I think the reason we are losing hunters at an alarming rate has nothing to do with stricter policies and everything to do with liberal policies.
We have a deer season that runs for 4 months straight with essentially no limit on "deer". You can shoot as many as you want really. You just have to stop at a certain number of bucks. Where I grew up that was not the case and that forced us to hunt different animals, ducks or geese or use different weapons like a Muzzleloader, late season bow hunt, etc.
What unlimited deer killing has done is breed an entire generation of hunters that start as a kid deer hunting too early, not small game hunting, and they run out and blast the first thing they see. They never really learn to hunt anything. We are just sitting in a shooting house those first 5-6 years they are hunting looking at a green field. They blast a lot of first deer, some get 30-40 first deer. Like first one over 60lbs. First Spike. First 4 point. First Cow Horn Spike. First Mature Doe, First one with a weighs over 100lbs. Of course their Daddy will pitch a dang full on hissy fit because... They NEVER shot one that big, etc. Folks like me are just a bunch of A-holes.
And then when they get tired of shooting deer and actually hunt they haven't learned anything. And now they are in their teens. They are waiting on a buck looking at a field and they don't have the attention span and after a season or two they pretty much lose all interest in it.
Why?
Because they never see any mature deer because everyone blasts them before they get that big. They don't understand how to hunt. They sit for a couple more seasons get into high school and figure out about girls and football games, etc. They lose more interest almost completely.
When they are 30 years old they have pretty much lost ALL interest in it and just think they want to go out and shoot one for "Meat". They go hunt grandpa's place, don't buy a license because they want to claim they own the land, shoot the first yearling that steps out and that's deer hunting for the season.
That's how I see it, not like a lot of y'all.
Instead of dragging my kid to the shooting house I've been in the woods squirrel hunting with them. We've stalked some rabbits in the garden. Shot a couple doves off a limb, etc.
My kids are not going to get bored. And when they start deer hunting they aren't going to just go out and blast deer. They'll be hunting instead. Probably out of a Ladder Stand in the woods. We are going to have some close encounters, probably get winded and busted moving, etc. That's what makes someone a hunter. I learned to sit still squirrel hunting before my Daddy would ever take me deer hunting with him. And that was early for me but I pretty much lived in the woods growing up. And maybe they'll turn out to be a waterfowl hunter and not like deer hunting that much. That's ok too. But they'll be able to walk out on to a piece of property hang a stand and kill a buck even if they do.
What most of y'all are talking about with kids and why they don't love it... is not hunting it is just shooting something and maybe hanging out at the camp house and having a sleepover. A significant portion won't stick with it. Does not surprise me AT ALL.
RANT OVER.
