Is hunting a dying pass time?

[SevenMilePete]

In Pa it's been dying since the 80's.
The weather is really looking poor this week, so considering most people travel to hunt, that probably isn't helping.

Try and mentor a hunter. We need to do more if we want to save the sport.

ETA:
The PGC hasn't helped much. They are stuck in the 50's with their Fudd mindset. Pa always seems to be the last to change on all fronts. Our firearm season nèeds to change. It no longer acomodates the lifestyle of many would be hunters.

Well the tine rules and decimating the does sure hasn't helped. My nephew has a camp near Tidioute, and back thirty years ago we would see hundreds of deer when his father owned the camp. Now, they have twice as many hunting, with his brothers and their kids, and they some years don't see one, much less a buck with three tines, or whatever the hell the rule is. Insurance companies were successful in lowering claims. I wonder if they've lowered premiums.

[4thdimension]

My dad is into hunting. Tried to get us interested in hunting. Here is how our hunting days always went:

Wake up way early in the morning, typically 3 or 4 am or some shit. Drag ass out of the house, one eye open, in the dark, in the cold, and make some long ass drive out to the middle of nowhere (typically sleeping along the way). Get wherever the hell we were going around sunrise and spend the next 30 minutes or so getting our shit together, as I wondered why my sister never had to do this crap, instead getting to sleep in a nice warm bed until whenever Her Highness decided to get up and watch cartoons. Then spend the next several hours wandering around in the woods, seemingly lost and bored witless, all while having to do my utmost to keep from making any noises that would scare away whatever poor bastards we were supposed to shoot, be they deer, turkeys, squirrels, rabbits or otherwise, despite the fact that they always seemed to have advance notice of our arrival and having already executed their evacuation plans.

After five or six hours of walking around and never seeing a god damned thing I was supposed to kill, we ended up back at the car - tired, hungry and wishing that we had encountered a bear that saw us before we saw it. Then spend the next few hours in a smoke filled car, with dad's window down an inch but not being permitted the luxury of getting any fresh air of my own because another window down would "create a cross breeze" that dad found objectionable for some reason. Finally, arriving home between 2 and 4pm and not having eaten anything all fucking day, my hunger abated due to general fatigue and sleepiness, just going to bed for the rest of the day, hoping to never have to repeat the experience.

Yeah...I can see why today's kids are not signing up for that, given any choice in the matter.

Hmmm....sounds like my experience except the part about not seeing anything. I seen lots of deer when I started. It made my heart rush. I would get buck fever and tremble. God I miss those days. I didn't have the best relationship with my father but we got along when hunting. Latter in my teens I got headed down the wrong path and lost my gun rights until this year. I can finally own guns and get the buck fever rush again.

[free]

I didn't have the bed relationship with my father but we got along when hunting.

I should hope not....that could lead to a "hunting accident" where poor ole dad accidentally takes a shot to the crotch.

In any case, I had no desire to shoot at anything. The whole day was just a waste of my time when I could have been playing with Legos or Matchbox cars or something.

[Mitch10mm]

I miss it. I miss small game hunting. I liked it more for the hunt than getting game. Where'd all the pheasants go?
My Dad was my hunting partner. He's a city boy that moved his family to the country and the woods. Taught himself so he could teach us. Hunting, fishing, shooting, canoeing and hiking and camping.
My son has recently started talking about going to the range and hunting so maybe it's not too late.
Everything changed and not necessarily for the better. Rules and regs. Skinned knees were fine but eventually too many boneheads force society to act.
I'm seeing my sons generation turn themselves around, a few if not many.

[midtownchris]

There is an article on the Pittsburgh Trib about this topic. The article points to PGC stats about there being more archery hunters than there has been in the past. I don't hunt, yet, but for those that hunt during archery season what do you see? Are there trucks lines up on the sides of the road and in parking lots like you expected to see this morning?

http://triblive.com/sports/outdoors/...hunters-season

[DrillNFill]

I thought there were a ton of hunters out there today. I was up near Archbald and I saw literally dozens of parked cars and trucks within 1-2miles of where I was. Twice today I saw pickup beds filled with orange-clad hunters going up the trails, never seen that even once before.

