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Hunting over the age of 50

3K views 26 replies 19 participants last post by  UNCLEMIKE 
#1 ·
I came across this article and found it interesting. The article is primarily focused on bowhunting but mentions that in one of the studies the trend of decreased participation in hunting after the age of 50 occurs with all types of hunting to varying degrees. Of course I know there are a lot of us more mature folks on here who are passionate hunters, but when you all think about the people you have known over the years who have hunted, do you find that this is true?

Why Do Bowhunters Drop Out By Age 50

Archery seasons are closed for another year, and so maybe it's time to wonder about a persistent challenge facing our sport: Why do so many bowhunters drop out by age 50?

One of the most frustrating challenges to hunting itself is that participation levels peak by about age 45 these days, and then drop steadily starting at age 50. And many of these former hunters can't be enticed to return. By the time they're 50, their ranks are about 65 percent of what they were at 40, and by age 60 their numbers are about half of what they were at 50.

People in their 50s and 60s have more time, expertise and expendable income than other groups of potential bowhunters. Yet many of them quit bowhunting after age 50 and don't return.

Wisconsin's license-sale data show this phenomenon in nearly every category, whether it's gun-hunting, bowhunting, turkey hunting or small-game hunting. However, it's most subtle among small-game hunters and most dramatic for bowhunters. Among bowhunters, their ranks at age 50 were barely 50 percent what they were at 40, and at age 60 their numbers are only 40 percent what they were at age 50.

Such trends aren't unique to Wisconsin. That cycle shows up no matter when or where you look. Research in Minnesota in 1994 showed almost identical trends. Researcers assume the data will change in the years ahead as more states than ever have opened archery season to crossbows, but it's still too soon to know if they'll reverse the trends entirely.

Historically, license sales typically are strong for age groups 15 and 16, but then tail off for a few years as teenagers find new interests, including each other, and go off to colleges and technical schools. Then by age 25, once they're working and have their own money, they return to hunting and their numbers keep rising until their late 30s.

Crossbows are helping to keep older bowhunters in the woods.

By the time bowhunters are 40, their numbers started dropping, historically. By the time they're 45, their numbers are at about the same level as 16-year-olds. The teenagers come back, but 45-year-olds haven't joined them, historically. The slide continues, and by the time bowhunters reach age 60, their numbers are at or lower than those of 12-year-olds, even though most 12-year-old kids depend on someone else to take them bowhunting. Most 60-year-olds remain independent, yet they're still basically disappearing from the ranks.

What makes those trends especially troublesome, not to mention ironic, is that demographic studies suggest people in their 50s and 60s have more time, expertise and expendable income than other groups of potential bowhunters. Therefore, logic says they should be easier to entice back into bowhunting, yet it's not happening. They're pursuing other interests, even though research shows they've usually had satisfying bowhunting experiences.

Tim Lawhern, formerly Wisconsin's director of hunter education, said many former bowhunters can't explain why they give it up. They simply quit making time for bowhunting.

"It might just be as simple as the old adage, 'By age 30 you're a workaholic, by age 40 you're burned out, and by age 50 you're worn out," Lawhern said. "Plus, their priorities change. Many of these people are becoming grandparents, family events take priority, and the grandchildren are still too young to take hunting."

The author, now 60, continues to bowhunt each year for elk and deer.

Lawhern also said it's tough to get inactive hunters motivated in a society where "driving an automobile" is a popular answer for people asked to name their favorite recreation. "We're out of shape," Lawhern said. "And when research tells us the amount of time the typical American spends outside their home is only 16 percent, you realize few people have time to hunt. Plus, it's increasingly difficult to find the time and place to practice."

Given such constraints, maybe it's easier to understand why so many states now allow most archers of any age to use a crossbow during the archery season.

"It's possible to buy a crossbow in the morning and be proficient by the afternoon," Lawhern said.
 
