Among the interesting details in Bob Mercer’s conversation with Game Fish & Parks wildlife administration chief Scott Simpson about South Dakota hunting data are a couple of demographic observations, one predictable and one surprising.
First, a big chunk of Baby Boomer hunters are about to age out of hunting, and we aren’t seeing young hunters moving in to replace them:
The age of South Dakota hunters chart shows the percentage of hunters in an age group each year for a 10-year period.
The chart shows that in 2005, the largest percentage of hunters was age 45-50. Ten years later (2015), the largest percentage of hunters is aged 55-60.
This identifies a cohort of individuals moving through the system that likely begin to fall out in their mid 60’s to early 70’s, which is also evident in the chart.
There is little doubt that this group is the Baby Boomer generation moving through the system (born 1946-1964). As you can also see, we are not bringing in new hunters at the same rate in 2015 that we did in 2005 [Scott Simpson, quoted in Bob Mercer, “GFP Digs into Numbers on Non-Resident Hunters,” Yankton Press & Dakotan, 2018.07.20].
Simpson tells SDPB Radio that we’re headed for an aging cliff in hunting and fishing:
“We definitely have an epic moment coming for us in the outdoor community that’s a nationwide issue,” says Scott Simpson, administrative resources section chief with Game, Fish and Parks. “The issue that we’re seeing is that the Baby Boomers are aging out of the population that hunts and fishes.”
Simpson describes it as a bubble that’s aging and headed toward a cliff.
“We’re not recruiting enough younger folks into these activities to replace those individuals.”
For example, Simpson says over the last twenty years the number of annual fishing licenses has dropped by twenty percent. Multiply that by today’s rate of $28 for a regular fishing license, and that’s around $600,000
Also during that time, the number of senior licenses, which cost half as much as a regular license, has increased [Lee Strubinger, “Game, Fish and Parks Looks to Next Generation Outdoor Enthusiasts,” SDPB Radio, 2018.07.19].
Maybe if we got more ladies to hunt, more fellas would follow.
Oddly, GF&P data show that women aren’t hunting in South Dakota in the same proportion as they are nationwide:
Mercer: The data show a wide difference between South Dakota women who hunt (3 percent) and US women who hunt (19 percent). What do you see in those numbers?
Simpson: As I said during my testimony, I am not sure why female hunters are so underrepresented. I am not able to find any information on female hunters and how often they hunt away from their home state.
I do suspect that much of the growth of female hunters happens around deer hunting, as that is the most readily available opportunity in most states.
Obviously a vast majority of the individuals who come to South Dakota are here for the pheasant hunting experience, so maybe the opportunities we provide do not line up well with the interest of most female hunters? [Mercer, 2018.07.20].
Pew Research found last year that 28% of women who own guns say they sometimes or often hunt, compared to 37% of guys with guns. Wyoming saw the number of women hunting increase 32% from 2008 to 2016 while the number of male hunters stayed steady, meaning women rose from 14.8% to 18.7% of its hunting cohort. Data from a survey administered in late 2016 and early 2017 indicates that only 4.8% of South Dakota waterfowl hunters are women.
Dr. Stacy Keogh George, sociologist at Whitworth University, has no specific data on South Dakota, but in 2015 she offered some observations based on her research on women’s motivation for hunting:
More important to Keogh were survey results indicating that about 70 percent of women prefer to hunt in pairs and 10 percent preferred to hunt in groups, which included family members.
“Given that only a quarter of the female hunting population reports being actively involved in other hunting camps or groups, women tend to be highly selective with whom they go afield,” Keogh said.
The women in the survey are more inclined to hunt with men than with any other population, she found, and 75 percent of women report that their hunting partner is either their father or male romantic partner.
Only 18 percent of the women reported having hunted alone. Yet even the women who reported hunting alone said they were introduced to hunting by a father or a male romantic partner, she said.
“It appears, then, that women approach hunting not strictly from a recreational angle, but one that considers relationships as a primary motivator to participation,” Keogh said. “Women also describe hunting as a family event. In the interviews, each woman reported ‘spending time with family’ as a primary motivating factor for participating in hunting.”
