Being a Sportsmen’s and conservation advocate for over 20 years now, I’ve had the pleasure (and sometimes, disgust) in hearing from a lot of sportsmen and women, as listening to opinions, beliefs and values that vary like the wind whipping through Highmark stadium on a blustery winter day, is the only way to temper recommendations and actions this community has trusted me to represent them in.

 Of constant talk, throughout this 20- year span, especially related to deer hunting, has been deer management and mandatory antler restrictions, limiting what buck is “old enough” to harvest. In conjunction, the debate over hunting for food vs trophy hunting inevitably bubbles to the surface.  Conversations ultimately devolve, as passionate subjects often do today, with one of the points brought is AR favors trophy hunting – something the overwhelming public at large has deep feelings about, and opposition to, as perception harkens images back to the days when hunting was not regulated, and hunters could literally kill everything that walked, year-round. Some of these hunters were even documented to simply just want the head, leaving the rest of the animal to rot. This understandable aversion to wasting a resource has, over time, in my opinion, warped the idea of a “trophy”, as, unlike in competitive games, where the winner gets a trophy, the perception has pigeon holed what a trophy, to the sportsman, must be.

 Yet, history reveals a much different thing. From cave paintings depicting the successful, and tribe saving from starvation hunts, to the royalty of European castles commonly displaying the most impressive, and enduring through time, elements of animals taken by the lords, it is easy to draw conclusions.

 A trophy actually is in the eye of the hunter, not a standard set by some nebulous third-party overlord.  And although many believe that giant racked bucks are the trophy when it comes to deer hunting, and many will laugh when someone decides to spend $800+ to have their small 4 point or 6 point preserved, wondering why anyone would spend so much for such a “common” young deer,  a trophy is in the eye of the hunter, not something that is a set rule or standard; trophies are only so small, as if to classify the meaning of a trophy, into something it is not.

 The true trophies are the memories made.  That small buck may be the first buck harvested by a young hunter, and dad wants to immortalize that memory that he and his son shared. It may even be the buck dad shot while hunting with his son…  it’s no never mind who pulled the trigger or loosed the arrow, it represents a milestone or achievement that, to the one who harvested it, it’s important enough to immortalize, as to always remember that special moment, regardless of its size, or its value in another’s eyes.

 Isn’t that what a trophy really is?  A special moment that happened. that you always want to remember?  Why do the football players receive a championship ring?  Why not just save a newspaper clipping, or a few photographs?  Because it was special, and worth more than a picture to remember it by long after the playing days are over.

 This is very much similar to the outdoors experience.  Except you’re not competing against another, you’re interacting with the natural world. Memories fade, through time and increasing number of trips/ hunts you have had. But some memories are more special than others, and those moments are worth remembering. After all, when your days grow shorter, and when time takes its toll, forcing you from the field you enjoyed so much, the memories of what you did and with who you may have shared them with, is all you have left, and remembering is the ultimate trophy.

 I’ve been hunting for 40 years, fishing for a bit longer. I have made thousands of casts, and spent many hours in the stand, and at camp. All great experiences, most remembered, but many details from those days gone by, diminish. But of all the moments, all the crazy shit I’ve experienced, some of those moments were truly worth always remembering, and, to this day, when I look at the handful of taxidermy I have hanging, I can recount every detail of the day of that success, as that “trophy” is the reminder, not just of the hunt or the accomplishment, but those who shared it with me, some of them no longer here. And the detail that is recalled is sharp.  This includes the faces, and even the voices of those who shared the experience, now long gone.

 To me, that is the trophy.  It’s worth reverence and respect. The fish or animal itself, while being a tribute to its magnificence, is what brought what was important to me…  the day, the circumstances, the people with me, and the breathtaking magnificence that the natural world truly holds. It also reminds me that the fish, or animal, lost is life by my hand.  Although I ate it, sometimes that animal is worth more than the delicious meals provided.  That fish, or bird, or deer you see on my wall?  That isn’t the trophy. It’s the memory, one that I found worth never forgetting…

As the NY Southern Zone Big Game Regular season winds down, it’s a good time to reflect on the efforts of sportsmen and women, not just in doing their part to manage the herds, but, perhaps more importantly, review the efforts put in to assure the most effective means of wildlife conservation continues to have a thriving and effective hunting community.  Hunters keep the herds at healthy population levels, feed many hungry families through venison donations, while learning about the animals, their use of habitat (and the quality of habitat they reside in), and a respect for the natural world only being in the natural world can deliver. 

