If numbers are down, I think the main blame could be the price it costs to play.

I hunt. I guess we trophy hunt because we manage for age, cull by antlers and feed protein in attempts to maximize antler development. But I very much enjoy the meat side of the equation also. I like to process them from start to finish, I like to cook them, and I like to eat them.

If faced with the decision you could only pick one, horns or meat, I would pick meat every time.

The actual cost of deer hunting is very expensive in Texas. I could buy several grass fed butchered cows for the price it costs me each year to hunt. I certainly don't do it for the meat. I would say it's pretty prohibitive for anyone living in urban areas to deer hunt. It's a big commitment, both monetarily and from a time standpoint. I'm not a millennial and my friends aren't millennials. Many of those friends are fringe hunters that only hunt when people like me invite them out to the lease. They'd go more often if they didn't have to commit to a lease, but there just aren't adequate public places to hunt.

Other states out west, like Colorado, provide incredible public lands for hunters. But, here in Texas, public lands can really only be considered suitable for wingshooting.

I do not believe hunting is any more expensive than and other of the hobbies people have or their vices. Smoking. A pack a day $1500. 3 beers a day at a bar a minimum of $2000. Eating out. I have no idea but a lot. Golfing? Again I have no idea but a lot. And the list goes on and on. But to say the future of hunting is for the meat makes no sense at all unless your diet says that the only meat you can eat is venison. And then you better have deep pockets. Especially if you have to have protein feed Deer. And as always this is only my opinion and you can take it for what it is worth.

It's definitely not a cheap sport by any means. And deer becoming a "cash crop" had a lot to do with that.

I have to believe that fear of lawsuits, which was practically non-existent decades ago, discourages landowners today to allow people they know to hunt their property.

This helps some

I am involved with a ministry called Tru Mark. We take kids hunting. They mostly become interested from our basketball ministry. Anyway, they get to kill their first, maybe more deer/pig/turkey, then we teach them how to dress it out. In the end they take met home, where it is celebrated and needed. In the meantime we have some very meaningful times around the campfire. Here's JJ in the high rack. Great kid,and he's telling others about it.

I never thought horns/antlers were very palatable.

The expense of protein feeders and leases are mostly a Texas thing. The article was focused on a national level, not Texas. Texas is on it's own planet for hunting.

Trying to get a kid to get up at 3 to 4 a.m. in the morning good luck with that, when even their parents can hardly do it.
If I don't get up before the sun comes up, I feel like I've wasted half the day, but I learned that from an early age, which most kids now don't know what a sunrise looks like.
The cost of hunting, and some may argue, but the opportunity isn't there but just for a few.
Places that I could hunt and fish as a kid won't let a stranger anywhere near their property.
You pay to play or you don't play at all.
Land that was close by, that as a kid you could reach on a bicycle is now developed, and there are Walmarts or subdivisions sitting where there once were trees, creeks, and wildlife.
People wonder why hunting isn't as popular in our society, and sadly it is because of the fact the older generation is dying off, and there are too many people living in the sprawling city limits and the country life is shrinking.

Active scrape, that's a wonderful thing y'all are doing.

And backstraps and ham steaks make poor wall decorations

I can’t blame the price associated with it as the most definitive factor. I will say this, hunting is probably less expensive to a mid 20’s-30’s male than dating is.

Is cost a factor, sure, but I don’t think it holds more water than any other factors. Lack of available time I would say is probably the no.1 or 2 factor

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 75A.003 – Posted Warning
Current as of: 2018

For the purposes of limitation of liability under Section 75A.002(a)(1), an agritourism entity must post and maintain a sign in a clearly visible location on or near any premises on which an agritourism activity is conducted. The sign must contain the following language:

WARNING

UNDER TEXAS LAW (CHAPTER 75A, CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE), AN AGRITOURISM ENTITY IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY TO OR DEATH OF AN AGRITOURISM PARTICIPANT RESULTING FROM AN AGRITOURISM ACTIVITY.

I'm trying to do my part. So far, so good.