I did see a 3- series BMW parked by one of the access gates. I was curious as to how it would haul a buck if the owner got lucky but, alas, I wasn't around when it left.

[Gunsnwater]

My dad is into hunting. Tried to get us interested in hunting. Here is how our hunting days always went:

Wake up way early in the morning, typically 3 or 4 am or some shit. Drag ass out of the house, one eye open, in the dark, in the cold, and make some long ass drive out to the middle of nowhere (typically sleeping along the way). Get wherever the hell we were going around sunrise and spend the next 30 minutes or so getting our shit together, as I wondered why my sister never had to do this crap, instead getting to sleep in a nice warm bed until whenever Her Highness decided to get up and watch cartoons. Then spend the next several hours wandering around in the woods, seemingly lost and bored witless, all while having to do my utmost to keep from making any noises that would scare away whatever poor bastards we were supposed to shoot, be they deer, turkeys, squirrels, rabbits or otherwise, despite the fact that they always seemed to have advance notice of our arrival and having already executed their evacuation plans.

After five or six hours of walking around and never seeing a god damned thing I was supposed to kill, we ended up back at the car - tired, hungry and wishing that we had encountered a bear that saw us before we saw it. Then spend the next few hours in a smoke filled car, with dad's window down an inch but not being permitted the luxury of getting any fresh air of my own because another window down would "create a cross breeze" that dad found objectionable for some reason. Finally, arriving home between 2 and 4pm and not having eaten anything all fucking day, my hunger abated due to general fatigue and sleepiness, just going to bed for the rest of the day, hoping to never have to repeat the experience.

Yeah...I can see why today's kids are not signing up for that, given any choice in the matter.

P.s: similar story for fishing

Sounds like a picnic next to your vacation scooter rides from hell.

[Gunsnwater]

I should hope not....that could lead to a "hunting accident" where poor ole dad accidentally takes a shot to the crotch.

In any case, I had no desire to shoot at anything. The whole day was just a waste of my time when I could have been playing with Legos or Matchbox cars or something.

Father issues. Tell us everything. We are here for you.

[Smilez226]

My dad is into hunting. Tried to get us interested in hunting. Here is how our hunting days always went:

Wake up way early in the morning, typically 3 or 4 am or some shit. Drag ass out of the house, one eye open, in the dark, in the cold, and make some long ass drive out to the middle of nowhere (typically sleeping along the way). Get wherever the hell we were going around sunrise and spend the next 30 minutes or so getting our shit together, as I wondered why my sister never had to do this crap, instead getting to sleep in a nice warm bed until whenever Her Highness decided to get up and watch cartoons. Then spend the next several hours wandering around in the woods, seemingly lost and bored witless, all while having to do my utmost to keep from making any noises that would scare away whatever poor bastards we were supposed to shoot, be they deer, turkeys, squirrels, rabbits or otherwise, despite the fact that they always seemed to have advance notice of our arrival and having already executed their evacuation plans.

After five or six hours of walking around and never seeing a god damned thing I was supposed to kill, we ended up back at the car - tired, hungry and wishing that we had encountered a bear that saw us before we saw it. Then spend the next few hours in a smoke filled car, with dad's window down an inch but not being permitted the luxury of getting any fresh air of my own because another window down would "create a cross breeze" that dad found objectionable for some reason. Finally, arriving home between 2 and 4pm and not having eaten anything all fucking day, my hunger abated due to general fatigue and sleepiness, just going to bed for the rest of the day, hoping to never have to repeat the experience.

Yeah...I can see why today's kids are not signing up for that, given any choice in the matter.

P.s: similar story for fishing

This.. this is exactly why I have only gone once when I was a little younger in my early teens. I actually considered shooting myself in the foot to go home.

[Steelblitz]

I used to rifle and archery hunt, stopped both about 10 years ago after getting tired of the PGC allowing timbering during the archery seasons on the gamelands I hunt on that are near my house. With the semi auto bill passing, that may be enough to get me out there again if I'm permitted to use my 300blk AR. Maybe I can get my teens into it. They both went with me in the last few years I went, but it was during those timbering days that we all got fed up with it and none of us have been out since.