Huckleberries Online

Hunt Decline Hurts Outdoor Programs

Posted by DFO

Feb. 23, 2012 9:12 a.m. • 7 comments

Hunting is a popular pastime in Idaho. It’s just not as popular as it used to be. What does that mean for Idaho? Less revenue for outdoors programs. Hunting license and tag sales have slowly declined over the past several years, according to data from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. “Fishing licenses have stayed relatively steady as far as the numbers of licenses sold,” regional conservation officer Gary Hompland said. “Most of that, from what we can tell, is because we’ve had some really good salmon and steelhead runs the last few years. … What is really disconcerting is our hunting licenses, both resident and non-resident. “When those sales start to slump, all of our programs that function primarily on a budget related to those sales are affected”/Andrew Weeks, Twin Falls Times-News. More here. (2009 AP file photo: First wolf killed in Idaho after resumption of wolf hunting)

Question: Do you hunt?

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Norther on February 23 at 9:17 a.m.
I do not hunt. I have nothing against it at all, I just do not like the taste of wild game. I refuse to kill animals that I can’t eat or aren’t a nuisance or threat.
duroc on February 23 at 9:22 a.m.
I don’t hunt. I’m not anti-hunter, I just don’t care to hunt. My dad liked to hunt, but it’s never appealed to me. I used to target shoot and trap shoot when I was a teenager, and I was an accurate shot, but I never loved guns enough to stick with it. I like more peaceful (quiet) pursuits, like fishing, hiking, bicycling, gardening, etc.
poolman on February 23 at 9:48 a.m.
I mostly shoot with a Nikon 70-300mm
Lime on February 23 at 10:15 a.m.
I don’t hunt. I’m a cyclist, runner, hiker, swimmer. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good steak now and again. It’s just not my passion.
Thundarr on February 23 at 11:29 a.m.
I hunt quite a bit, but elk mainly. I can understand the decline in hunters the last few years as I took a break from hunting myself for awhile. Main reason was too many other hunters, hunters that would rather hunt via 4-wheeler/truck, or just plain unethical hunters. I have changed my preferred area to avoid running into those kind of situaitons. Last year I rifle hunted maybe 5 days and have focused more on archery, which is a better experience in my opinion.
Dennis on February 23 at 2:17 p.m.
I hunt. Almost exclusively with a traditional muzzleloader. Fewer hunters to contend with. Also makes the experience more rewarding because you have to hunt rather than just shoot.
Stickman on February 23 at 7:29 p.m.
Dennis: You still have to shoot, and that wouldn’t be me. I have hunted in my life, but not ones that I am proud of. It just wouldn’t do it for me. I have shot one duck in my life, and I still live with that. The others were human, and that is much harder to deal with.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.