We ARE LOSING boys!!!!!

[Bopeye]

Interest in hunting, fishing dropping By DAVE GRAM, Associated Press Writer
Sat Mar 29, 1:39 PM ET



STOWE, Vt. - Bob Shannon is an avid hunter, a fishing guide and owns a tackle shop, but he sometimes struggles to get his own son out into Vermont's woods and fields.


"He'll be sitting there with the video games," Shannon said of 9-year-old Alexander. "I finally had to lay down the law last summer: 'If it's a nice day, you're outside.'"

Shannon's challenge reflects a larger problem plaguing many state governments: Revenue from hunting and fishing license sales is plunging because of waning interest in the outdoors.

"We're losing our rural culture," said Steve Wright, a regional representative for the National Wildlife Federation. "There are so many distractions, and we're not recruiting young people into hunting and fishing."

Sales of Vermont hunting and fishing licenses have dropped more than 20 percent over the last 20 years, leaving the Fish and Wildlife Department pleading with lawmakers for extra funding.

Other states report similar drop-offs:

_Arkansas hunting license sales dropped from about 345,000 in 1999 to about 319,000 in 2003.

_Pennsylvania sold about 946,000 hunting licenses in 2006, down from just over a million in 1999, and a peak of 1.3 million in 1981.

_Oregon had 100,000 fewer licensed anglers last year than in 1987, and 70,000 fewer licensed hunters.

_West Virginia sold 154,763 resident hunting permits in 2006, a 17 percent decrease from 1997.

The trend means trouble for some fish and wildlife agencies, which use license revenue to finance preservation programs for endangered species like peregrine falcons, bald eagles and loons. Game wardens also help with law enforcement, joining searches for lost hikers and skiers.

In the search for new sources of revenue to support fish and wildlife programs, Vermont lawmakers are weighing legislation that would dedicate part of the state's sales tax revenues to the Fish and Wildlife Department.

"The issue here is that most of our fish and wildlife agencies were set up to fund conservation, based predominantly or entirely on one set of users" — hunters and anglers who pay license fees, according to Dave Chadwick, senior program associate with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in Washington.

"They're shouldering the whole burden for a benefit and an amenity that we all enjoy," Chadwick said.

Other fundraising strategies range from sales taxes on outdoor sporting goods, as in Texas, to Florida's surcharges on speeding tickets, said Douglas Shinkle, a policy associate at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Some states are trying to boost efforts to recruit new people — especially young people — into hunting and fishing.

A West Virginia legislator has proposed offering hunters' training courses in public schools, allowing seventh- through ninth-graders to opt for instruction in topics ranging from survival skills to gun safety.

Arkansas has used some of its dedicated sales tax revenue to recruit new hunters. However, the state's hunter education program graduated 11,891 people under 30 years old last year, down from 16,596 in 1998.

Vermont sponsors youth hunting weekends, typically three a year. Oregon has started youth mentoring programs that match kids up with experienced hunters. Minnesota has two staff members reaching out to the state's burgeoning Southeast Asian population, said Jay Johnson of the state Department of Natural Resources' hunter recruitment and retention program.

Wright said it might be an uphill battle because of everything from video games to the growth in structured activities like team sports and music lessons.

But Shannon said he has met with some success. After he laid down the law with Alexander last summer, the boy went out fishing almost every morning, he said.

[msmith]

This is true. It is even noticable in the woods, not just on paper. Some of it, at least here, is due to the lack of jobs. We have a consolidated school that has an enrollment just about equal to just one of the schools that it consolidated back in the mid 80s. So this means we have about half of the youth here that we did when I was a teen.

Mike

[HaMeR]

I think the cost of living is hurting too. Most folks around here work the 1st 30hrs of the week just to live & pay their taxes. Plus all these new damn schools everywhere have killed us on our house payments. Even if folks had the time to spend in the woods I think they would just as soon stay at home where it's cheaper.

Just think how much extra money there would be on a surcharge of just $5 on every stop sign you see ran in a days time.

[THO Game Calls]

NH Hunting License  22.00

Habitat fee  2.50

Turkey Stamp   16.00

Bear Stamp  16.00

Special Unit M permit  16.00

Archery tag   22.00

Special Archery Tag  16.00

Muzzleloader tag   16.00

Fishing  License   35.00

Salmon Permit  11.00

And they are talking about a Salt Water License too.

ANd that is just the state I live in.

Got New York, Vermont, Mass, and Maine to add to the total.

I'm doing my part   

But I also have to share the woods with the Mountain Bikers, Hikers, Cross Country Skiers,  Bird watchers Nature Lovers and drug farmers.  They pay - - - -  nothing to use the woods -

and the saddest part is, 90% of the money our Fish and Game spends is on finding lost hikers in the white mountains.   90%.

And even thought the state has a law that allows them to get the money back from someone who goes out unprepared and needs to be rescued - no one has ever paid a dime back to the state.

But with the current position of at least one major hunting site to ban public hunting on public land, what do you expect to happen to hunting?


how long do you think there would be wild places to hunt if they were just opened up to anyone from anywhere to hunt?"

Jim Renaud - Spokesman for Predatot Masters


AL

[ATLRoach]

I pay for my 60 sportsman license here in GA that covers everything but Gator and pay 250 for Non Resident to hunt Ohio for a week   

[DirtyDog]

$250? I thought it was $150?    Then a few deer tags....maybe.....

[THO Game Calls]

that covers everything but Gator

Well, there's one we dont have  :roflmao:

Al

[HaMeR]

ATL-- Ohio Non-Res annual is only $125. What do you hunt up this way??

[ATLRoach]

Sorry I was adding them up like a tard..

$125 Non Res
$24 Deer
$15 Antlerless
$15 Fur taker
$40 Fishing
Total: $219

[HaMeR]

That's OK. I thought it was for 2 people. Do you get a furtakers for fox?

[cb223]

I'm trying to do my part. I take my kids whenever (almost) they want to hunt, fish, camp, hike or just enjoy the great outdoors.

I also try to take some of the neighbor kids hoping it will stick.

Not to mention all the permits and tags you need to hunt, fish and camp.

[ATLRoach]

That's OK. I thought it was for 2 people. Do you get a furtakers for fox?

Yep..

[Buckrun]

I pay for my 60 sportsman license here in GA that covers everything but Gator and pay 250 for Non Resident to hunt Ohio for a week   

I go the other way. I live here in OH. and hunt GA. with family for a week or three. I have hunted Turkey in spring, dove in fall and deer in Nov. Gas is way to high to drive down three times now.

Steve