Fewer Americans Are Hunting and Fishing

[Anonymous]

Not Gone Fishing
A five-year survey of outdoor recreation finds a sharp drop in the number of Americans who cast a rod and reel—and a lesser decline in hunting. But that doesn’t mean we’re spending less time with animals in nature.

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Steve Tuttle
Newsweek
Updated: 6:21 a.m. PT June 16, 2007
June 16, 2007 - If you’re a squirrel or a trout, we’ve got some good news for you: Americans are hunting and fishing less. Every five years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service puts together a massive survey of outdoor recreation, and the 2006 preliminary numbers were released today. They show ominous trends, depending on your worldview—or species. The number of anglers has dropped 12 percent since 2001; the hunter count has fallen off by 4 percent during the same five-year period. This doesn’t mean Americans aren’t spending time outdoors or interacting with wild animals; “wildlife watching” is up 8 percent since 2001. They’re just choosing not to kill them so much.
Though the final report won’t be available until November of this year, the preliminary findings reveal a downward pattern that worries many sportsmen: over the last 15 years or so, millions fewer people have been hunting and fishing in a country with a rapidly expanding population. There are countless reasons for the trend, chief among them urbanization and changes in America’s rural culture. Video games and cable television vie for the attention of young kids, and their parents can’t find the time or gain access as readily to the nation’s rapidly disappearing hunting fields and fishing holes.
Mark Damian Duda of the outdoor research group Responsive Management in Harrisonburg, Va., says he was especially surprised by the sharp drop in fishing, but understands it: “We just have less time overall for recreation, and there’s a lot more competition for the time we do have.” Another problem: traditions are not being passed down. Duda says 90 percent of the kids who hunt grow up in a hunting family, and starting from scratch is difficult. Duda is optimistic about the long haul, because states are noticing the trends and working hard to stop the slide. Another reason he’s hopeful: “The old image of the hunter and fisher as Teddy Roosevelt burns deep in the American psyche.”
That may prove true down the road, but the 2006 survey shows that the number of migratory bird hunters dropped a whopping 22 percent in just five years; while small-game stalkers fell by 12 percent. The number of big-game hunters has remained relatively stable over the last half decade, falling only 2 percent.
Still, 12.5 million people over the age of 16 went hunting in 2006, down from about 13 million in 2001, and they dropped $23 billion on the stuff it takes to get out in the field (roughly the same amount of money spent on hunting five years ago).
Fishing participation fell three times the rate of hunting over five years—down a jaw-dropping 23 percent in the Great Lakes region. Freshwater fishing outside the Great Lakes was off 10 percent; saltwater fishing fell by 15 percent.
In 2006, 13 percent of the U.S. population still took the rod and reel out for a cast. Nearly 30 million people—five million less than 2001-went fishing, spending an average of 17 days angling during the year. They dropped about $40 billion on licenses, equipment and trips to support the activity.
Nicholas Throckmorton, a spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service, admits that the hunting and fishing trends are “disturbing.” But he argues that the data is secondary to the report’s real news, that “the value of wildlife remains high to millions of Americans, who know that outdoor recreation rejuvenates our spirit and gets us away from the wired, modern world.”
Sportsmen can take heart in the fact that despite the declining numbers, nearly 34 million people still found time to fish and hunt in 2006, and spent a combined $75.4 billion doing it. That’s important, because federal taxes on guns and sporting equipment are spent on conservation efforts and wildlife refuges; without those places, many of the 71 million “watchers” identified in the survey would be left staring at a starling on a bird feeder.
The real lesson of the report is that as a nation we’re gradually finding new, less violent ways to interact with nature. If this keeps up it won’t be long before Elmer Fudd goes after Bugs Bunny with a pair of binoculars.
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.


Thought this was interesting and that you guys might like to read it.

fishnislife

[jmay]

Good post, I have read similar articles. Personally I feel there are several factors including the urbanization of our country and increasing complex game rules, lotteries ect (for hunting especally).

