Ive noticed the same thing with my family. 1/2 is suburban the other is ranchers and farmers. The suburban 1/2 hunts like crazy the other half have killed deer but they don't really hunt.

Shows like Meateater have done a lot to spark interest in hunting and to let hunters know it's OK to kill an animal for food. For a while, at least in Texas, I know a LOT of hunters who left hunting because of the culture that painted anyone who didn't focus specifically on antlers as redneck, brown and down slobs or at the very least made them feel inferior.

I've been spent my time in that culture, but as I got priced out of hunting in Texas 15 years ago I hunted out-of-state more and began having kids. My views of what's MOST important in hunting as evolved, as everyone's do.

I love to hunt, I love to take my 15 year old daughter Layla hunting. Layla isn't your typical 15 girl she's played football in middle school and wrestles now in high school, for her birthday on the 5th of this month she had to have a Lews Baitcaster, for Christmas she wanted and got a new deer rifle. She goes and works her tail off during the off season to be able to hunt with us every year since she was 6. She all the time is the first one in the truck and the last one unloading for a trip. She has asked me to take her friend and my LO wouldn't have any issues but I have no idea if he's ever been around guns or shot a gun. My daughter told me " daddy we have to take other people or no one will ever know what it's like to be there". Now my child is correct and for the love of everything holy I want to get other people not just kids but those that have an interest to go hunting, however I keep in mind that this gamer mentality and the shear laziness of some PEOPLE I can't be responsible for. I have taught my girls gun safety, they know a legal spike from an illegal spike I can't take away from their trips to keep the others safe. I will take her friend out during the spring and summer and teach him gun safety and the work aspect of the hunting.
I think the numbers would be better if we could all explain to the people around us that once you pull the trigger there's no reset button, you can't restart the game, and that to do the things we love to do you have to work for those things. I want ever person with an interest to know what it feels like to pull the trigger and put food on the dinner table for their family. I hunt to feed my family and it's a positive way to instill values other people may never learn...

I think the farm-to-table stuff, and people getting interested in where their food is sourced, is great for hunting. We need to continue to make the sport accessible for people who just want to put meat on the table or learn where their food comes from. The trophy hunting aspect will always be part of the sport, but we make a big mistake if we don't also focus on the food aspect and making the sport accessible. If expensive trophy hunting was all that was left, you could find yourself on the end of a class warfare debate, like fox hunting in Great Britain.



You're doing a great thing there.

Some one already mentioned the upside of adding more hunting, public access and conservation advocates to our ranks, but the more people that become new gun owners the better. If they can transfer their sense of entitlement of fairness and safe spaces to the right to own guns, that's a
good thing...right?

IMHO, we're closer to that in Texas than in most other states.

For me it has always been about meat. I haven't killed a buck deer or a bull elk in over 15 years. All trophies just end up gathering dust at some point. At one time I was all about getting stuff for the wall in addition to the meat and even did Africa 5 times. I probably have $50K in taxidermy or more. I rarely even look at the trophies. I would have been better off saving the $$$ on the mounts and putting it into mutual funds. Steaks, roasts and burger are my trophies now and they never end up gathering dust.

some states (deer), hunting has always been a source of pudding on d & in d freezer for chillen... Low income workers dont see hunting as a sport... Just my still got cheap posts...

no, they don't gather dust, but they do end up turning to s*** in the end

ah grasshopper, a natrual fertilizer that makes things grow...

This is where I am at too, to a lesser extent. I hunted on extended family land for a quarter century, great ride. We had mounts all over the place. Now the land is selling and there is no place for the mounts and no one wants them. Even mine here at the house, the kids aren't going to want them. I tried facebook marketplace and they forbid posting of them, So can't sell them and can't give them away. I'm still a dedicated carnivore though, always will be.Here's a menu from my annual wild game feast.

I can honestly say I have more mounts than the average hunter ( 15 alone in the room i'm typing this in ) and I look at them all the time.


I just love taxidermy.....its another form of art like paintings or sculptures

Actually I see the exact opposite, we have more hunters and spend more time in the field on average then the rest of the US. Texas become more about quality of time spent hunting.

What we have is a lazy projection issue. We will talk about hunting all the great free public land out west and drive 10-24hrs but the facts of hunter success rate percentages show we are much more incline to get more lbs of meat cheaper by hunting TX public or private.

You could kill 3+ does outfitted on Private in Texas four what a CO List A elk tag cost....

Mounts are a catch 22, every mount I have I remember the hunt like it was yesterday and I have lots but some of my animal I didn’t mount because I just like to hold the horns and remember.

Well, with the cost of beef and the uncertainty of where or how it was raised, don't see a problem with it. 5 deer in here, culls and doe, eat good.

I think that's where the dynamic is changing. The younger generation is more focused on "experiences." Paying to kill deer might be fun to them once, but once they've done it they won't compare it to a DIY elk hunt in CO. I honestly think we will come full circle and outfitting/trophy fees will balance back out as the demand for it dwindles. I think it's possible that the demand for processors will dwindle as well. More people than ever are processing their own deer.