.

I'm loving being out in the woods. I'm having fun toting my shotgun around and having a purpose when I'm out there. The downside is it's not so easy to figure it out all on your own. I'm considering hunting with a local guide this coming year at least once so I can observe and learn.

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Have you checked out the waterfowl section there is someone from Ottawa area looking for company only catch need to be able to hunt weekdays.

Hello from a new will-be-hunter in Toronto.
Thank you very much for bring up this topic.

I took my hunting course last year. Never have a real hunting yet so far.
I have 2 boys of 13 and 18, they showed much interests in hunting. Went to Parry sound and Loring 3 times for scouting. We realized hunting is hard to start for guys living in city. Boys put more interests and time into range shooting now. Bad news.
It seems there is a big gap of trial and fail for the Newbie.

Still trying to locate a right place for the deer season.
Any advice on deer camp will be very much appreciated.