I'm the KY Dept of Fish & Wildlife 1st District Commissioner that Rem 270 referenced earlier in this thread. Before moving to KY, I lived in Martin, TN for several years and have been on TNDeer since the start. If hunting is to continue, we need to be recruiting more hunters. When I first started hunting, the percentage of the population of the US that took part in hunting was well in the double digits. Now, about 5 % of the population of the US hunts. Because they are primarily rural states, the KY & TN percentages are probably a little higher, like 7%, which still represents a big decline. An even lower percentage of youth hunt. There are many reasons for this low level of participation. One is the huge number of competing activities. I have an 11 y/o granddaughter that I am hoping to take hunting. She currently is on a traveling soccer team & in the National Archery in the Schools Program. At school, they are recruiting her to be on the academic team & to be a cheerleader. Each of these activities require multiple practices per week. Lots of kids are in the same boat! If we are going to recruit new hunters, we have to meet these kids where they are. We have to provide a convenient opportunity for them to be introduced to hunting.
I did propose that Early Youth season be expanded from the current 2 days to 9 consecutive days in early & mid October. The current 2 day season is on a weekend in early Oct. Unlike when I was a kid, lots of parents work weekends just like week days. If you're a manager of a restaurant or store, work in healthcare (RN, Xray tech, respiratory therapist), or any of a number of professions, you probably have to work some weekends. But, you probably could manage to not have to work 2 consecutive weekends. The 5 weekdays in my proposal are when many schools have their Fall Break. realize, as Rem 270 pointed out, that their chances would be better in November but the weather is often colder & many of these kids have never hunted before so they don't have warm hunting clothes! And, because these are kids, they have to have a mentor take them hunting or they can't participate. That's why I proposed expanding Early MZ season, which is currently only 2 days, to the same 9 days as Early Youth, so that those mentors could hunt, and harvest deer, with their youth. I started hunting small game with my dad but kids that take up hunting now almost all start with deer.
This proposal isn't perfect or a complete answer but would at least be a start. We have over 1 million deer in KY. The entire 1st District is overpopulated. I get calls from farmers who tell me they can often count over 100 deer in their crop fields. Some use depredation permits & let the deer go to waste. On top of that, hunters in the CWD Surveillance Zone took 26% fewer deer than the average of the 5 previous the first year after CWD was found in Henry Co. In all of those counties, there is currently no limit on antlerless deer. A lot of hunters still won't shoot a does until they get a buck. After Modern Firearm season, in mid-November, when most deer & an even bigger percentage of bucks are harvested, a big share of hunters switch over to waterfowl, so little deer hunting occurs. And, in many states, the sale of hunting & fishing licenses & permits funds the lion's share of conservation. I don't worry that CWD will kill deer hunting. I think deer hunting is much more likely to end because old deer hunters like me will die off and young people won't replace us.
