Podcast discussing USFWS Outdoor Activity survey

[MidTennFisher]

Matt Rinella discusses the most recent USFWS Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife Associated Recreation survey. I didn't link the podcast because about 50% of it is just rambling about other stuff. They didn't do a good job at sticking to the topic. Near the end it got much more informative.

I did look at the survey myself as I was listening to them go on and off topic randomly throughout the episode.

A couple of spoiler alerts:

Hunter numbers ARE NOT declining.
Hunter numbers ARE NOT mostly boomers with no young hunters replacing them.

Both are completely false.

I do give USFWS credit for the sneakiness of breaking down age brackets in smaller numbers for the two youngest groups (2 years and 7 years) vs all the other brackets (10 years then 65+) so that at first glance it appears there is a drastic decrease in numbers of younger hunters.

The percentage breakdown paints a better picture.

Adding up the numbers of 16-17 year old hunters and 18-24 year old hunters, still only a total age bracket of 9 years instead of the 10 years as seen on other age brackets, gives a total of 2.2 million hunters.

That's hardly a significant decrease from the other age brackets.





Over the last 5 years, total hunter and angler numbers seem to have fluctuated, but not decreased. 2021 numbers are higher than 2017, that's all that is shown in that report. We can all certainly agree that the number of huntable acres in 2021 is less than whatever it was in 2017. As is that number today from what it was in 2021.

I figure it's good discussion as there have been a few threads recently about hunter access, crowding, privatization of access, and R3. The latter I have said is a complete sham and really stands for "Revenue, Revenue, Revenue". My position on that still stands.

Hey if you support R3, fine, we can still be friends, but you'll have to come up with another reason for it than saying that hunter numbers are declining or that the hunters are all old boomers that aren't being replaced by yutes.

 

[BSK]

Always loved that survey. Very detailed, especially when you get into how much people spend on outdoor activities.

Although the USFW pays for and issues the final report, the U.S. Census Bureau actually conducts the survey (as it does all statistics about the U.S., including all economic and social information). Back when I worked for the Census Bureau, the Hunting, Fishing and Outdoor Recreation Survey was conducted right outside my office door. I used to sit and listen to the pollsters administering the survey over the phone. Always entertaining.

 

[mike243]

What the fudge is other gender? pisses me off so bad woke Fcrap

 

[MidTennFisher]

What the fudge is other gender? pisses me off so bad woke Fcrap

Haha I'm hoping that's people who didn't want to specify for one reason or another and not actually a bunch of "they/them" nutjobs in the woods with guns.

 

[DoubleRidge]

What the fudge is other gender? pisses me off so bad woke Fcrap

As you know "other gender" is either male or female...there are no other genders...but its hard to believe "other" outnumbered women in the outdoors?
Also disturbing is the fact that we are even having this conversation? Why was this category even offered? Ridiculous.

 

[kaizen leader]

May they are reincarnated does with antlers.

 

[kaizen leader]

May they are reincarnated does with antlers.

Maybe.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

I figured out the "other genders" situation.

9% of the total US population that are males hunt
2% of the total US population that are females hunt
4% of the total US population that are "other" hunt

But, because the population that identify as "other" is so low, they make up only 1% of the total hunters.

77% of hunters are male
22% of hunters are female
1% of hunters are "other"

The woods aren't full of trannys..... yet

 

[AT Hiker]

If you dig into the report you'll notice that the trannys and high income hunter numbers correlate. Coincidence? Who else, besides Seek1, can afford the surgery?

 

[AT Hiker]

.....I figure it's good discussion as there have been a few threads recently about hunter access, crowding, privatization of access, and R3. The latter I have said is a complete sham and really stands for "Revenue, Revenue, Revenue". My position on that still stands.

Hey if you support R3, fine, we can still be friends, but you'll have to come up with another reason for it than saying that hunter numbers are declining or that the hunters are all old boomers that aren't being replaced by yutes.

Youtubers and other influencers have beat this to death "we need to recruit more hunters to save our sport". What they really mean to say is "we need to recruit more hunters to save our wallets".

"Influencers" have exponentially increased the crowding issue, arguably they hold 90% of the blame. What they do works and works well, too well. Wanna buy Buffalo Trace bourbon? Nope, Joe Rogan ruined that. Wanna hunt public land turkeys? Nope, the Hunting Public sunk that ship. Wanna enjoy a nice and peaceful hike in the wilderness? Nope, everyone with a GoPro ruined that.

 

[MidTennFisher]

Youtubers and other influencers have beat this to death "we need to recruit more hunters to save our sport". What they really mean to say is "we need to recruit more hunters to save our wallets".

"Influencers" have exponentially increased the crowding issue, arguably they hold 90% of the blame. What they do works and works well, too well. Wanna buy Buffalo Trace bourbon? Nope, Joe Rogan ruined that. Wanna hunt public land turkeys? Nope, the Hunting Public sunk that ship. Wanna enjoy a nice and peaceful hike in the wilderness? Nope, everyone with a GoPro ruined that.

I embarrassingly admit that I used to believe hunter numbers were down but not in the last few years. Propaganda works but eventually I saw through it.

The best thing we can do is use our wallet. I won't buy camo anymore from companies using influencers. Instead I spent a lot more with Gulch Gear because they don't participate in that crap. I left NWTF and won't give them a cent until they quit with the recruitment. Same with DU. Same with BHA.

And the wilderness hike thing is really a shame too. I've read and listened to so many accounts of people who used to enjoy these remote destination hikes that lead to some spectacular waterfall or summit view. Then the Instagram influencers found out about it, documented the whole hike, plastered it on every social media outlet available so they could get paid from ads, and now you go to those places on a Saturday and it's a crowded as a football stadium.

 

[Lost Lake]

Youtubers and other influencers have beat this to death "we need to recruit more hunters to save our sport". What they really mean to say is "we need to recruit more hunters to save our wallets".

"Influencers" have exponentially increased the crowding issue, arguably they hold 90% of the blame. What they do works and works well, too well. Wanna buy Buffalo Trace bourbon? Nope, Joe Rogan ruined that. Wanna hunt public land turkeys? Nope, the Hunting Public sunk that ship. Wanna enjoy a nice and peaceful hike in the wilderness? Nope, everyone with a GoPro ruined that.

This.

 

[kaizen leader]

I figured out the "other genders" situation.

9% of the total US population that are males hunt
2% of the total US population that are females hunt
4% of the total US population that are "other" hunt

But, because the population that identify as "other" is so low, they make up only 1% of the total hunters.

77% of hunters are male
22% of hunters are female
1% of hunters are "other"

The woods aren't full of trannys..... yet

View attachment 219615

No such thing as other. You were born with a prostate or you weren't. Not almost! There could be a category called confused .
IMO

 

[BSK]

Honestly, I think 99.9% of the "other" category is people who didn't give or didn't want to give an answer.