How many Moose hunters is in Ontario...?
Their number is growing or falling ...?
As I saw the Moose hunters number is falling
(That is good for Moose population ...!)
(but we should start predator hunting ...!)
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How many Moose hunters is in Ontario...?
Their number is growing or falling ...?
As I saw the Moose hunters number is falling
(That is good for Moose population ...!)
(but we should start predator hunting ...!)
At last count,there were 600K licensed hunters in Ontario generating over $28M in license sales. Since 2010,that represents almost a 20% increase to date.Quote:
Originally Posted by alfoldivandor
TWO MANY
The baby boomers are aging, rural life is not as it was 30 years ago, and a government that is attempting to reduce firearms all are taking a toll. It would make logic that moose hunter numbers are decreasing with the new points program. Too difficult to get a license. It is reported that migratory licences sales are down. Overall, hunter numbers are lowering.
That is interesting as even though hunter numbers may have increased the number of active hunters is definitely decreasing at least where deer are concerned. Based on MNRF data the number of deer tag sales peaked in 2016 at 215k and have decreased since then to 179k in 2022. That's a decrease of 16 percent in 6 years.Quote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
Possibly COVID related perhaps. Next few years of data should show if that's what was going on but I suspect it was not COVID as the biggest decline was in the years 2016 to 2019 - before COVID.
Would like to see a breakdown of numbers. Although #'s are up would bet in certain categories numbers are way down. I believe Upland hunters especially with dogs should be listed as endangered or at least threated species.
I don't think that data exists for small game except maybe for turkey. Similar to deer though the number of active hunters for bear and moose has also seen measurable declines based on MNRF tag/license sales for those specific animals.Quote:
Originally Posted by finsfurfeathers
For bear my guess is COVID killed the non-resident component which was sizable. Moose my Guess is changes to the tag system probably played a part.
I do not think Covid has anything to do with the decreased numbers, I see in younger generation hunters they tend not to stick with it. Deer hunting is time consuming and there is no instant gratification that this generation is used to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Species8472
Waterfowl has been on the decline for years. I agree that the younger generations that actually get their license don't keep at it. I have 2, both boys got their license and hunted with me until university, then it was school, girls and then moving to find jobs. Maybe they will get back into it some day, but I'm not holding my breath. At least they can say they did it for a few years.
I teach the Hunter Ed course in Niagara, and we still get a good number of students taking the course the past few years. One interesting demographic that I have found is that there has been a significant increase in the number of women taking the course in the past several years. 25 years ago, if I had a female in a course, it was because hubby wanted another body to add to their group count for a moose tag. Now they take it because they want to hunt.
I still remember 2 young women who took my course 3 years ago. I asked them if they were hunting with their husbands. The answer “hell no, they can sit at home and be couch potatoes…we’re going hunting together!”. I have had females from age 12 to 63 in courses the past 2 years, so its not a particular age group interested either.
Here is what I found
Attachment 44748
It cost too much for a lot of people.
Fishing is too much money too.
Actually,compared to other jurisdictions,for resident anglers and hunters,it's not that expensive once they own their gear unless,of course,they're using outfitters and guides and doing fly-ins.Quote:
Originally Posted by glen
Agreed. Less than most people spend on Tim's coffees or drive thrus every year. There is the odd exception where someone is truly strapped but for most it is a question of priorities/lifestyle. Though i do still remember the good old days when you didn't even need a license to fish.Quote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
Women getting involved in hunting has boosted interest and licence sales. The influx of new hunters won’t offset the loss of ageing baby boomer hunters who pack it in.
Getting youth interested in hunting and retaining them is a difficult challenge. IMO, as the number of hunters decreases the opportunity for obtaining tags and actually filling them should improve provided that access to land is not impeded. The loss of access to land from no trespassing and due to development is another critical issue facing hunting.
Wow. From over 80,000 to under 40. Sounds about right. Here's the trend for active deer hunters in the province. It's a more gradual decline but a decline nonethelessQuote:
Originally Posted by alfoldivandor
Attachment 44750
It would be interesting to know what drove the sudden spike in 2016 and what also drove the precipitous drop off back to a more normal (?) median (if you can call it that).Quote:
Originally Posted by LowbanksArcher
The 2015 Canadian federal election [emoji12]Quote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
There’s been some significant trend changes in hunter behaviour over the last two decades in particular. There is no question that less people are participating in the controlled deer hunts here in southern Ontario but bow hunting seems to be a rapidly growing pursuit over the same areas.
It also seems to like probably small game hunters are in decline but waterfowling is becoming perhaps more popular.
In the woods I encounter a fraction of the turkey hunters I did 15-20 years ago.
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[QUOTE=outdoorlife;1218720]There’s been some significant trend changes in hunter behaviour over the last two decades in particular. There is no question that less people are participating in the controlled deer hunts here in southern Ontario but bow hunting seems to be a rapidly growing pursuit over the same areas. ]
This has been my observation also. I can also see a noticable reduction in the amount of beer cans left in the woods after the controlled hunt. In my opinion, a welcome change.