Texas is DEFINITELY a different hunting culture. The antler hobbyist throws MUCH more money into the system and as a result hunting is less affordable and expectations are often unrealistic to the new hunter (youth or not). Regulations favor the antler hobbyist and kids end up sitting with a gun in their hand with a list of deer that are too inferior to shoot and eat when it would have no impact on population (if that's an issue). But somebody's afraid a kid will kill a deer that doesn't meet their expectations I guess. Mine really would rather NOT shoot a yearling buck right now, but they will since there are such limited options.

Hopefully the renewed interest in animals as food rather than status symbols from antlers will shift the pendulum back toward the center.

Will never happen. Big antlers are a byproduct of proper management. We have come way too far ( nation wide ) to go back to killing immature bucks on a large scale.



our herds are in better shape than ever before as a whole and we are reaping the benefits of it.

Cant tell you how many times ive said that to my dad about a wasted day. Im a millennial to by age. My son is 4 years old and when we are going fishing the next day he will hear our alarm go off at 4 in the morning and get out of bed ready to go! Makes me so damn happy!

There may, or may not be more hunters than ever, but, overall, in comparison to the total population, there are way less hunters per capita. Sometimes, I think. Great! more hunting for me! But then again, that means our voting block is declining as well.

For the first time in my life since I've been legal to hunt, I did not buy a hunting license for 2018. I usually hunt in Tennessee, but the CWD regs made me say screw it. The hassle factor vs the cost factor is not worth it anymore.

I hate the hassle, too. But I'm happy with Tennessee's response to attempt to slow the spread.

I DON'T like the price of NR licenses. I've asked them for revenue data since the 2005 increase as I've theorized that revenue actually DROPPED after the increase (at least for NR), but I'm not sure anyone knows for sure. Since the 2015 increase my group is down to me except for the years we draw LBL hunt. My dad won't pay well over $300 to hunt his OWN farm a few days out of the year, I don't blame him. He would qualify for the new "native son" license but he was born on a military base out of state during the Korean war-shouldn't have been born to a sailor during wartime, I guess.

The closest I hunt to the hot zone is in neighboring Chester Co, but I worry about it spreading to Henderson, Carroll, Gibson, and Madison where I also hunt.

It's already happening. I said pendulum will swing the pendulum back toward the center, not kill immature bucks on a large scale. Many appreciate that lease hunting in Texas has become more available to those with more funds and less to the average guy, but I see "regular guy" hunting on the comeback. Texas will be slower, of course, but I think it's coming. The younger generation isn't appreciating trophyism as much as the older generation. A good example is the most recent video of The Hunting Public. A kid pulls up in an old Nissan pickup and flings an arrow at a 4-pointer on on public land in Alabama and it has 50K views in the first two days. The antler celebrities are no longer as popular now that the AVERAGE person is realizing that they can do this. Interesting times.

Its also costing an arm and a leg to hunt theses days.... i dropped most of my hunting spots... have a few local ones and my property for my main hunting areas... lots of bucks but nothing I liked.. was very happy with the doe I ended up with

It’s gonna be interesting to see for sure.

A YouTube video about a kid killing a fork horn isn’t a reliable indicator though imo.

Nothing stays the same forever and there is less available land to hunt (for a variety of reasons) and there may be less hunters per capita but that doesent mean less hunters. After last year In Colorado in the NF you could not convince me there were less hunters. They have grown in number in the last 5 years. Old hunters drop out new hunters join in.

I had a conversation yesterday with a colleague who grew up on a ranch in great deer country. He stated he rarely hunts anymore, only thing he enjoys is bird hunting. Imo the rural population isn’t the hunting population it’s urban and suburban folks. All the big hunters I know live in a suburban or urban environment. All my rural buddies hunt very sparingly.

Like anything else recreational, you will see ebbs and flows in popularity. Hunting is going to be just fine as a past time. It is more expensive but hell what isn’t? Going to a football game in cowboys stadium can cost the same as a weekend doe hunt. Dove hunting is one of the cheapest things you can do compared to most other forms of entertainment. It’s all about what’s important to a person.

I will agree that there are less opportunities and options for leasing than there used to be. Package hunts are easily obtained and have seemed to come down in prices vs. years past

Feel the same way. Our property only produces about 1 mature deer a year, 320 acres lf, so me my brother and dad rotate who shoots it. I haven't shot a good buck in several years and it doesn't bother me. I shot a no brow 6 and a doe this year and am pleased as punch.