Scott Linden Outdoors

A threatened specie: access.

I’ve got bad news and good news

The bad news is we are losing hunters every day as they “age out” of the sport or worse (for them, at least), they die. Just five percent of U.S. residents consider themselves brothers (and sisters) of the hunt. Between 2011 and 2016 alone, we lost 16 percent of those who pursue quail behind pointers, pheasants flushed by Labs, ducks in the marsh and deer in the woods.

The good news is that we as individuals, and many groups we belong to, are going balls-to-the-wall to recruit new participants.

This new-fangled “R3” – recruiting, retaining and re-activating people to hunting is a thing, and it’s not going away. Minorities, Millennials, women, single-parent households, and youth … all have their champions. Entire departments are being formed and staffs hired to turn those people into hunters.

Some might think that’s bad news too – more trucks in the parking area, more guys in our favorite spots. Hey, I’d love fewer people in the fields and coverts I hunt. Probably sounds great to you too, on a bluebird day as you pull into that “Welcome to Hunt” area.

But if the trend persists, eventually there won’t be a field or a covert to visit … or if there is, it will be barren of game, songbirds, avian predators and most other critters. If you hear anything, it will be the sound of crickets, not the cackle of roosters. Because hunters are the only people funding most conservation efforts.

Yep, the bird watchers, hikers, wildlife photographers, backpackers and cross-country skiers may love seeing a fawn and doe nuzzling, or a majestic bald eagle perched in a snag, but they don’t fund management of those critters or much of the land where they dwell. Only two states have a teensy-weensy dedicated tax to help. The other 48 send  a paltry few income tax dollars to help wildlife.

The facts are: fewer hunters, fewer dollars for land acquisition. When purchases of guns and ammo plummet, so does funding to state wildlife agencies. If sales of hunting licenses and tags drop, so do the number of biologists and habitat managers. A downfall in duck stamp purchases means fewer acres acquired for new or existing federal wildlife refuges, and smaller staffs to manage them.

Like the GPS route to your favorite covert, the way is clear. Bringing more hunters into our fraternity ensures that our kids have fields to explore and wildlife to pursue. And their kids, and their kids. The questions are how, why, when, and most importantly, who?

That is the subject of a future essay. In the meantime, keep hunting, join a conservation group, and buy more gear. And stand by for more good news in the next installment.