[Hunters] Endangered Species

Vermont Life, Fall 2011

Suburbanization, animal rights, newcomers -- these and other social trends have Vermont's hunting culture on the run. In this special report, veteran field-and-stream journalist Matt Crawford examines what will be lost, why there might be hope and why even those who don't hunt should care.

By Matt Crawford Can Localvores Save Hunting? "We're only ever going to have a certain percentage of people who hunt," said Eric Nuse, of Johnson, executive director of Orion–The Hunter's Institute, a national nonprofit that encourages ethical and responsible hunting. "With this new wave of back-to-earthers being spearheaded by people concerned about the origins of their food, we just might appeal a bit to those who will consider hunting."

MICHIGAN 'FAMILIES AFIELD' BILL CLEARS SENATE

From the NSSF Bullet Points:

 . . . The Michigan Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that would eliminate the state's minimum hunting age and create a mentored youth hunting program for those under the age of 10. The bill, which passed by a vote of 30-6, would allow youths to hunt under the supervision of an experienced adult mentor. It now moves to the House, where an identical bill is already pending. The legislation is part of the nationwide Families Afield effort to increase youth involvement in hunting by allowing young hunters to safely experience outdoor hunting traditions under the supervision of an experienced mentor. Read more about the bill.

THUG shotguns and TV show - you've got to be kidding!

This from the Outdoor Wire.
It makes you wonder, what are these people thinking??? Naming a series of shotguns THUG and a TV show! If some anti group smeard  us with this term the NRA would be all over them. But the marketers at Mossberg and Mossy Oak do it and we all roll over. As Pogo famously said, "We have met the enemy and it is us."

Turkey THUGS Go Afield with Mossberg Shotguns

Mossberg delivers four new high-performance Turkey THUG shotgun models, each engraved with "Turkey THUG Series" on the receiver. Mossberg Turkey THUG shotguns will be the exclusive shotguns used in Mossy Oak's Turkey THUG television program in 2011-2012, which airs on the Pursuit Channel. | For More...

UW hunter promotes eco-conscious behavior

Orion and Responsive Management have submitted a letter of intent for a multi-state grant to look at the connection of locavors and hunting. From what I see and read these folks have a strong respect for the land and animals, as do ethical hunters.

From Madison. Com

Locavor Hunters

...
Malcolm declared himself a hunter and environmentalist. He explained how those interests help him obtain "healthy, organic food in an ethical, eco-conscious manner." In fact, Malcolm appreciates hunting more than ever as he and his wife try to separate themselves from the industrial food chain that links our supermarkets to factory farms and petroleum-based agriculture that's making family farms obsolete.
Malcolm's no rebel. If you spend much time around serious gardeners, mushroom pickers and wild-berry pickers, as well as farmers' markets and community support agriculture -- CSA farms -- you've probably heard the term "locavore."
Locavores are do-it-yourselfers who try to obtain most of their food from local sources. They also like to "put up" as much food as possible through canning, smoking, pickling, vacuum-sealing and pressure-cooking.
In other words, they're food-gatherers who can often be nudged toward the "hunter-gatherer" lifestyle by folks like Malcolm. And he's more than happy to push. When he's not hunting deer, turkeys, waterfowl and small game, Malcolm is arming college students with guns and bows while teaching them to hunt.
Read more

Hunter Safety Deferral Program in FL

From the Outdoor Women's Wire:

Safe hunting is no accident

A law passed in Florida, called the Hunter Safety Deferral, allows novice hunters to try hunting with an adult mentor for a year before having to complete the state's hunter safety certification. However, the hunter safety education course is a great way to learn about hunter responsibility, the proper way to shoot, how to identify game animals and wildlife conservation.

: : For More : :

VT has a similar bill pending in the House Fish and Wildlife Committee.

Aiming for Future Growth for Hunters and Conservation

Published in The Wildlife Society Professional, Summer 2009 edition

Aiming for Future Growth – By Eric C. Nuse

The Future of Hunting and the Shooting Sports: Research-Based Recruitment and Retention Strategies, Responsive Management and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, 2008. 261 pages