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#2 ·
Many I know and came up with that are now in their 50s and 60s have lost the desire to kill. My father lost it in his mid 40s after harvesting many, many deer. He held out for one more OBBC buck and shot during gun season when he was 46 or 47. He never killed another deer although he still enjoyed being outside and going to deer camp. He would go to camp, shoot, help with stand placements, etc.....everything except kill a deer! He liked to make sure all of the "kids" (younger hunters) were always in a good spot. He spent probably 4 straight gun weeks weaponless sitting in blinds with teenagers (this was prior to youth season). Then he got cancer and his health faded quickly and he was not able to go to camp....he's not even able to get out. At that point it just became a health issue which I think also affects folks > 50 a lot more than the under 50 crowd.

And another point (and I'm going to take flack for this one).....a LOT of folks I know just get lazy when they get older. I've seen this in many. They just don't want to put in the effort it takes to hunt. They no longer want to wake up at 3:30 or 4am, drive an hour, walk 35 minutes through the woods, climb into a stand/blind.....even if ion good shape many are just too plain lazy to do it any more. I know a few honest guys that have flat out admitted it. I also know a couple in their 50s that gun hunt only now and don't stray to far from their truck. These same guys used to turkey hunt, mushroom hunt, bow hunt, one had rabbit dogs....they just don't have the energy for all that!

It is just a natural part of aging for most of us. I'm 37 and haven't missed a beat, but I will admit I will at times just go back to bed (like if my buddy calls off and I'll be alone, etc.). I would have never considered that in my 20s - never. I can recall so many of times I switched game plans on such occasions and went alone even driving half way across the state. Now, I usually go back to bed unless it is peak rut or firearms week. I would guess when I'm 55 I won't hunt as much as I do now. It is hard for me to imagine not being outdoors, but I doubt I cover a couple hundred miles during the moral season for example like I do now. No matter what most of the young guys think, 99% of us will slow way down.
 
#3 ·
I currently hunt with 2 guys over 50.....one is 65 and the other is 72. They still have the same fire but are coming to terms with their lack of physical ability. Lets face it.....hanging stands or dragging a deer a mile out in the woods is very physically demanding. I know at 46 I don't jump in feet first like I used to and I've gotten smarter about how I do things to save some work. Fortunately I have some kids just coming into hunting age so I'll have help over the next bunch of years but without them I could see the amount or type of hunting I do dropping off in the next 10 years. I just can't haul out a big deer from the bottom of that steep ravine like I used too.
 
#4 ·
I notice that Birdhunters were not mentioned in the article...probably several reasons for that omission...none good, all indicative.
However, regarding those particular lonely folks and ignoring the reality which age brings to what can be physically and so, mentally, accomplished, no matter the "hunting" definition....I do not see any abandonment of Birdhunting due to simply stepping boldly past the middle age of 50.
Probably especially so when and since dogs are often involved.
For most of us, dogs represent more than an enabling hammer and all that dem critters deliver, pun intended, in a day and of both good and bad measures, keeps us happily Advil-ing up and realizing more is to be discovered in birdhunting than success at a tailgate.
Success indeed, is small taters comparable to why we go....and continue to go...all with an understanding of the effect of going.

I did see and do still see a loss of the small 'b' "birdhunters" due to lowered opportunity/access, the ever increasing cost to house a hammer and to desiring more of a public face for fulfilling what today is oddly called a passion.
But I have never seen the age of 50 or more as being what solely trips that all too common trigger.

No, there is no luster taken off of Birdhunting with Time or age, to me.
There may be a difference in the How and even the WHY and When, but never with the decision to Go.....never is there reached a point as indicated in the article.
IF, one is a Birdhunter.
 