One finding is perhaps worth a study in itself: Of the 40 women hunters interviewed, 39 are daughters of a man without sons [Rich Landers, “Number of Women Hunters Is Growing, but They Hunt for Different Reasons [from] Men,” Idaho Statesman, 2015.05.11].
Could any of those factors differentiate South Dakota from other states and lead to fewer women taking up arms against their future dinners in our fair state?
Bonus Chart: Since 2002, South Dakota’s pheasant hunters have also been mostly from elsewhere:
Back in 1980, South Dakota had nearly 110,000 resident pheasant hunters and fewer than 30,000 non-resident. The ratio flipped from 2001 to 2002; in 2017, we saw over 65,000 non-resident pheasant hunters and maybe 55,000 resident pheasant hunters.
Residents make up a much larger proportion of South Dakota deer hunters. In 2016, South Dakota issued 93,417 resident deer licenses and 7,763 non-resident deer licenses. Residents also make up the large majority of waterfowl hunters. although that local majority dropped from 79.8% in 2008 to 75.3% in 2017. Pheasant and goose appear to be the only critters that non-residents shoot more of in South Dakota than we locals do.
The cost of shooting those buzzards is one reason that mostly old white guys hunt them. They get to go to resorts and get all the whiskey and hookers they need and then it is off to set shoot tame pheasants. You can just buy dressed birds and get it over with: https://www.dartagnan.com/pheasant-whole/product/FPHNJ002-1.html?utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=prospecting&utm_source=google&utm_content=shopping-ad&utm_term=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyq_w99aw3AIVU7nACh1LtwW0EAQYASABEgIxYfD_BwE
32 bucks for a fresh, cleaned pheasant that you don’t have to drive across the state for, walk around in the brush and catch chiggers. a real deal.
Forgot, Comrade trump has raised the price of gas as well to help out his fellow authoritarian and boss, Putin. So as you fill that big ol Suburban at a cost of 100 bucks to get you to Winner and then another hundred to get you to the paid hunting resorts, the taste of the pheasant is starting to sour. Just buy the pheasant and put it in your backyard. Walk off some paces, distance is important now as there are no feathers, and put a blast into the carcass. No one will know but you and you can brag about the fake hunt just like the rest of the Comrades. There, fixed it.
High school trap shooting is growing big time in some states. Not so much in South Dakota I don’t think. This is a great feeder program for hunting.
South Dakota has the program and… it still costs money to pay for the hunting. Gas in South Dakota is around 3 bucks a gallon. Some of these gas guzzlers can cost you a $100 bucks a fill, count in your lodging, food, hookers and booze and you are spending more than the average high schooler can pay.
I am not a hunter. I did hunt when I was younger. However, what I’ve been told by people who do hunt is that “Pheasant hunting is a rich man’s sport.” Even if I where to purchase a gun and a license, I’m not sure where I could go and hunt? South Dakota pheasant hunting is best seen through the lens of “Tourism.” The goal is to get upper class males with money and time to spend on recreational activities to come here and leave their money in South Dakota. There is no financial gain to get a local South Dakota resident, say in Redfield, to go out and bag three birds. No money there. The whole focus is to get out-of-state people to hunt. Maybe instead of a Governor’s Hunt for unnamed/ out-of-state business contacts (and a mixed bag of well connected South Dakotans) we should have a Governor’s Hunt for everyday South Dakotans
Shooting would probably expand if Russia/NRA went back to teaching gun safety instead of lobbying for gun manufacturers and lying about Dems taking away your guns.
Another 4 year old gunned down a 2 year old cousin because Grampaw wasn’t keeping a close watch on them.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/year-boy-shoots-kills-year-cousin-authorities/story?id=56719472
If only the 2 year old had his own gun……
I quit hunting nearly 20 years ago except for noxious varmints trying to dig under the house or out buildings.
I’d buy license and habitat stamp and shoot one or no pheasants per season. It was more enjoyable watching scads of pheasants come into evergreens around the house to roost in wintertime. Even picked up a few after freezing ice, thaw them out with a hair dryer and let them spend the night in the hen house and let them out after the storm had passed.
