Representatives from 23 states and four Canadian provinces gathered recently in Flagstaff, Arizona to discuss recruitment and retention of hunters and fishermen. The event was hosted by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Many things were discussed and those in attendance reviewed facts and figures provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on downward trends in license sales.
Here’s what AZCentral.com listed as the major reasons discussed as to why recruitment and retention was low.
Some of the reasons discussed at the meeting were complex rules and regulations, reduced hunting opportunities, age restrictions, a lack of encouragement or help for older hunters, increasing urbanization of the population, rising license and permit costs, difficult access to recreational lands and a perception that hunting and fishing is cruel and inhumane.
One in attendance had this to say and I couldn’t agree more.
“We try to placate the public by becoming invisible,” Keck told the group.
“And hunters are passive as to why they hunt. We are terrible at selling the product we have. We need to sell the sizzle of hunting and conservation.”
Maybe that has something to do with why I do what I do. But all too often I feel like I am talking to myself out in the wilderness somewhere. Hunters are for the most part passive and are difficult to engage in conversation, particularly in a public forum.
I think for too long we have felt the need to “placate the public by becoming invisible” but those days are history. We are being forced out of our silence by those active enough to want to shut us down. We can’t continue down this same path or it will be too late.
No longer should we have to remain quiet or apologize to people because we hunt and fish. We have much to be thankful for and proud of. Our billions of dollars over the years and conservation efforts have provided this country with a bountiful wildlife population and that’s something we should be telling the world about. Our entire package of monetary support and understanding the need to conserve our wildlife for the future is what has gotten us to where we are today. Tell that to the wildlife viewers, some of whom seem not to understand or care.
Thank God for the few activists we have that have worked diligently to keep hunting and fishing alive and well. But they can’t do it alone. We all must speak up now. We all must get involved and no longer remain “out of sight, out of mind”. We’ve done a lot. Let’s let the rest of the people know what a great contribution we have made to our country.
Tom Remington