#5 ·
I think just the demands of bow hunting tend to cause some of this. Very early starts in the darkness, long periods of time in the elements and often late ending days take a physical toll. At 59 I am blessed with good health and still see myself making changes. I go less and less in the mornings. Not as much fun now days to get up at 3:00 a.m. drive 100 miles and sit in a tree in the dark and beyond. A few years back I intentionally started to make minor changes to keep the "fun" part in my bow hunting. I sleep in when camping and enjoy a nice breakfast and a fire. I then hunt a long afternoon rather than hunt the early morning and the evening as I once did. It may be reducing my odds but I am not as beat up afterwards and enjoy the day more. I hunt in areas that allow me to get a deer out without dragging up hill. Just don't want the extreme exertion required to get a deer off the hilly public lands I hunt. I try not to hunt on Sunday evenings as much. Have taken a few deer on Sundays at last light early season. Were talking around 7:30 . Now after waiting, then tracking, gutting then dragging and then a two hour drive home, then too hot to hang so skin and quarter into the cooler and take a shower and fall in bed now its 1:00 a.m. with a wakeup alarm at 6:00. Not much fun anymore. Hunt smart not hard and make it fun is now my goal. Rain, I roll over, high wind, roll over, just plain tired, roll over. Tomorrow is another day. I still go out most every weekend in the season until gun rolls around and still score once in a while but the goal is to enjoy the day not endure, survive or score. I have pretty much given up on late season as by then I have had my fill.
 
#6 ·
that is by definition "smarter....not harder". :D You have a solid decade on me but I definitely understand what you're talking about. 20 years ago I could sit around the fire and drink half the night then be in my stand before daylight and hunt all day. A lot less of that going on these days. The first couple weeks of the year are throw away weeks. We pick a weekend or two early to get all that campfire drinking out of our system....well....most of it. Those weekends I may just end up hunting a couple hours in the evening or not at all some weekends. When it starts getting colder and the leaves start dropping that's when I start hunting harder and by rut I'm in full hunt mode. In bed early and up early. I will say doing it how I do it now compared to how I did it 20 years ago I'm not seeing a drop off in deer. This past season I did one of the sleep in days and never went out in the morning.....shot a doe that evening in my climber wearing shorts and sneakers because I didn't feel like putting on my bibs and boots. That makes about 3 deer I've killed in shorts and sneakers....I'm beginning to think I'm onto something. :D
 
#7 ·
My Dad will be 75 before next season. He is amazing. I never noticed a difference in his activity level until just a few years ago. He has definitely become more selective about the deer he shoots. Usually it pays off for him. He let a lot of good bucks walk this year and killed a whopper in January. Most of his buddies did tail off though.

I am nearly 50. That's the first time I've ever written that.... Kind of a shocker all by itself. I hunted less this year than I have in many years. That was almost exclusively a function of available time though. As I've gotten older, I have developed more interests and more distractions. I was more selfish. I put a lot of things aside to make sure I would hunt. I honestly feel like I am more mature.

Physically, I'm fine. I make a concerted effort to maintain my fitness. I weigh 2lbs more than I did as a senior in HS. I'm not as strong, or as fast, but I have more endurance. I'm again trying to train to run a marathon in a time that would qualify for Boston. The last time I tried my hip didn't hold up to the training so I'm losing a few more pounds. I'm naturally bigger than most distance runners. I've seen those Kenyans in person, their calf to their ankle looks like a pool cue.

I can't imagine losing the desire to hunt entirely. I have always felt that hunting isn't something I do, it's who I am.
 
#8 ·
I am now 67, and hunt much less. But, it is mostly health issues that keep me out of the woods. Having said that, when I am feeling decent the fire is still burning. Love the hunt . . . love the kill . . . love the venison!
 
#9 ·
I can relate to some of this. I lost the blood in my eye in my early 20's. I think trapping did it to me. Something about dispatching a defensles animal caught in a trap that worked on me. I love to hunt...but hate to kill. If I could hunt mature whitetails with a tranquilizer gun, I would. They really aren't good table fair without a lot of effort. The last several we've taken have been made exclusively into summer sausage...with pepperjack cheese added in for flavor. I doubt I'll ever kill another turkey. I'll hunt them every day I'm able but won't be the trigger man. Coyotes on the other hand...I'll shoot them every day of the week and twice on Sunday. I think it's because they're indiscriminate killers themselves that makes it so appealing to me. That and the fact that they're so challenging to call up and shoot.
 