I grew up fishing and hunting and can't image my life without them, however my formitable years where spent in rural settings. It sounds dumb but as a parent of 2 small kids I feel the best "gift" I can give them is the outdoors and have spent the last 5 years packing kids around baiting hooks, and untangling lines, and having them sit in a duck blind or follwing the dog looking for a pheasant (albeit for a limited time).

I really feel that kids who hunt and fish understand when you keep a fish for dinner its dead. The kid caught it, Dad gutted it, mom fried it, its dead. That leads to an understanding at a young age that once something is dead you don't get to start over like you do in a veido game. I think not only that outdoor kids have a greater understanding of life but are more respectful of the world they live it. Kids who hunt don't shoot up their schools!

A lot of this did not sink in until a few weeks ago. At preschool my 5 year old had to answer several questions for a fathers day card in which the teach wrote each kids response down. I have the card taped to my wall at work it reads:

The questions
1Q) How old is your dad? A) old
2Q) What is your dads job? A) looks at pictures and computers and talks on the phone (I'm an insurance adjuster)
3Q) What is your favorate thing about your dad? A) HE TAKES ME FISHING
4Q) What is your favorate thing you own? A) the BASS POLE Santa Claus gave me
5Q) What is your proudest moment? A) When I catch more FISH than Dad
6Q) If you could do one thing with your Dad what would it be? A) FISH

4 out of 6 questions revolved around me sitting in a boat cussing under my breath trying to put a worm on a hook when getting pounded with the random questions of a child. Kids don't see the frustration of a parent untangleing line, or the day you did not catch anything but they do remeber that day when they reeled in 20 of those seemingly huge pumpkinseeds.

To save our beloved hobbie, sport, however you view it we all have a duty to take kids outdoors and share our world. It does take sacriface, I would rather be casting an elk hair caddis to cutthoarts, but have resorted to putting worms on jigs for perch and sunfish. I don't want to sound arrigant but it's something I feel we who love the sport most do. The smiles you get are well worth the sacrfice, and when their 16 and hate me anyways I will good to prosueing my love of trout on the fly.

[Bodofish]

Good job JMAY!
My kids are all grown now. Well, marry off my daughter on Sat. We had one rule when they were in the outdoors. If you kill it you, you eat it. They spent a fair amount time on the beach, the familly has a house on Camano. They got to eat a lot of things over the years. The boy's love to fish and shoot. I had had my fill of gutting large animals and carrying them out by the time they were old enough. They just shoot at birds.
I'm glad to say I was able to nurture a number of their friends on the way up. My daughters soon to be is a fisherman too. I had to break him in right.... .... he's almost ready to go fishing, he'll sit in house with his hands in his lap. Good kid!
Good Job to all you dads raising them right. They don't get in trouble when they're out fishing and hunting.

[Bigbass Dez]

:compress: Good post fishin .. this is great food for thought .. I find it amazing on how the numbers are droping on fishing but the Tourney Tours are getting Bigger and Payouts are larger .. I think more people are learning and practicing more C&R and taking more concern to the enviorment ... BBD

[fishnislife]

Sweet jmay. That is awesome stuff. I can't wait tell my son is old enough to take fishing.


fishnislife

[littleriver]

I used to subscribe to "IN-Fisherman" back in the 80s .. Al Lindner and the boys preached this kind of thing on a regular basis... took me a while to figure out what they were talking about but once I finally got the message I became a devoted disciple of the gospel of "participation"......

I used to think that the less people went out fishing the better fishing would be.... that notion is totally backwards... In fact, the more people who fish the better fishing will be and the more secure a sportfisher will be in the expectation that he/she will even be able to sport fish at all........................

Though I think most of the professionals at WDFW do the best job they can and that they understand what's going on here it has always boggled my mind that participation in this state languishes in the 6% range..... sport fishing participation in Washington and Oregon should be in the 25% range.. just like Minnesota and Wisconsin.....


Here's how you do it....

Increased opportunity equals increased participation. Sport fishing opportunity in this state is restricted because so much of our prime catch is allocated to commercials who catch them in nets and let them rot for a few days before they send them to market so stupid people who don't know the difference between fresh and rotten fish can buy them and pretend to enjoy eating them...


