This makes for a good story. However the data just don't support this notion that the middle class is being priced out of hunting or hunter numbers are being reduced.
Big jump in hunting license sales
http://www.nssf.org/newsroom/releases/2010/020110-hunting.cfm Originally posted by jjas:
.........
The problems start when it prices the average deer hunter out. Many will say..."tough, can't afford it, go bowling". And that's all fine and good until the sport of hunting loses enough participants that their power in the state house and Washington is diminished to the point that no one listens. Throw in the touchy subjects of preserves and game farms and many non-hunters who supported hunting in the past are liable to look @ hunting in a whole new light and are much less likely to support "trophy hunting". And with fewer hunters in the game and non-hunter support going down, plus the loss of license revenue and taxes from sporting good sales dwindling, I doubt hunting will have much of a future in this country.
As far as high fence preserves and deer farms go, they are gaining a larger foot hold in deer hunting every year. And while many trophy hunters say they wouldn't step into these places for free, it sure isn't the "brown and down crowd" or "joe average deer hunter" keeping these places going.
