I've seen people post in other threads saying that hunting is on a downfall and less people are hunting each year due to high prices for leases/clubs. My question is, how do you know that hunting is on a downfall? Are less licenses being sold today than what was sold 20 years ago?

Yes

Yes. Population increasing, but license sales have been in a steady decline

Hunting is pricing itself out of a lot of peoples market, and kids have too many other things to occupy their time. Look for a continued steady decrease in hunting licenses sold, as it increasingly becomes a rich trophy hunter's pastime.

Do less license being sold take into consideration lifetime license sold years ago?

I saw an article by Corky Pugh that said in 2013 there were about 535,000 hunters in Alabama and that license sales were "flat" in the past few years.

I'll give a small example. I had a guy come to get a four wheeler part. He had a mouser rifle he had bought to start deer hunting with that he wanted to trade for parts. I think he had moved from another state but I can't remember where he said. He said he bought the rifle planning to deer hunt with it but when he went to get his license they wanted his hunter safety card and he didn't have it. He looked into getting it but was just too much trouble. I'm not saying that because I'm against our hunter safety requirements but to show how easily people can be deterred. The more regulations and requirements you have even when they may be legitimate the more you will deter new hunters.

I know one thing, 15 years ago clubs had waiting lists. You never saw advertisements around here.

Now the biggest forum for alabama deer hunting has a page just for that. Clubs everywhere can't fill memberships.

I know way to many that have folded our gave up land. Some were good clubs to.

yes/no ,,,,,, when i last really dug into it . the lost sales where to small game hunters , not deer and turkey hunters . deer and turkey hunters increased .

as i said , last time i looked at the stats.

you wanna kill some time , here you go !!!!!

hunting survey

And every time I say this on this website, most jump up and down and say "not true" or "good, I want less hunters"

If you don't think hunter numbers and gun rights go hand in hand, I seriously question you.

I believe a lot of hunters aren't buying licenses as required by law. I say this because I know a few members in the club I'm in that hunt without a license.

I've had my lifetime license since 1985, so it doesn't affect me.

I agree prices for a decent place to hunt where you can actually see deer when you hunt and have at least a 50/50 chance at killing a decent buck has become so expensive the average guy cant afford it even if he can find it. I know this because i make and spend more than the average man on deer hunting and am on the verge of being priced out of decent deer hunting.

Then why is duck hunting so popular amongst the younger hunters? Waterfowl hunting has more rules and regulations than any deer hunting I know of.

I hope to find the number of licenses sold in AL specifically, but this is a great report on hunter participation and access by the National Shooting Sports Foundation:

https://www.nssf.org/PDF/research/HuntingAccessReport2011.pdf

Note that AL was a particiapant in the study. Specifically look at pages 14 and 16. Page 14 shows the downward trend of license sales overall, and page 16 shows the reasons why.

Note that the #1 stated reason why folks stop hunting (and buying licenses) is acces.

Along those same lines, I heard Steve Rinella say that when he was growing up he wanted to be a trapper because all trappers he knew also hunted and fished, all hunters he knew fished, but not all fishermen he knew hunted. Are we growing more fishermen than hunters now?

I would be interested to see the trend of fishing license sales to hunting license sales. With the AL bass trail as a major out of state draw, I would think those are way ahead of out of state hunting licenses.

260,142 licensed hunters in 2014-15. The 535,000 hunters is pretty much a guess based on a 2011 survey. Nobody really knows how many unlicensed hunters we have.

http://www.outdooralabama.com/sites/default/files/Mail-Survey-2014-2015-Season.pdf

I can assure you they aren't drawn by the rules and regulations. You have to wonder how many would be involved if it were easier less confusing to get into it.

Rules and regulations are not they reason people are getting out of hunting in this state. Hell Alabama has some of the most liberal hunting regulations in this country. It is access to quality hunting land at a reasonable price! The average person just can't afford it anymore. As lease prices went steady up most people's income did not. Fishing is still affordable and duck hunters have plenty of access.....If lease prices keep going up and the quality of hunting due to the over harvest of the resources in many areas of this State continues there will continue to be less license sales each year.....

I don't see how in the world ANYBODY can complain about '' regulations '' in Alabama. Heck, we don't even really have any.

Deer season is almost six months long, and other than the 3 buck rule, a person can kill an infinite amount of deer ANY DAY of the season. South Carolina is the only other state of 50 with a wide open kill a deer a day deer season.

Turkey season is 45 days with the highest bag limit of any state. There is 1 game warden per county, no check stations, no enforceable or truly required harvest record.

The fun of hunting and being part of the outdoors is gone for alot of people because of the lack of game, not because of too many regulations.