First thing you do is start managing your hatcheries so the fish come back to docks and piers and public access areas in and near urban areas.... If someone lives in urban seattle or urban tacoma they should be able to take a bus to some kind of park or dock or pier and and be able to go down to that fishing area and have a very high expectation of catching a big salmon at least once or twice a year... (i.e. a Hoodsport kind of thing in Elliot and Commencement bay)... if WDFW would do this one simple little thing (and I've sent in the suggestion several times during their annual rules review process) they could easily double sport fishing participation in this state....

the only reason they can't do this is because the environmentalists and the commercial fishing interests and the animal right morons (e.g. the koolaid kids who run things in Olympia) hate the sport fishing community and will never do anything that promotes or makes sport fishing people or sport fishing interests look good...... and one need only look at our current "Director of Fisheries" (e.g. Jeffery Koenig) to underscore my point..... Sir Jeffery is one of the Koolaid kids and his primary job as director is to assure the powers to be that those annoying little sport fishers won't get too "uppity"....

We have a really tough fight and some really intense and powerful enemies in this struggle to promote sport fishing and to increase sport fishing participation in this state....... but I do my very best to do my part to do this promoting...

not to get everyone too depressed but I worked very hard for initiative 696 (the net ban initiative ) in 1999 and was peripherally involved in the same kind of effort in 1995.... Everyone here should understand that it was the legal arm of the Sierra Club that put up the biggest money and the most effort to defeat those initiatives..... I should also remind everyone that "Trout Unlimited" came out in opposition to these initiatives........

The Sierra Club and "Trout Unlimited" are not driven by "altruism"..... they are driven by money....... the trustees of the big foundations who fund these organizations pretty much dictate what their ideological objectives will be........

These foundations have lots of money and that money buys the influence that suppresses our sport...

(hint, hint... if you belong to Trout Unlimited or send money to the Sierra Club.. please stop... it isn't helping anyone in any way at all)


How 'bout that. I'll bet this is the first time anyone has ever read a commercial message that implored you to "stop" sending your money to some "vital interest".

[jmay]

LITTE RIVER! Thank god, I thought I was the only one who beleived Trout Unlimited was a left wing, land holding east coast, money conspirancy.

fishnislife and Bodofish, thank you for the kind words, not really sure why I went off on a little rant.

[littleriver]

It surprises me a little that participation is down in the great lakes area... lots of opportunity in the great lakes but it costs a lot of money for the hardware (boat, motor, electronics, rods, coolers, etc.) to work the big waters and the fish you catch arn't all that great to eat.... at least the salmon arn't...

Invasive species like zebra mussels and the eurasian ruffe have taken a toll but that should have been in the numbers for at least the last 5 or 6 years... Not a widely acknowledged fact but zebra mussels in lake ontario depleted the food source of the alewifes that had themselves been an invasive species introduced in the 60s or 70s.... Prior to the alewives arriving lake ontario had been a good walleye lake.. but it turns out the alewives are in shallow the same time that walleye spawn and they ate all the eggs and small fry... with the alewives gone everyone was bemoaning the loss of the chinook salmon which ate only alewives and preferred to starve rather than eat anything else but then the walleye started coming back and I guess the walleye fishing is really good there now..... fish are big and they are plentiful.. at least that's what I've heard.. haven't tried it myself...

In Lake Superior and Huron and michigan I think the bigger problem is the eurasian ruffe... haven't read too much on it the last 5 or 6 years but it was really causing problems then...


Place to watch is the atlantic and gulf coasts. All these states from Texas around the shorline to New Jersey banned commercial fishing within 3 miles of the coastline in the mid 90s. The rebound in fish populations has been nothing short of spectacular since then. I think that one of the reasons we've been hearing so much about shark attacks in the shallow waters of these atlantic coast states is because the populations are increasing because the commercials can't get at them..... anyways, everything I've read about marine sport fishing in these areas over the last decade or so has been extremely encouraging...... I'm going to get down and try it out myself sometime in the next few years... but I haven't read anything about what it's done for participation.. would be interesting to see a breakdown for those states....