How many hunters is in Ontario...?

[alfoldivandor]

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 ...!)

[trimmer21]

How many 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.

[JUDGE]

TWO MANY

[BDH]

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.

[Species8472]

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.

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.

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.

[finsfurfeathers]

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.

[Species8472]

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.

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.

[Gilroy]

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.

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.

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.

[sabmgb]

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.

[genec]

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.