Most significant threat to hunting?

[dragon rider]

Quote originally posted by Llyr:

"Pointing fingers, demonizing other people, and waxing poetic about the evils of liberalism or whatever does no one any good. It's lazy thinking."

I couldn't agree more.  The notion that the world or this country is going to hell in a bucket because of "liberals" or "socialists" is as misleading as the notion that it's going to hell because of "conservatives" or "right wingers."  

I used to think I was a conservative, defined as someone who is in favor of change but only when it's been thought through enough that we know it's progress and not just change.  Then "conservative" seemed to become "no change at all - if Reagan didn't endorse it is's evil."  So, without changing my view of such things very much I found myself becoming a liberal/leftist.  

Whichever, what I've really found is that you don't have to agree with somebody on everything to have common ground and work together.   To preserve hunting, and the outdoor way of life, we have to work with other types of hunters and other non-hunters to find that common ground in which "you're wrong" becomes "you and I do things differently but there's room for both ways, so let's work on what matters to both of us and stop fighting about how we're different."

[JC]

Originally posted by Llyr:
It's a peculiarity of our two-party system that everything has to be sorted on one side or the other (I forget, is cake or pie conservative?  'Cause you know they have to be one or the other.), even though those long lists of things often have nothing to do with each other.
......
I'm not perfect, God knows, and I could do more.  But that's one way to start turning things around.  Pointing fingers, demonizing other people, and waxing poetic about the evils of liberalism or whatever does no one any good.  It's lazy thinking.

It's not lazy thinking, it's simply a matter of fact (at least, in my area). While there may be a very, very small number who can support a "liberal agenda"  and hunting, that is where it ends. You are most assuredly in the minority. In the Atlanta area, if you asked 100 people that affiliated themselves as "left" what they thought about hunting you'd get a 90%+ negative reaction and the exact opposite  from those that affiliated themselves as "right" (or at least a vast majority of positive comments. I did this as a psych research project when I was in college). In other major metropolitan areas, where many of America's policies and media broadcasted "values" originate, I'd bet that number would be much higher.

I think it is very much a liberal vs. conservatism or an "us vs. them". Simply because anytime a collective group wants to take something away from me to give to someone else, is diametrically opposed to something I think is good/right/just, in whatever fashion that may be, takes every opportunity to dilute/destroy the values that this country was founded on, it most definitely polarizes. While there may be a small minority who can be both "left" and "pro-hunting" that number is overwhelmed by those within that "party" who are purposefully doing everything possible to eliminate it. Present company of those who are "left" and pro-hunting here accepted, but again, I think you are mere drops of oil in an ocean of water that is the overall liberal agenda. A few good apples in a barrel of rotten ones does not a good barrel make.

Point out just one conservative that is a rabid anti-hunting, anti-gun etc....while I would need a calculator to keep track of the "liberals" in power (either directly or indirectly) that are.

He asked what I thought was the greatest danger to hunting. The danger to hunting is a mere symptom of a far deeper, more deadly problem: the destruction of many things (and not just hunting) that I hold dear by one specific segment of our population. While you may see "those long lists of things often have nothing to do with each other" I see the exact opposite: they are completely interrelated and intertwined with each other.

By the way, it depends on what kind of pie/cake. If it's my grandma's fried apple/peach pie, it's definitely conservative. New York style Cheesecake....do you even have to ask?    

[JC]

Originally posted by dragon rider:
Whichever, what I've really found is that you don't have to agree with somebody on everything to have common ground and work together.   To preserve hunting, and the outdoor way of life, we have to work with other types of hunters and other non-hunters to find that common ground in which "you're wrong" becomes "you and I do things differently but there's room for both ways, so let's work on what matters to both of us and stop fighting about how we're different."

Oh I wish it were that simple. But how do you "work together" when one wants something the other is not willing to give up? In many of these areas, there simply is no middle ground. Neither is willing to budge because of what they believe. I'll not give up my hunting (or add another object here) and they won't stop trying to take if from me...sadly, there is no room for "working together."

[leatherneck]

US!!!!!! Short and sweet. If we as a majority/minority let our tradition die, then we are the only ones to blame.

Mike

[b.glass]

It seems that there is too much money to be made in the hunting world, (see Cabela's, Bass Pro, Gander Mt...), for the anti-hunting group to really do too much harm. Or the government for that matter.

Finding a place to hunt where you aren't going to be harassed by other hunters because you are too close to thier hunting area? Now that can be a challenge. I'm tempted sometimes to offer to pay someone to let me hunt on their property. I've been trying for ten years to teach myself to turkey hunt. Why is it taking so long? I don't have access to turkeys without being drawn unless I travel 2-3 hrs away. As a full-time working Mom that really limits your time in the field.

