For one thing, hunter numbers are falling--as much as 26% in Iowa in the last decade according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and nationally by over two million since the '80s.
Numbers have also tanked in Oregon according to Harry Upton, an economist with the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife. "The "baby boom generation is aging and they hunt in greater numbers than the following age groups," he says.
In Pennsylvania only 62 hunters take up the sport for every 100 hunters who retire says Governor Ed Rendell who is pushing Families Afield hunter recruitment legislation. "If this trend continues, our ability to manage wildlife will be severely affected and Pennsylvania's economy will suffer," he says.
Of course one reason for the dropping numbers is there are fewer places to hunt and they are farther away. There are lot of more appealing activities closer to home.
But another reason is: it's just not, well, cool anymore. Ask a sixteen-year-old and he's likely to say, "You want me to spend a Saturday afternoon doing WHAT?"
Then there's the problem of trying to please the gun lover lobby. As in: you can't do it. Just ask outdoor writer Jim Zumbo who after years of service was stripped of his cable show and magazine column for dissing black rifles by calling them terrorist weapons. (He later got religion on Ted Nugent's ranch.)
But finally there's public opinion. Canned hunting offends everyone who believes in a fair fight--including hunters. And it is especially offensive when celebrities do it.
Remember what happened to Country and Western musician Troy Lee Gentry when he killed a penned pet bear named Cubby on videotape last year to appear the tough guy? Pleading guilty to falsifying the hunting tag?
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