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.

increasing the regulations to cater to the few so they have the experience they want at the expense of others through government mandate.

How did it change your experience?

Let's see,there are too many deer, in rides QDMA (to make money), change the regulations to kill every doe you see because you can never kill too many does, regulations change to kill 2 does per day for the whole season. Too many young bucks are being killed, so again QDMA rides in, got to stop killing all of those bucks, regulations change to you are allowed 3 bucks. Well how do we know if people are not killing more than 3 bucks in rides the TV watching trophy squad, change the regulations to require filling out a piece of paper for every buck you kill. Still killing too many young bucks because everybody has an uncle that has a cousin that's wife heard that her girlfriends boyfriend heard that a guy that he works with kills 34 spikes every season and just prints out new forms to fill out, regulations change to require that hunters check in with the government to verify that they are legal. Oops, there was an uproar over that little government regulation, time to back track and lay low. Oh my goodness, too many does are being killed, so the government goes into full tilt mode to fix the problem with more regulations, this time let's start micro managing more, but let's not forget to listen to the whiner club that want to make killing deer in Alabama easier and add baiting to the ways of killing deer (notice the term hunting wasn't used) and oh yeah let's make the season longer. And by the way don't forget this time we are going to force the hunter to sign a piece of paper and have the government verify that the deer they killed was in fact legal according to their records or else the government will make them pay!

Yeah, regulations and appeasing the few don't have any impact. Don't know what I was thinking. If I could only find an app for that!

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.

This is me. Every year I think about getting a license, start looking for a place I can afford, and realize I just can't pay the prices to not be on overpressured public land.

The biggest problem I see is we no longer have families who hunt as a lifestyle anymore. That's exactly what it used to be. We grew up small game hunting everything that was legal, graduated into large game, and was something the entire family got into. Those mentors are quickly passing away and kids today are not learning patience, woodsmanship, and the enjoyment of killing squirrels, doves, and rabbits at the age of 3. They are being thrown into a shooting house at 11 and expected to like that. Sorry, that ain't how to recruit hunters.

I could add to this but there is no point.

Where I started hunting in TN there was no deer much to speak of. Small game was what I knew. A different kind of deer hunting got my blood flowing.

The biggest problem I see is we no longer have families who hunt as a lifestyle anymore. That's exactly what it used to be. We grew up small game hunting everything that was legal, graduated into large game, and was something the entire family got into. Those mentors are quickly passing away and kids today are not learning patience, woodsmanship, and the enjoyment of killing squirrels, doves, and rabbits at the age of 3. They are being thrown into a shooting house at 11 and expected to like that. Sorry, that ain't how to recruit hunters.

Bingo!

I didn't grow up hunting with other people. I've mostly hunted by myself since I was about 8 years old. I wouldn't go back and change that if I could. Outside of hunting with my Dad, I still hunt alone.

You're lucky to have had exposure I guess. Most kids today grow up in neighborhoods in cities and they can't just grab the .410 by the back door and go shoot squirrels.
MBrock's main point, too, was that a deer shouldn't be the first thing a kid shoots. Deer hunting is the apex of the hunting pyramid.

You're lucky to have had exposure I guess. Most kids today grow up in neighborhoods in cities and they can't just grab the .410 by the back door and go shoot squirrels.
MBrock's main point, too, was that a deer shouldn't be the first thing a kid shoots. Deer hunting is the apex of the hunting pyramid.

I didn't grow up hunting with other people. I've mostly hunted by myself since I was about 8 years old. I wouldn't go back and change that if I could. Outside of hunting with my Dad, I still hunt alone.