Never hunted with a Russian or red head femme fatale.
My dad used to come up every year to hunt pheasants but hasn’t since 2015 because finding land to hunt on for free has become harder and if you can find that, a group of 5-10 hunters usually come home with 1 bird. But every fall the airport is alive with out of state hunters. It has become a rich mans sport.
GFP is asking the wrong questions.
GFP, with the assistance of the Tourism Department, made hunting a pursuit of the wealthy.
Charge me for hunting trespass – then return your federal crop, conservation, gas, road, and sales tax subsidies. And don’t tell us you’re growing food – you’re growing ethanol, exports, and feed (for those who still eat chemically and steroid laced meat).
GFP complains that fishing licenses numbers are down – yet GFP and the agricultural-chemical-legislative-industrial complex expressly barred fishing access to non-meandered lakes that are public waters. Again, making access to a public resource a crime. Always making access harder and more expensive rather than easier and less expensive.
GFP, with the assistance of the agricultural-chemical-legislative-industrial complex made hunting trespass a near felony subject to forfeiture of your truck, boat, guns, etc. (Think about it – even drunk drivers keep their car.) This hunting trespass near felony is nonsense when the rural areas accelerate their depopulation.
GFP, with the assistance of the agricultural-chemical-legislative-industrial complex made it about impossible in an afternoon to find the real property owner. (I had permission from the renter to be threatened and run-off by the owner; I’ve had permission from the owner to be run-off by the renter; I’ve been frustrated finding the owner lives 1,500 miles away.)
I do not trust there is a safe health consumption purity of meat harvested from the agricultural-chemical-legislative-industrial complex lands.
GFP fails to enforce the ditch mowing law (pheasant nesting habitat conservation): has never issued a citation or took possession of hay cut prior the legal date.
GFP, informally defined “opportunity” as walking in substandard habitat with less cover than found on a golf course – as a hunting “opportunity”.
To observe the difference in game management drive I-90 from Chamberlain to the WY line, then continue to Sheridan, WY — counting the deer and antelope. Your WY count will exceed the SD count by 10:1, maybe 20:1 – in drier habitat.
A SD high school teacher can scarcely afford taking a kid hunting. (Increase the salary or reduce the total entrance fees.)
The GFP Commission is entertaining proposals to reduce the access to specific deer hunting permits in 2019 – reducing the likelihood of a successful draw for the hunting area that one wants – further frustrating hunters.
Is there any wonder folks are giving up hunting – less access, and few will spend $70 – $300, or more for a pound of meat, when we can buy a lot of protein and “companionship” by inviting friends and turning on a football game for a fraction of that price.
The North American model of game management is about dead; replaced by a pay-to-play European model. Admit it. Then raise the fees by factors of 10-20 to pay for the sport of the elite.
High school trap shooting—a league is rolling in South Dakota! Their website reports 36 high schools, including Aberdeen Central and both of the religious schools in town, participating this year. No buy-in yet from Rapid City or Sioux Falls.
Tiffany hits an important point: if the common man is priced out of the sport because of the lack of public land available for hunting, then the sport is doomed. I won’t pay to run or ride my mountain bike on private land; why would I pay to engage in an even more expensive sport (see John’s number son the per-pound cost… but even what Jerry suggests, buying a cleaned bird for $32? I don’t buy any entree over $20 at restaurants)?
Note John’s connection to the nonmeandered waters issue. Let private interests fence off public resources, and the public won’t come to help manage those resources.
Undeveloped public lands, native prairie, riversides, wilderness—much more interesting to hike around in, with or without a gun or a bow, than East River factory fields.
The late, former Professional Hunter and author- Peter Hathaway Capstick claimed why buy pen raised, professionally cleaned quail when shooting your birds carried the enviable risk of breaking teeth biting lead pellets. (paraphrased)
You don’t have to be wealthy to break teeth biting quail breast, but it helps with those pesky dental bills.