Roughly twenty years ago, some concerning data was revealed, indicating the average age of a NY hunter was 55.  With alarm bells ringing concerning recruiting new hunters to replace today’s aging conservation stewards, many initiatives to bring more youth back into the lifestyle have been supported by hunters and conservationists.  The belief being, we need to expose and introduce youths to hunting earlier, while offering more opportunities for youth to experience the hunt through special “youths only” opportunities, efforts to lower the minimum hunting age, and expanding hunting implement choices thought to be helpful in recruiting kids, and women, while affording senior hunters another avenue to return to the woods they may have left due to physical deterioration that is the curse of aging.  The sporting community even bought into restructuring the opening days of big game hunting seasons, believing the empty promise of a Saturday opening day would go a long way to helping bring more youths to the sport, as the need to miss a day of school for opening day participation would be eliminated, coupled with their parents not having to take time off work, and the projection that opening day participation would rise, slightly, would outweigh the traditions lost, and would help in recruiting more hunters to the ranks.

 One thing I have noticed that is never done, is a review of these efforts to see whether they worked, or backfired.  Honest and frequent assessment of ideas implemented is critical for success, as any business will tell you.  With many volunteer sportsmen and women holding successful track records in the business world, it mystifies me that this basic practice evaporates when it comes to the development and perpetuation of wildlife conservation.  And this is causing us great harm.  A rough timeline of actions taken or supported by the sporting community is below:

 2005 – Big Game opening day restructuring, across early archery, regular season and extended archery/ black powder.

2008 – Minimum age for firearms big game hunting lowered from 16 to 14.  Youth mentoring law expanding who can legally mentor a youth enacted.

2011 – Minimum age for Jr archers lowered from 14 to 12

2012 – Early archery opening day moved from 3^rd Saturday of October to October 1, creation of special youth firearms deer hunt Columbus Day weekend.

2014 – Crossbow introduced in NY in limited fashion, minimum age for big game archery hunting lowered from 14 to 12.

2021 – Minimum age to hunt big game with firearms lowered from 14 to 12, but required each county to pass an affirming law to permit 12-year-olds to hunt big game with a firearm within their respective county.

2025 – Full inclusion of crossbow throughout early archery and moved requirements to the archery privilege.  Youth hunt tag issuance changes*.

 * With 2025 being the first season of full crossbow inclusion, time is needed to see how this impacts recruitment and retention.

 The measure of success of these initiatives should be found in recruiting new and younger hunters to the fold, with the hope of increasing hunter numbers in NYS to strengthen management efforts well into the foreseeable future.  But, have these changes worked?

 The answer is NO.

 NYS showed the largest hunting community in 1996, where, according to USFW Surveys on Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife Watching, the hunting family was 665,000 strong, with over 90% of those hunters identifying as deer hunters.  Outside of a short-term bump experienced during the covid pandemic (when people were looking to get out of the house), hunter numbers in NY remain on a downward trajectory, with last numbers indicating 511,000 hunting license holders exist in NY.  That’s still 150,000 fewer hunters than in 1996, and the average age of a NY hunter has ticked upwards, not downwards.  In fact, in the late 1990s, the average age of a deer hunter as @ 46 years old.  By 2010, that average age shot up to 50.  Although numbers for 2025 are yet to be calculated, the trends suggest this number has risen.  Another distressing trend – the population of hunters falling into the age group of 16-35 has dropped big, while hunters over the age of 65 has grown. 

 NY has abundant deer populations, with many areas seeing an overpopulation issue once again.  Our seasons offer ample time for hunters with busy lives to get afield.  NY has established special youth hunts for just about everything.  So, it isn’t the hunting quality (we had more hunters and far fewer deer in the 1990s!), the opportunity to get afield (our seasons are longer, across the board, today than in the 1990s), and we have more implement choices today with expansion of crossbow and rifle inclusion across most of NYS.

 With the average hunter age being much lower in the 1990s, coupled with showing 30% more hunters through year 2000, when hunting age was higher, seasons shorter, and deer abundance much lower, there can be only one answer why we are failing the future.  And it is an answer that, strangely, many in the hunting ranks ardently refuse to address – ECONOMIC!  That’s right, folks, the evil, almighty dollar is at the root of this.  More accurately, the affordability of the sports themselves is the reason, the only reason, why all these efforts have borne no fruit, and until we drop the sanctimony, this will worsen.

