I’ll give the survey a little time so we can get as many responses as possible…….but in the mean time we need to decide on the number were gonna use for “total deer hunters”. I’m gonna depend on y’all to get me an answer on this one. If you think you know what it is then throw it out there along with the source of where you got the info and we’ll compare answers to come up with a final number. This IS NOT total license sales…..we’re wanting total deer hunters.

I talked about this in my response in your thread, but the answer is that you will have to make up something. Nobody knows how many unlicensed hunters we have in AL. The state uses a Federal survey from 2011 that probably was just a guess when they made it.

That's the reason the hunter survey didn't even attempt to count these hunters. It was always limited to the harvest by licensed hunters and likely did a reasonable job of measuring that. Your survey would have been a lot easier if you had asked only licensed hunters to respond. But since you didn't structure it that way, you might as well use their figure of 535,110. I have no idea of their methodology and I think the number is overstated, but it's just my opinion. And that figure is all hunters, which makes it even less useful.

I can say this with certainty. It will be two less next year than it was this year. My son and myself.

Is that 500,000 number the total number of “hunters” or the total number of “deer hunters”???

That's number of hunters. I think it was gathered by the Census bureau, so take it with a grain of salt.

The dcnr did an unscientific email survey and determined that 98% of AL hunters hunted deer, so you could multiply the 535k by .98 and it would be more accurate than GC at reflecting the actual kill.

We're not far from increasing your 2 to 5.

Y'all just need to find a better place to hunt. They are out there. I can't imagine giving up my favorite activity and something I've been doing for over 60 years. I'd die from boredom in short order

Yep. Me and the boys should've been chasing the Specks, hell with a deer lol....

I don't care what license sales say. I think there's at least jut as many if not more deer hunters today than in years past. If there weren't why is it so hard to find somewhere to hunt, and why is it so expensive. Sounds like supply and demand to me.

There are less hunters but the reason it’s so hard to find a lease is there is a lot more land with a lot less hunters on it. I know a lease in lowndes cnty that is 4,500 acres that two people lease and their 2 sons also hunt it. 1600 acres in pickens that 2 people lease with their 2 sons and 5,000 acres across the street that jim burke owns and only lets a few people hunt. I can go on and on but 15 years ago places like those would have had 10-25 maybe more people Hunting them. It’s really not that hard to understand.

The state has easily doubled the amount of money it makes a year based off of hunting and the hunting industry since the 80s and 90s and your telling me that its because of less people contributing more money? I doubt that.

How can you compare now to the 80s and 90s? Merchandise prices have more than doubled, and there's waayyyy more hunting related chit and gimmicks on the market now than there ever was. Hell i only owned one pair (only camo i had besides a pair of jeans) of camo coveralls in the mid 90s, now i own dozens of camo related clothes and purchase (I spend a butt load more than i ever did also) more every year. The Deer Hunting industry is a total different animal now than it was in the 80s and 90s...

Well apparently there were piles of more people hunting back then than today. I just dont see it.

I dunno man. I talked to some guys the other day whom i Haven't seen in a while, and these guys were big deer hunters, and they're still hunting, but they chase ducks now instead.

I've talked to a lot of guys who completely quit deer hunting to chase ducks and some said the expense was higher for deer and you get to shoot more at ducks

Overall there is a lot less land to hunt than in the past due to development. This has condensed hunters into smaller geographical areas.

In my opinion this assessment of our current situation is spot on. There is no shortage of deer hunters in this state that I guarantee. If there was there would be more land available to lease and better options for clubs. The land and especially quality land is not out there. Someone has it leased and has for years!

Some people just can’t afford to drive hours to find a better place to hunt. Thankfully this State does offer plenty of other activities that people can pursue in the outdoors that you can still have a gratifying experience. For I am blessed to be able to afford driving 8 hours to enjoy hunting deer again. Now I will never quit hunting in Alabama totally, but the days of me buying a hunting license to do it is definitely numbered.

Yeah duck hunting and fishing year round has really taken a lot of people out of deer hunting down here on the coast since the deer population has went into the dirt.