What's Wrong With Hunting Today? Well for starters, fewer and fewer youngsters are getting involved with hunting. More and more we see our youth becoming involved with video games, illegal drugs, and other distractions rather then getting a hands on contact with hunting. Couple that with the fact that many states don't allow a youngster to hunt, even with a parent or guardian until they reach a certain legislated age, and its easy to see that during the formative years, when they could become very interested in the sport of hunting, instead they are forced to stay home and ultimately are drawn onto other areas or interests. This is a tragic situation for our very nation, and especially for our sport. The average age of hunters today is increasing steadily, while the number of active hunters is steadily decreasing.

Are Hunter Numbers Declining? Yes! Dramatically! According to an estimate by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the number of Active Hunters has decreased from 23 million to 20.6 million in just the last five years. However figures from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service indicate that the number of persons who have a paid, certified hunting license is an even lower number, 14.7 million a decline of almost 11.5% over some previous years. When one considers that the overall population has grown a significant amount during the same time frame, you can begin to see an even greater unhealthy trend. Since 1990, the number of license holders in Massachusetts has dropped by 50,000, or 40 percent; in California since 1980 the number has fallen by almost half, from 540,000 to 300,000. In Michigan, there were 1.2 million licensed hunters in 1992 — but fewer than 850,000 in 2004. Hunting As We Know It Is In Trouble!

Age Matters - In 1980 only 40% of all hunters were over 35 years old, in 2004 that had increased to over 70% over 35 years, and according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, today more than 90 percent of hunters are 35 years or older. And nearly 80 percent of current hunters started between the ages 6 and 15, the shooting sports foundation says. According to a Horton Study, the average age of the general hunting population has increased to 43.8 years, indicating that young people are not being recruited to the sport in anywhere near large enough numbers. What happens when the older hunters stop hunting?

Will This Affect The Future Of Hunting? - You Bet! Here is an eye opening quote.. "For every 100 adult hunters today, only 69 youth hunters are coming up to take their place. If allowed to continue, economic projections indicate funding for wildlife conservation could drop 25 percent by 2025. This decline could cause a 24 percent drop in revenue for the hunting industry". Read The Entire Article

Why Should I Care? Well, not to mention the obvious impact that fewer and fewer hunters entering the sport will have upon the hunting industry as a whole, a far greater impact will be felt upon our State Conservation Departments across the U.S. You see, a major portion of the funding for State wildlife Agencies is derived from not only the sale of hunting licenses, but also from a distribution of Federal funds distributed to the various states according to a formula based in part upon the number of hunting licenses sold in that state. As hunter numbers drop, the state wildlife agencies feel a double pinch. Less revenue from license sales and less federal revenue distributed to that state as a result of those shrinking license sales. Obviously with fewer and fewer dollars to fund these agencies, enforcement efforts will also decline. Poachers are going to be free to go wherever they please. The quality of YOUR hunting will suffer!

How Can I Help? If we begin an effort to recruit new hunters by getting young people interested in the sport, it will have a tremendous impact for years to come. First it will insure that the sport will have a brighter future. By signing up, we let the manufacturers know that we, as hunters are interested in this important issue. We let them know that we expect them to help solve the problem, and that we expect them to give something back to help insure the future of hunting.

Will This Have An Impact? While the impact of the lifetime licenses purchased by the Saving Our Hunting program may be small, the importance of the discussion brought about by the program may help the hunting industry realize that much more needs to be done, and that much more coordination between the hunting industry and various user groups is necessary to avoid future problems. Problems which threaten the very sport they depend upon for their financial survival.

What Happens To Items Donated By The Manufacturers? 100% of all products or monies donated by the manufacturers are given away, either in the form of lifetime hunting licenses, annual hunting licenses, or products furnished to the various winners as prizes or grand prizes. Saving Our Hunting does not keep any portion of these donations.

Will We Spam Your E-mail Address? NO! We will never engage in spam. After the initial confirmation notice, and the welcoming notices explaining various parts of the program, the remaining e-mails we send out to contestants fall entirely into 2 categories: 1. Notifications of who has won each drawing. 2. Occasionally if a newsworthy story breaks which is considered to have a potentially significant impact upon hunting, we may send everyone an e-mail notifying them of the important issue. Examples of this might be a pending bill before congress that threatens hunting or perhaps a state or local bill that would strengthen hunting, or other important events. In cases like these, obviously, we would want to notify everyone possible.

Can I stop Receiving Notifications? Yes! Absolutely. You can stop at any time. Each notification we send is in strict accordance with the best practices of Opt In Newsletters and applicable Can-Spam Laws. Each notification contains an Opt Out Link you can use to stop the program at any time.

Will My E-mail Address Ever Be Sold Or Otherwise Shared? No! Absolutely Not! We value your privacy and will never sell, rent, or share in any way your E-mail address.

Will The Participating Manufacturers Be Allowed To Place Ads On These E-mails? Yes. Product announcements, hunting tips, and ads for various products and/or services will be included on the E-mail notifications. This is necessary to help persuade the manufacturers to get involved in the process of purchasing a lifetime license. Without these ads, the program would simply be much more difficult to get off the ground. The ads also serve another very important function, that of telling you, the interested hunter, just which manufacturers are willing to step up to the plate and address the problem head on. If interested hunters suddenly change their purchasing tendencies, and begin supporting those manufacturers who are trying to help preserve hunting, then more and more manufacturers will take notice and become involved, leading to more and more lifetime hunting licenses being purchased and given away to kids. The ads help facilitate this entire process.

How Can You Help? As more and more manufacturers become involved in the program, we will be able to give away more and more lifetime hunting licenses to kids and service personnel. You can help by getting more and more of your friends to sign up and support the program. Without a broad base of support among the hunting community, the manufacturers will not be nearly as willing to get involved. You can also help by talking to your favorite manufacturer and making certain they are on board and understand the importance of this program. As more and more manufacturers get involved, more and more lifetime hunting licenses can be purchased and given away to kids. So, to a very large degree, the success of this program depends upon you, the American hunter. We've started the ball rolling, but we need you to get involved, and help push the program so more and more lifetime hunting licenses can be given away.

Register

Home