Hunting, unfortunately, is on a severe decline. I believe there are multiple factors, many of which have been touched on already. Declining habitat due to less conservation is effecting numbers and making hunting tougher. Farmers now farm ditch to ditch. Tree belts are being removed and every little pothole is being tiled. The habitat needed to allow pheasant populations to prosper is diminishing very quickly. Private lands are allowing less hunters unless you are willing to pay. $300 a gun per day is tough for most. Public lands are inundated with those who are still left and it makes success that much harder. I spend about 30-40 days hunting every year. I rarely ever buy protein anymore because a deer will get me about 75lbs of meat and an elk will get me about 250lbs. All I hunt is public lands East River and in Montana. Lake county has great public hunting grounds and Montana has vast areas that most people never step foot on. I have a rancher that I hunt with West River and that is something that was developed through family ties over 30 years. Even there, we can’t hunt all the land because an outfitter pays $2500 a deer he can take from the prime ground. They use this to help subsidize their cattle which I understand the need. I think the biggest effect this is going to have is on conservation ability in the future as hunters are some of the greatest proponents of conservation and they do a lot of the funding. And yes, it is unfortunately becoming a rich mans sport. The gfp is helping this which is why a lot of people are not too fond of them. They are currently trying to change up the deer application process, which I believe is to allow for more out of state hunters to create more revenue. The catering to landowners and allowing them to lock up public waters is another way they are looking to monetize public resources. AS far as the NRA goes, they still do the training for instructors that helps orgs like the Izaak Walton League teach hunter safety. Granted, those orgs are aging out as well. I am the youngest in our local chapter at 33 with a majority of members well over the age of 65. You just don’t see the younger guys volunteering and joining these groups like they used to. Pheasant forever banquets are down but they still draw a large crowd.
Times are changing. Landowners like our great grandfathers are nothing like today’s landowners. Increasing opportunities and promoting clean, family friendly activities while supporting real conservation will only help all wildlife. I couldn’t imagine my life without being able to spend days putting miles on the boots in some of the most pristine wildernesses in North America. I will cherish those memories forever.
Corporatization of public resources. Better get out and imprint virgin montana before its gone. Then blame people of color. Its the Koch business plan. Why do you think Koch is in Sx Falls? They want to own your legislature. Republicans (sigh). Canadian hippie Joni said “Pave paradise….”
We used to have large family gatherings on pheasant opener. Generations of the family got together. Some would hunt. Some would prepare food. I would walk the field without a gun until I was old enough to carry a gun. In those days, our big group usually limited out. We’d come back to the house, stuff ourselves, and fall asleep watching football. Great fun.
Now some of the uncles passed on, the cousins are spread all over the country, we don’t get together anymore or even have a good place to get together. Nobody has a connection to a farm anymore. When I hunt now it’s on public land, and a group of 2-6 people may bring down between 0 to 4 pheasants, nobody ever limiting. It’s not the same. My gun probably won’t see action in pheasant season this year. I may try hunting turkeys.
And it was the family gatherings that got all of the kids involved. Without that, my kids just haven’t been interested. Their view of guns is shaped not by family hunting experiences but by school shootings.
jerry-never had the opportinuty for chiggers in Winner fields, sloughs & morning duck ponds, on pre-license family tromps. Not until a late august night picking a bushel of 3′ sage in the heat lightning, before recent Obama’s 2d term. jfc!:) GFP may try to permit sage use. Trys to ticket my lake swimming too. Spearfish canyon picnic tables may require regulation…i mean “privatization” via state ownership. Like the Grant Cty Mahauer OR fed wildlife refuge armed takeover by bundy 3%er militia Republicans supported.
They don’t bother me, but this year, they are particularly bad. Went to the cemetery, not even a fruit tree around, to see a new stone on a family member. Chiggers got everyone and they said why don’t they bother you and I told them that with Comrade trump and the traitors in the place, my blood runs sour. Some thought it was funny and others kind of got a little quiet. Good to let them know though and then my blood ran a lot sweeter.
https://www.salon.com/2018/06/15/federalism-gone-wild-how-republicans-seized-power-in-state-capitals-and-reshaped-america/
Dan, good work getting all your own protein! I admire that kind of self-sufficiency.