Not sure if it's just in my neck of the woods or not
but my son and all of his friends are in 100% revolt of all liberalized ways of life and have embraced the country ways. each of them drive a pick up truck of some description, they all chipped in to buy a duck boat, each of them have their hunting licenses and PAL, they all fish regularly. It's actually refreshing to see rather then them playing video games, dying their hair blue and using a litter box to go to the washroom in
Those charts says active hunters.
Maybe archery is included.
Just tried to look at the deer number and said total number of hunting license holders for 2021 was 180 something thousand. For ontario. Couldn't find a year to year chart.
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Further investigation 2015 says almost 189 thousand deer licenses sold. From a ofah 2017 pdf file.
2021 says with nearly 189 from stats Canada.
In the 2017 pdf it says this.
"The value of deer hunting should be actively promoted by the mnrf."
But resident license holders seem to be about the same as 2015.
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I personally would question this. I believe there are WAY more people participating in the controlled deer hunts in WMU 94, 93, and 92. The number of tags remains constant (if my memory is correct) but the success rate has gone down. This year (2023) was the ONLY year my entire group of 6 did not get a shotgun tag for 93 or a muzzleloader tag in 92. Shocked.Quote:
Originally Posted by outdoorlife
I ended up getting my non-resident Michigan deer licence and ended up harvesting two does with my lever Henry in 45 Colt. Of the 6 of us Ontario hunters, only 3 shot a deer via archery so lots of tag soup.
Congrats on the Michigan deer. Not to hijack this thread,but,what hoops did you need to jump through to bring your meat across the border?Quote:
Originally Posted by wasa
Back in mid 90's, my turkey hunting instructor said; "If you are here to save money by turkey hunting, your in the wrong room."
My previous generations used to hunt because it was economical to do so. Now? $29 for a turkey licence? $50 for a deer tag, plus small game licence, fishing licence etc...
He's probably referring to back in the day when you could buy loads of extra tags for the controlled hunt. Back then I would run into guys at Service Ontario when the extra tags came available and they would have a list of 10 or more outdoor cards and buy an extra tag for each guy. They hunted rifle WMU in November using up their originals and have a whack load of new tags for the controlled hunt once December rolled around.Quote:
Originally Posted by wasa
I took the deer to a local processor/butcher, who packaged the meat and labelled it (including their company name and address and that it was venison). I picked it up frozen, and declared it at the border. Was asked if it was processed and if I had the head with me (I did not). I offered them the receipt and my MI licence/tag but CBSA didn't want that and let me go through.Quote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
My understanding is no head/brain matter (i.e. no non-taxidermied mounts) and fully butchered and packaged game is fine. I have friends who have taken a butchered moose through the USA (from Sault St. Marie through Michigan to Windsor ON) and they were told the same thing.
It is interesting that the Moose hunters number down ,
to half as used to be
and still not enough Moose to hunt ....?!
I am constantly looking to build a new hunting group, I have been trying to mentor my daughters friends. One of the young guys forgot a piece of his stand when we went to set up and it never left the ground the rest of the season, the other guy came out four times, I went 17 times. Last year we went out and set up our stands, again the one guy set his stand up and never came out, the other guy did better and hunted 8 weekends. Im 60 years old this year, I'm in pretty go shape, I can climb hills and walk the woods with the 28 year olds. I would like to find a few guys my age who can hold their own, have the money to hunt and the time to be consistent. It's hard to find guys that want to hunt and not just sit around drinking after travelling far distances to hunt. I like to tip a few beer, do a few shots and puff the odd joint with the boys too after the guns are put away for the day, but I get up before light and get to my Moose watch or deer stand before light. I am successful a lot of the time, Im sharing meat with people who don't like to get up and hunt. It pisses me off to be honest. If hunting was easy, every kid would do it. It's not easy and it's expensive, that's why i take it serious. As a kid, my Dad would never have taken me hunting if i only partied and slept in. I thank my Dad for the tough love of hunting and the knowledge of dressing moose and deer in the field.
I've built an amazing comfortable hunting camp with the knowledge handed down to me, there is nothing better then hanging out at the hunt camp with the team.
I personally think alot of it does have to do with time and money. As a young hunter who has had no one to teach me the ropes or hand me gear to get me started I can say its been a hard and long effort to get myself into it. To start I make decent money but with the economy today still have to scrounge for those few extra bucks for tags and ammo and any gear needed for hunting season. And time is hard pressed as well, working 9 hour days plus travel to and from work. Private property to hunt is harder to come by as most property at least around the Barrie area is already held by groups of older hunters, or the owners simply will not allow hunting. And public lands are very crowded during big game/ turkey seasons. So you now have to travel farther north, which is more time and again money on gas making weekends where you can only hunt Saturdays a stretch. Most people who are in my age group simply cannot afford to keep up something like hunting anymore. Many of us even working 2 jobs just to afford life.
anglodrkns
You make a lot of very good and valid points. All of the above were much easier when I was younger. Good luck.
rodmcd