Hunter Recruitment

[MikePal]

Even though there may be a high number of people taking the course i think many new hunters don't end up hunting due to varies reasons or are sticking to waterfowl and small game.

In another thread we saw data that shows Waterfowl permits were up an average 1% or about 1,000 per year for the past 7 yrs (decline before that). ..a small fraction of the 25,000 students that are passing the courses.

[JMatthews]

I agree with others that there are a number of factors involved. I think the drop in Moose tags has had a really big impact as many of the people that hunt Moose do so in larger groups. I'm not sure what the ratio of Bull tags is to hunters in a group, but I'm sure this has contributed to the drop in revenues. I haven't applied for a Moose tag for the last 3 years.
I think that experienced hunters need to do their part by mentoring new hunters. This will get them engaged and hopefully get them to become hunters for life.
( With aging populations, I wonder how many senior either don't hunt anymore. )
Lots of things to think about.

[JUDGE]

I think the new hunters biggest problem is, where can they go to hunt.
Not easy to find a good place to hunt deer, or turkey or anything else.
Then they quickly give up.
Just my opinion.

[MikePal]

Just my opinion.

In fact while I was reading up on this topic, that is the most recognized hindrance to new hunters, according to the MNR.

[Fox]

There are lots of places to hunt but within driving distance of most of the population hunting permission is very hard to get. If you don't know people it is hard to get land to hunt, nobody trusts anyone anymore. Younger people are also looked at with a very bad light, not to their fault but rather it is a stigma that young people, males especially, are just little punks with no respect, hence the difficulty with permission. On top of that, hunting lands are being reduced due to an increase in those not wanting hunters on their property or heavily restricts where they can go and what they can hunt. This is their right as the land owner but it does make things tougher for those trying to make use of the rare opportunity they get to hunt.

Hunt camps don't help the cause all that much either. Established camps have a tendency to keep things in the family, if they lose numbers from one generation to the next as children get busy or don't get into hunting, they rarely search out replacements. I know of very few 12+ person camps around where we used to hunt and that was the norm at one point.

I know you have to keep talking to people and asking but when you go to 20 farms and get 20 o answers or worse it is a little disheartening to keep going.

[Bluebulldog]

In fact while I was reading up on this topic, that is the most recognized hindrance to new hunters, according to the MNR.

OK. Let's also not ignore the fact the some newer hunters get their licenses and just assume that they're going to just go hunting.

There is a generation of newer hunters that didn't get mentored the same as some of us. We live in a society where everything has to be convenient, and no one wants to put in any effort. I'm not saying all, but there are quite a few.

The very concept of looking at topographic maps, and the Crown Land atlas, and then putting miles on the boots is foreign to some. We see a few of them that come on here....

Yes, being a new hunter can be daunting, particularly if you don't anticipate putting a ton of effort in right at the start.

[Snowwalker]

I think the new hunters biggest problem is, where can they go to hunt.
Not easy to find a good place to hunt deer, or turkey or anything else.
Then they quickly give up.
Just my opinion.

Hard on experienced hunters as well. Difference is one group knows things well get better.

[topher]

As a fairly new.. still learning hunter a big problem is finding people to hunt/teach about hunting. Everyone is more than willing to help an apprentice hunter learn.. but not adult hunters. I know why, the fear of someone stealing their spot..

[GW11]

I got a couple of my friends into hunting when they were in their early 20's. Both came from non-hunting families. One big thing I noticed was that they were always afraid to accidentally break a hunting or firearm related rule and needed constant reassurance that what they were doing and how they were doing it was OK. Straight-up nervousness of "going it alone" might be enough to deter new hunters from heading afield.

I guess that kind of echoes BBD's comments about proper mentoring.

[MikePal]

I was looking at the data for Turkey Hunting as well, but had a hard time finding recent numbers....the last published data I found was for 2007 and it said that 5,000+ 'recruits' completed the seminars and received certificates that year.

Looking at the harvest charts (see link below) from the MNR for 2008 -2013 it's apparent that there are not that many recruits following thru to becoming Hunters.

Understand that these are harvest reports, not Hunter numbers, but you can extrapolate that they are still a good indicator as to how many hunters are out there by how many birds are killed.

According to the time period 2008 to 2013 (5 yrs) , of the 46 MWU listed, 27 show decreases, 6 show no change and only 13 show increases.

If the numbers taking the seminars even stay the same (5,000+ a year), that means that over the same period , we should have seen 25,000 new Turkey hunters out there. You would think the Harvest numbers would increase as more hunters are added to the WMUs. But it doesn't seem to be so.

Turkey Harvest Report: https://dr6j45jk9xcmk.cloudfront.net...rod-095178.pdf

edit add: I had sent an email request to the OFAH to see if they could give me some updated information on how many people take the seminars and was told to submit an official "Access to Information" request thru the government...LOL...must be sensitive information