At last under one cover are the results of most of the recent scientific studies and surveys looking at recruitment and retention of hunters and shooters in the U.S. Studies included range from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Census National Survey of Fish, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation to Responsive Management’s Attitudes Toward and Participation in Youth Hunting Weekends in Vermont. It also includes the results of two series of nationwide focus groups and two major scientific telephone surveys.
Lead researcher Mark Damian Duda states, “The purpose of this project is to better understand the factors related to hunting and sport shooting participation, identify strategies to better meet the needs of current and potential participants, and more effectively communicate to the public about these activities.” The book is organized into 9 chapters covering the following broad topics: participation, demographic trends, initiation and recruitment, motivations and satisfactions, target markets, recruitment programs, public opinion, and implications and action items.
As president of Orion-The Hunter’s Institute and actively involved in hunter recruitment and retention efforts, I found this book’s primary strength comes from putting the results from hundreds of studies and surveys under one cover. Beyond this convenience, the synthesizing of the results by topic area followed by comprehensive list of action items makes this book an essential desk reference for everyone concerned about the future of hunting and shooting sports. The study falls short in identifying top priority actions but it anticipates this failing by suggesting the formation of a national “umbrella” group to “coordinate programs, minimize duplication and ensure that gaps are not left unaddressed.” The authors also advocate for national and state-specific strategic plans.
As a participant in numerous Governors’ Symposiums on the Future of Hunting and similar events, I have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of connectivity between recruitment programs. It seemed to me that government and NGOs all had their pet projects but they were more like mazes with lots of dead ends than a path to help people become life-long hunters. This report’s suggestion for an umbrella group would be a great step forward to leverage the investments in current programs and straighten out the current maze. I think there is a good reason that it historically “Takes a hunter to make a hunter.” Hunters are the only ones who can figure out the system and provide the support needed to guide a new recruit through! In my experience in hunter education at the state and national level, improvements have been made in building awareness and interest in hunting, but coordinated follow though is lacking.
The Final action item 196 is worth noting. “Put these actions into place as soon as possible. While proper planning is essential, plans cannot be left in the planning stage without follow-through. Action now will ensure the continuation of the hunting and shooting heritage in the U.S. in the future.”
I decided to test the value of the book with a real issue being debated in my home state of Vermont. A bill has been introduced to allow interested people to try hunting before committing to hunter education or buying a hunting license. I wanted to see what the research says.
Using a word search in the PDF version that is available online at the Responsive Management web site, I found that “mentor” was mentioned 36 times. To make the material easier to work with I cut and pasted all relevant sections together, cut out the duplications and created my own 8-page mini-report. It was a simple matter to then glean the data I needed to put my report together. Here is a short summary of what I found:
• Mentoring plays an important role in hunting initiation (and in this context, mentoring primarily refers to informal mentoring—such as a parent taking a child).
• Mandatory hunter education itself does not appear to be a constraint to hunting participation. However, some researchers have suggested that the timing of the education—requiring a person to go through the entire education course before being able to even try hunting with a mentor—may have some constraining effect.
• Hunters following that route of initiation—starting young and being mentored by others, particularly family—typically show greater subsequent avidity for hunting.
• Follow-up programs after initiation, particularly within a short time after a hunter’s first experience, are critical.
• Encouraging continued participation with family members, and developing programs and services with families in. This ensures the hunter or shooter has the social support necessary to sustain interest and participation.
In a short time I found everything I needed to prepare my testimony for the legislative committee. Unfortunately the paper version of this book does not have an index allowing for this type of word search, but the PDF version worked great.
The book also points out some myths; such as that single mom households are contributing disproportionately to the decline in hunter numbers. The data presented is clear that this is not the case and programs that focus on this issue are not the best use of time and money. The book also points out the importance of family, but does not go into mentoring programs like the New York regional pilot that was not successful in part because they focused on the individual youth and not the family.
The Future of Hunting and the Shooting Sports was produced under a Multi-State Conservation Grant CT-M-6-0. Primary authors are: Mark Damian Duda, Martin Jones, Andrea Criscione, (all of Responsive Management), and Frank Briganti of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. They state, “This report presents the findings of one of the largest and most comprehensive studies ever conducted on the factors related to hunting and sport shooting participation.” It was a 3-year project involving wildlife professionals, outdoor recreation professionals, academics, sportsmen and conservation organization personnel.
This study will be of particular value to outreach directors, hunter education coordinators, NGOs involved in recruitment and retention projects, legislators and regulatory boards.
Overall this is a great start, and as the researchers repeatedly state there is a lot more work to be done. The National Shooting Sports Foundation hosted the 2008 Shooting Sports Summit where the results of this book were presented, and a group called Task Force 20/20 was formed (http://www.taskforce2020.org/). This group has identified five key areas of concentration from the 196 action items listed in the book. For each key area they list best practices to accomplish the objective. A follow up Summit is scheduled for 2009 with the goal of increasing participation in hunting and the shooting sports by 20 percent in 5 years. Also the Wildlife Management Institute has put together a comprehensive database of over 400 recruitment and retention programs being run by government entities and NGO’s. It is available at http://huntingheritage.org
The Future of Hunting and The Shooting Sports should be within arm’s reach of all professionals concerned with the future of hunting and the shooting sports.

Hunter Recruitment website

• Hunter Recruitment and Retention Boosted by New Website

  Created: Wednesday, 15 April 2009 11:28

  The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) announced the launch of a new Website dedicated to sustaining and enhancing North America’s hunting heritage. The Website, www.huntingheritage.org, will serve as a clearinghouse for information, programs and con...