Dan, on your Izaak Walton League experience: are the Ikes suffering the same difficulty that other social orgs have in recruiting young people, or is there some unique drop-off in interest in the Ikes? And are the under-40 folks simply not joining groups, or are the joining new kinds of groups?
Corporatization of public resources—this discussion of hunting may drive me more firmly toward a pro-public position on non-meandered waters.
Consider Ror’s perspective on family gatherings and tie it in with Dr. Keogh’s observations on women hunters at the bottom of the original post. Families get their kids into hunting. That introduction often happened at the uncle’s farm or some other big country spread where the family had a connection. But now fewer families have relations or friends involved in town. They live in town, and most of their social circle lives in town, while their shrinking families live in more far-flung and more often urban places. And what few farms remain are decreasingly good habitat, due as Daniel points out to the business choices of the farmers and the industrialization of every available acre. Now families on busy schedules have a choice: spend an absurd amount of money to take the kids to a private hunting ground (not likely: who’s going to spend big money just to drag kids along who aren’t old enough to hunt, to a place where they won’t be surrounded by family like they were in Ror’s day to help them take a meaningful role in the gathering), take the kids out to public land where they are less likely to enjoy a successful hunt and thus less likely to want to come back and do it again, or just spend the same amount of money to go on a regular family camping trip in the summer when they can do a wider variety of fun outdoor activities without having to worry about guns or missing school on Monday.
Rohr, my family had hunting family reunions like yours, and the entire group of hunters limited, took the bounty back to the farm and went out again. We got 2-3 limits in one day and usually it was a 2-3 day hunt. Pheasants filled our freezer and provided many winter meals.
Of the 15+ children who participated, only 2 still hunt. The family farm is gone. None participate in the big bucks pheasant hunting of 21st century SD. In fact, due to SDGOP policies, only 2 of those now grown children still live in
SD. The rest all moved out as soon as they were old enough. Most are actually Republicans, but not hyper corrupt, bigoted and backwards.
Ms. Geelsdottir, it is indeed sad to hear you were harvesting 2 limits a day, but good that you can get your libbie pea-brain to recognize that most Republicans are not corrupt, bigoted, or backwards. Most of us are about love, not hate, and you, young woman, spew hate.
Grudz says pubs are not about hate ,yet calls Debbo a Libby pea-brain? No really, the pubs are all about business and making the most money they can with the least regulations.
Anyway, to get back on topic, I have also heard that from hunters the last 15 years that there is just no place to hunt anymore. It’s sad really, and It will probably just get worse.
Interesting question about women hunting or not hunting. I don’t hunt, got no interest at all in it, probably because I think it’s a waste of time and I have more interesting things to do in my spare time. Probably this explains why younger people aren’t taking it up, they have plenty of other diversions to occupy themselves with.
And then there’s the cost. I remember watching an episode of The Galloping Gourmet, and he was talking about how once you’ve bought the equipment, clothing, permit, the junker vehicle to haul it home, etc, Venison is the most expensive meat you can buy.
So you had better like the taste of it.
Oh dear Grudzie. You may want to check your reading comprehension skills. I said the GOP members of the family are “not hyper corrupt, bigoted and backwards.”
NOT. And that’s not a Tangerine Wankmaggot “not.” It was there all the time. It is best if you only debase yourself with name calling and whining when there is something to name call and whine about.
If I so choose, I can step out my front door and shoot a deer, raccoon, pheasant, whistling pig, rabbitssssssssss or one of my landlord’s steers. Costs me a shotgun or .22 shell.
Ikes, Lake County Pro Pheasants, NWTF, Rocky Mtn Elk Foundation…..all experiencing the same thing. It seems volunteerism is dropping everywhere. As less hunters take to the field, these conservation groups are taking the hit even worse.
