Adam Servais
NR 320 Blog Assignment
11/4/11
Hunting is a great tradition here in Wisconsin. Many people throughout the state consider opening weekend of deer hunting a holiday and wouldn’t miss it for anything. Hopefully these traditions will continue for years to come but that all depends upon the recruitment of hunters throughout the state. With fewer and fewer people hunting as the years go by it is very possible that hunting will hardly exist. The development and use of hunter recruitment programs may become a crucial tool for the recruitment of new hunters throughout the state. With the ever increasing amount of video games and countless other pastimes hunter recruitment and retention is becoming harder and harder to obtain. Are there any other reasons that you can think of that participation in hunting is decreasing?
The Learn to Hunt program is a hunter recruitment program that is already being used throughout the state. The Learn to Hunt program is “an educational program to help beginning hunters experience a high quality, first-time hunt with the aid of experienced hunting mentors.”(WDNR) With a good first experience involving hunting it is more likely that the inexperienced hunter will continue to enjoy the sport of hunting. It is crucial that everyone has a great experience hunting especially their first time. Without a good experience it is hard to stay interested in something especially in today’s society. With a good first experience people who don’t hunt may begin to enjoy hunting more. Did your first hunting experience contribute to your continued involvement? Even if they don’t they will hopefully see the value in experiencing the act of hunting. The Learn to Hunt program incorporates an educational experience along with the actual hunting experience. The educational part of the program is designed to teach the inexperienced hunters about the animals they will be hunting.
I think that the Learn to Hunt program is a great opportunity for anyone who hasn’t hunted before to get out and try hunting for the first time under the guidance of a mentor. I just wish there would have been this kind of opportunity when I was younger. It would have given me the opportunity to hunt at a younger age without Hunter’s Safety.
With hunter recruitment and retention becoming an ever increasing issue throughout the country there is a need for more programs to get new members into hunting. It is important that everyone does their part to insure the future use of our natural resources for hunting purposes. What other programs are out there to increase hunter recruitment and retention besides the Learn to Hunt program?
Thank you for reading
For additional information on the Learn to Hunt program: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/lth/
Reference
WDNR. (n.d.). Learn to hunt brochure. Retrieved from http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/lth/
5 comments:
I remember in high school, it was often a difficult balance between academics, sports and hunting. I often had to choose between basketball and hunting. That one potential issue. Children are especially now asked to go above and beyond what their predecessors had to do in school. If you are in a sport, you may have practices for a couple hours every week day, plus holidays, some weekends and weekend tournaments. That consumes almost all of the time available to hunt.
Children may also have a more difficult time sticking with hunting. Clearly, attention spans aren't what they used to be. Children need to be constantly entertained, and sometimes hunting can't provide that. Hopefully parents can use it as a great learning tool to help their children appreciate a more relaxed and challenging--and at times boring!!--hobby.
There are so many factors that can be explored. Rising costs? Overregulation? Poor population management and techniques? So many factors, so little time. The Learn to Hunt program is certainly a step in the right direction. I think we are going to need more than that, however, to recruit hunters.
My first experience was poor, but I have tried to make up for it with mentoring. I'm glad for LTH. I'm afraid, though, that access to good land is the bigger issue.
Not being from Wisconsin, I'm not much of a hunter myself, but I've been out a few times. I do however have a interest in the outdoors and outdoor sports that help raise awareness about how important our natural resources are. From what I read and what I know, I think the LTH program might need to be revised and more accommodating to the busy lives of kids in today's world. In addition more programs that are more easily accessible are another option. Getting involved with schools and local sporting outfitters to organize hunting clinics would be something to get interest up.
Ashley I agree that the Learn to Hunt is ideally only the beginning of what needs to be done but it seems like a good place to start.
Dr. Lueck I would have to agree that access to good hunting land is a big problem. This I believe partly stems from how much prestige and other rewards someone can stand to gain from shooting a big buck. Also with land prices continually rising it becomes less appealing to share something that you have paid so much to obtain.
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