So, loss of habitat, not enough hunting area for those that want to hunt = hunter vs hunter, property owners that won't let you on their property to retrieve your animal,...

[Biggie Hoffman]

The Big Tent Theory

[IronCreekArcher]

Hunters are the biggest threat to hunting...we are our own worst enemy.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

too much technology

[One eye]

Trophy hunting (aka, antler worshipping)

[LPM]

All of us,

Here is a few of my thoughts.......

In my lifetime I saw kids in school who talked excitedly about hunting seasons and flocked to the woods or fields on weekends to small game hunt.  They would ride bikes from town just for a chance at a squirrel. Back then habitat was plentyfull and folks with hunting land let folks hunt without suspicion, or lease agreements.  

There was a time not long before I was born that bowhunting was considered ineffective or cruel.  Guys like Glen St. Charles Fred bear and a host of who's who in archery and bowhunting worked hard to put bowhunting up front and accepted as a humane and sporting means to take game.  We have seasons now because of these guys.  

In the 70's We saw "The Guns of Autum" an anti hunting slam narrated by none other than.....Dan Rather.  Never the less I see the anti's loosing ground because of the fact that when there is money to be made from hunters, It will stomp out the anti ahunting genda.  

Wow!! now look at bowhunting.  TV shows, guys with an almost Rock Star status.  Hunting shows with rock music playing so loud during the show that you can't even here any nature sounds.  People standing in line for autographs from these guys.  

All the attention to hunting has created a feeding frenzy on the latest bag your trophy buck, earn your manhood,equipment.  Then there's the prime hunting land gobbled up by "I got mine, keep out" people.  

Who could blame em.  The united states is getting crowded.  Let's make ethanol in Iowa.  There goes the wood lots, bulldosed down for a few more acres of corn.  

How about the DNR. "You guys need to kill more does, and by God your going to pay dearly for each one of them.  I don't really think they want all the extra deer killed, they just want to sell the tags.

And finaly there is us traditional guys.  We're looking for something that has been lost and trying to pass it on to our Kids.  We're a mixture of modern and old ways.  We see our days afield as precious and limited.  

Yeah someday hunting will shrink away to what ever huntable land is left and to whoever can afford to either buy it or travel to it.

Boy I've opened the worm can.............

Lets enjoy what we have today.  Sip life slow. Try not to accelerate the inevitable.

[Running Buck]

LPM,
You hit the nail on the head. I have lived all my life in N.J. and it is no different here.

[Texas Tinman]

#1 - Hunter Apathy.

#2 - Generation Asterisk. This is the immediate gratification and gratification at any costs mentality that has led to steroids in high school sports, crossbows in archery, etc...the cheapening of sport in order to get the prize.

#3 - The hunting INDUSTRY.

In my mind, this is a very close race so don't pick on the order they're in up there.  

[Horner]

Thought I would bring this one back up.  I really enjoy reading peoples thoughts on this subject.  

I also thought their might be some that did not ever get to see this thread, and might like to read or comment on it.

[Earl Jeff]

Our liberal Society

[wapitimike1]

Hunter's fighting with other hunter's over technique's!!!!

[Broken Arrows]

Population and habitat loss and the lack of trust in others & PETA.

Living in eastern WA. is a slower pace of life but that is changing as every one is moving this way and cutting up land into 5 acre lots.

[Owlgrowler]

Natural, non-human, predators.

Birth control.(and for you skeptics, it wasn't too many generations ago when some one said"If man were meant to fly, he would have been born with wings.")

[GingivitisKahn]

I still say our biggest threat (to hunting and just about every other aspect of our lives that could be described as freedom) is riiiiiight here:



Our nation needs to keep its jerks under better control.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Overpopulation.  It is the problem everytwhere.  More people, = less land = more dumba****** = more regulation.  As popultaion grows opportunity decreases and over time so do hunter #'s eventually we will loose our hunting like all the other overpopulated areas of the world.  Thwo in wanting to lett 20 million illegals get to stay for free and count it as gone!  Enjoy it while you can.

[Tsalagi]

1.) The hunting industry.

2.) Turning hunting into a "gotta PAY big bucks to play" game with tags in some states priced beyond reach of working people.

3.) People with the title "wildlife biologist" who get a teflon career in state game and fish departments and happen to be rapidly anti-hunting.

4.) Urban sprawl. Too many prime hunting lands are now under concrete or soon to be the next set of McMansions.

5.) Game ranches and jetsetters. These folks "hunt" but really have no interest in the general public being able to hunt---they've got theirs.