There aren’t too many hobbies these days that don’t cost much more than what you could get for less. Hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, biking, climbing, kayaking, rafting….Yes, I can buy meat cheaper than I can hunt or fish for it. I can camp in my back yard cheaper. I can get a monthly membership to the gym instead of driving across the state to hike, bike, or climb in some of the most beautiful country. You are not just paying to do the activity, but the experience that comes with it. Pretty much every activity you do outdoors has a cheaper equivalent in regards to the action but that isn’t the point. Elk cost me close to $15/lb when i am done, deer probably the same. It’s about the challenge of the chase. Outsmarting an animal with senses much better than yours. Accomplishing a feat that others can’t do. Hiking 10 miles and climbing 3000 ft to ground that may not have been walked on in the past 25 years. Seeing sights that most people will never see. Putting food on the table from an animal that lived free and not caged. There is a sense of accomplishment in that. Heck, I can go to the farmers market and buy produce cheaper than I can grow it some years but I still feel proud knowing I helped create something that I am feeding my family.
Anne, I find it rather funny you complain about the cost. Your hobby consists of driving numerous vehicles around to gain approval from your peers. Horrible investments and waste of time. But guess what, much like my opinion on being flashy to try and show off, it’s not going to affect how you act because that is what you like to do, regardless of what it costs or how big of a waste it is.
Daniel makes an important point about the connection between hunting and conservationism. Getting kids out into the field, instilling in them that appreciation of wildlife and wilderness, builds support for protecting those resources. Is there any chance that young people will pick up the conservation ball in other organizations?
I think hunting is less popular now than ever for many reasons, two of which are:
1) Husbands don’t rule their households now like they did in the past, so they can’t just do whatever they want for a week at a time in the woods with their buddies. They have to ask permission to do anything other than what is on the list their wives gave them. And wives don’t like to let their husbands out with other husbands because then they talk.
2) Fewer people than ever think shooting little birds with a shotgun is “manly.” I personally think it’s hilarious when I see guys in huge trucks with stickers bragging about pheasant hunting. Seriously, killing a bird with a gun is about as manly as shaving your legs. I think more people are finding this to be true these days.
😀😁😂🤣😃😄😅😆😂😂🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣
Nice comment Ryan, although I am not sure you are accurate when you say “Husbands don’t rule their households now like they did in the past.” I suspect the older wives had a bit more control than that. I base this on memories of my grandmother gently convincing my grandfather to agreeing with her point of view. She was very subtle, but amazingly powerful. On the other hand, my grandfather always seemed to make her feel like a winner, even where he obtained significant concessions in the negotiations – a lesson that has paid many dividends in my life over the years!
bcb – I’m sure there was a range of authority in households past, and there’s a range now. I remember my grandmother never speaking unless spoken to by my grandfather or another man.
Real love and respect are timeless and it sounds like those are some things your grandparents had that some didn’t.
Why, Mr. Ryan, is it bad if these hunting husbands talk? I suspect it is that female issue with letting their husbands out of sight and out of control where they might drink beer and fart in public.
Perhaps, if I’m reading Mr. Ryan correctly, what he means is that more hunters are pussywhipped today. Let’s call a spade a spade.
Perhaps he is right.
Grudz, perfect translation. Thank you.
Also, I dont think there’s a problem with husbands getting together and talking. However, I think a lot of wives think there’s a problem with it.
I turned against hunting certain things early. In the 60s Pheasants Forever went on this anti-predator jihad. Any animal that might reduce pheasants was deemed by them to be expendable. I didn’t know squat about trophic levels or similar stuff then, but I knew the pheasant wasn’t even a native species. I didn’t mind duck or goose hunting because it actually is hunting species that takes some skill to hunt. Also, deer hunting is fine. Deer tend to be overpopulated everywhere now. We’ve seen coyotes running across Mineral Point Road, a busy east-west thoroughfare in the middle of Madison, WI, to get to a high deer concentration in the city. We are just to the east of the big outbreak area, and it would be good to kill off most of those deer. But Walker has caved to various hunting interests. The problem with hunting is the hunters.
Donald Pay, would you be speaking of CWD outbreak?
Wingnuts want to basically get rid of the Endangered Species Act because it prevents thrill killers from getting their money’s worth of thrills killing every animal they see.
In Alaska there is a proposal to shoot sow grizzlies and cubs in their winter dens and murder wolves and pups at their dens to eliminate predators so wealthy lower 48 hunters get a chance at trophy moose and caribou.