“Because my dad does.” This is the most common answer given by today’s hunters as to why they don camouflage, pick up a gun or bow and head afield. You might possibly replace dad with grandpa or uncle, but the same formula applies: a male family member took them into the outdoors and taught them to hunt.

In 1996, there were 14 million license-bearing hunters in the United States. By 2016, the number had dwindled to 11.5 million. There are many reasons for this decline, including the loss of public land, economic inflation, recruiting the wrong demographic, and ultimately, the need to hunt does not exist anymore.

Too Much Focus on Kids

We write and speak often about nurturing the next generation of hunting, which is great. Kids should have the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. But what if we’re directing too much energy and money toward recruiting kids?

Anyone too young to drive is what you may call an unstable asset. Most kids this age don’t work, thus requiring a guardian to purchase their licenses and equipment. And to be honest, they simply aren’t capable of formulating positive ideas toward hunting beyond sitting stand and hoping to shoot something. So, why not direct more focus toward young adults, college students and millennials who have money and vehicles?

Recruit Outside the Mold

“Invite people to hunt that don’t look like you,” said Matt Dunfee of the Wildlife Management Institute. “Because to ensure the future of this sport, we’ve got to break the mold of the middle-aged, white male hunter.”

These are the young adults, college students and millennials that don’t hunt and may not know that they want to. They haven’t been given the opportunity for the same reason we have: there was no male family member to take them.

Our society is getting more and more interested in knowing where their food comes from. It’s popular in restaurants and the way we shop at grocery stores. This is a great cause to recruit young men and women who want to eat as close to 100% organic as possible. Again, kids are great for the future of hunting, but it’s these young adults who are much more viable as ambassadors to the sport.

“We are using the word ‘outdoorsapianism,’” said Dunfee.“This means hunting as a human trait, not just a country person who puts one orange and heads to the woods. It closely represents how those who are coming into hunting later in life want to be viewed.”

The War Against Disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is now in 25 states. Even though it’s more prevalent in the western grasslands, an outbreak can occur anywhere. Single proteins, called prions, are transported to animals through grass plants and can’t be eliminated by what is referred to as “kill strategies” such as high heat or ultraviolet light. The protein-based infectious agents cause the degeneration of the brain, which leads to strange behavior, loss of bodily functions and death, among other things, in members of the cervid family, including whitetails, mule deer, moose and elk.

CWD is spread at a faster rate by the movement of live animals and carcasses, so if you’re bringing a dead deer across state lines from an area that has reported the disease, take extra precautions. If you’re not sure, call a local game warden or biologist. Most of us have only witnessed strong, healthy whitetails in the wild so it should be fairly obvious if a deer is sick. 

As we are in the midst of summer, biologists ask that the general public report any unusual deer mortalities. If they can quickly assimilate the cause of an unexplained death, it can help get to the root of the problem much quicker and possibly prevent a widespread outbreak.

Hemorrhagic Disease is caused by one of two closely related viruses, including epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) or bluetongue virus and outbreaks occur almost every year. Currently, it has found its way into 40 states and Canada. Being that these two viruses are transmitted through biting flies from the genus Culicoides rather than direct contact, the most outbreaks occur in the late summer and early fall when warm temperatures have helped birth billions of insects. The flies that transmit the diseases are known as biting midges and are sometimes called sand gnats or no-see-ums; names most of us have heard.

As hunters and conservationists, there’s not much we can do to help prevent EHD, CWD or any other disease except report unusual deaths and of course, continue to hunt. Risks for the disease are minimized in deer herds that do not exceed the carrying capacity of their habitat. And really the only way to regulate the numbers is to kill deer. As some know and others don’t, hunting is the most successful form of conservation. When Mother Nature finally has to intervene in order to control a population, it’s usually a sickening disease.

Number One in Conservation

Hunters alone spent $25.6 billion in 2016 on licenses and gear. Add in birdwatchers, photographers, and anyone else who involved themselves in outdoor activities concerning birds and animals, and the tally spent on wildlife in 2016 was $156.6 billion. That’s good for the economy. And wildlife.

There are also organizations like the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) who, despite the fledgling numbers over the past several years, are actively encouraging their members to take an active role in recruiting hunters. According to QDMA’s Director of Conservation Kip Adams, it’s 60,000 members took some 200,000 people hunting just this past season. Hunters also provided more than 1.1 billion meals that they either shared or donated. That too, is good for the economy, the wildlife, and our country’s citizens.

Hunting generates nearly $12 billion annually on federal, state and local tax revenues. This helps us pay for those employees of the various wildlife agencies through the purchase of hunting licenses and funds collected as excise taxes through the long-running Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (also known as the Pittman-Robertson Act), which was passed in 1937. It’s this program that placed said excise tax on firearms and ammunition that is shared among state wildlife agencies for the exclusive purpose of supporting conservation efforts.

Ancillary Benefits of the Hunter

There are also many ancillary benefits to hunting. Ever hit a deer with your vehicle that resulted in major damage and an elevated insurance premium? Hunters keep wildlife numbers in check to reduce their contact with humans. Plus, anyone with half a brain knows the detrimental effects brought on by overpopulation. Mother Nature doesn’t joke around when she has to intervene on an overly large deer, elk or antelope herd. 

Use this information to share knowledge. Fellow hunters are a band, a tribe. When was the last time you stopped someone at a gas station that was wearing camouflage or had fishing poles sticking out of their pickup to ask about their time in the woods and water? We do it often. Some long-lasting friends have been acquired that way. Heck, it’s even led to some great hunts!