 There’s an old saying – money talks, and BS walks.  This is true 100% of the time.  We rely on many attitude surveys presented to us by the NYSDEC and Cornell University, but I have learned that surveys are a weak indicator of the truth – whereas the cash register tells no lies.  After spending more than a dozen years as a market analyst for the retail food trade, I have seen many a new product launch, touted by consumer surveys as being the next best thing since sliced bread, fail miserably when it comes to consumers actually buying these products that they told researchers they wanted.  Basically, many consumers tell you what you want to hear, but when the cash register is empty, they are telling you the truth.

 To uncover the root cause of the issue, we must look deeper into the numbers, but one doesn’t have to look very far.  The answer is found in demographic profiles – where hunters live based on metropolitan statistical areas and household income levels.  Let’s look.

 2001 statistics

642,000 total resident hunters estimated in NYS

37% of hunters resided in MSA of over 1 MILLION population, 41% of hunters came from outside MSA, or in rural communities where population is under 50,000.

29% of NY hunters in 2001 showed a household income of under $40,000/ year, breaking down as 10% from $20,000-$29,999, and 19% from $30,000-$39,999.  The remaining 71% showed HH income levels of $40,000 and up.  29% of 642,000 = 186,180.

 2006 Statistics

502,000 total resident hunters estimated in NYS

31% of hunters resided in MSA of over 1 MILLION population, 34% came from outside the MSA

0% of NY hunters came from a HH income under $40,000/ year.

 The growth segment which offset losing 29% of hunters due to economic affordability was found in the income range of $50,000-$74,999, and where these hunters reside is within an MSA population of 250,000-999,999, showing the moves from urban to suburban areas, most likely connected to income and affordability.  Although we added a little over 40,000 hunters from higher income brackets, NY lost over 186,000 hunters making under $40K/ year.

 The National USFW Surveys of 2022, the most recent report, shows that across the Nation, only 4% of hunters come from $20,000-$29,999 and $30,000-$39,999 HH incomes, respectively, making up a mere 8% of the total hunter numbers.  However, in higher cost states, like NY and CA on the west coast, if you don’t make over $50,000/ year, chances are you cannot afford to hunt anymore.  It is noteworthy to observe that the largest economic group that hunters come from is now over $75,000/ year.

 The pressures forcing hunters out due to cost are several folds, with most of this being driven by government itself, in the form of ever escalating property taxes, household energy costs, transportation costs, and recent inflationary periods forcing everything else like gear, and clothing upwards.  When taxes and cost of necessities rise, disposable income, and choices, diminish.  Access to hunting lands, too, has become very pressured.  Landowners who once granted permission for hunters to hunt, now seek ever-escalating lease fees to offset the ever-rising property tax liabilities.  Odorous regulations, such as the recently adopted firearms transport rules and potential lead ammunition bans will push costs in only one direction, while adding uncertainty of being in compliance with the law.  When a parent can spend a few hundred on a gaming console, vs. over $1,000 on a firearm and ammunition, it doesn’t take an economic expert to understand the motivation.  And when a $60.00 video game can provide months of entertainment, vs. $3,000 and up per year on a hunting lease, the motivation is clear.

Add in the costs of re-outfitting your growing boy or girl every season with new hunting clothes and boots, and we actually think a special youth hunt, or lowering the hunting age is the answer?

 Only in fantasyland.

 Some additional insight related to cost

Average annual hunting expenses for hunting in NY

2001 – $1,135.00 annual expenditure on average per hunter

2006 – $1,237.00 annual expenditure on average per hunter

2022 – $3,146.00 annual expenditure on average per hunter

 Until the ranks of the organized hunters and sportsmen get serious in understanding the actual problems, and actually fighting to reduce these mainly government-induced escalation of costs, we’re all just whistling Dixie past our grave.  One cannot solve a problem until the problem is first correctly identified.  Once that is done, game plans and campaigns can be implemented.  But, we’re way behind, being led around by those who don’t know reality with ideas that do not address the problems, but sure feel good to support, as who doesn’t want to virtue signal that you’re “for the children”?  Well, I hate to tell everyone this, but children don’t pay the bills, and neither does making changes or offering new youth hunts, etc., but these changes sure can piss off some of your consumers.  Some people will always be unhappy with changes, but those changes better be addressing the problem, otherwise you’ve only furthered your own erosion.

 Are we awake yet?