#12 ·
I've often wondered how people kill without the guilt or emotion. I've never been like that....there's always been guilt associated with killing. My first year deer hunting I went with a friend and his dad/uncles. They just dropped me off on a ridge and left me there not expecting much. I shot a really nice 9 that I still have on the wall here. Immediately after shooting it I remember saying out loud as I looked at it "what have I done?" There was a ton of guilt that I just took the life of such a beautiful animal. I guess I justify it every year since by saying that I'm going to eat meat so something has to die for that to happen. It can either be an animal that's lived wild it's whole life and had a chance to evade me and live another day or it can be an animal that's been raised and caged it's whole life and never had any chance from birth. I won't stop hunting/killing as long as I'm eating meat. It just makes sense to me to look at it that way and it helps a ton with the guilt.
As far as your bucks....you need to let me cook up some deer steaks for you sometime. I have a way to prepare them where it doesn't matter the age of the deer or cut of meat I use....they're restaurant quality steaks. I've yet to run into anyone that didn't think they were some of the best steak they've had....beef or venison.
 
#10 ·
I'm 51 And still hunt quiet a bit . Not like when I was in my 20's and 30' but my eye problems have a lot to do with that . I try to hunt smarter and not harder . It must be working ok because I have killed more deer in the last 12 years than I did back then . The killing does not bother me I love to eat , and I am a meat eater so something has to die .. I like the fact that I know how it was killed , cleaned and put in the freezer . I do have someone butcher my beef but I know how it ate .
I don't spend much time small game hunting like I use too . I hardly go at all .
 
#11 ·
Seems like birthdays come faster now then waiting on the 16th one to get here or the 21rst I will soon be 52 and I find I am the one that will stand with the youth while others do drives I used to drag my own deer now I let the younger ones that are very willing to do the work do it.Back in my 20,s and 30,s I used to work 12 hour days and hunt **** at night now I work 8 hour days and **** hunting has went to the way side. I used to do alot of rabbit hunting some with dogs some with out but about 10 years ago seems like the rabbits became almost extinct here and I never got back into that and I guess I am ok with it.I still deer hunt but I sit alot more now then I use to and wait for the deer to come to me rather the stalk and hunt.I hunt coyotes everynow and then and get out and pop a ground hog but not like I use to
 
#13 ·
I know I am hunting a lot less now. My dad and uncle who started me hunting have passed on. New hunting friends get busy with their families. My son is in college.
Hunting for me has always been better when hunting with others instead of alone. I really don't enjoy being out alone like I used to when I was younger. Maybe now I realize the things that could go wrong(injuries or illness).
The other thing is that it really does seem harder to find good properties to hunt. The day I have to pay(lease) to hunt is the day I am done for good.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Killing stuff.
GBE noted long ago the dichotomy present in birdhunting.
That which we treasure and that which we strive to husband.....we kill.
He had no certain answer and I surely do not.
I reckon one can try to make the case for the existence of some nobleness in hunting or in supporting a family's stomach but sport hunting is a relatively modern invention and few really require game to live...at least in these parts and days.
Running a hunting dog, trophy pursuits, ultra long-range look-at-me brag fodder, killing predators and more can each have elements difficult to support....some reaching well past difficult and onto impossible.
We, I hope, simply endeavor to interact with the respect deserved a specie and that occurs from the time the paws go down or the camo is donned to when the plate is set upon a table.

In Birdhunting specifically, killing stuff often takes the shape of limits on the interactions with a bird.
When....is it somehow better to kill.
That would be flying, certainly, but before long, shots only over points is the call.....or, shots over a properly flushed bird perhaps.
For myself and with ruffed grouse, other than in special moments and unique circumstances, I have yet to reach the point of shots only over points....no doubt due in great part due to reduced opportunities over 51 years.
Same with pheasants....tho released birds both in their simplicity and in their real-world fragile nature can make that decision situational.
For the long-beaked wonder, it is points only and even then the killing of a flight tired little trundler might be set aside for a nod to sure death, the journey begun and the journey yet to come.
However, in all honesty, with each of those species and with other gamebirds, interactions of the boom kind can all be influenced, at times, by the work of the dog and the schooling value found with a shot taken at just the right moment.

Yes, there is a dichotomy present in killing stuff and in can be selfish at the core.
Such are we humans.
Time and personal changes of a physical and mental measure can influence our thinking as regards killing stuff but, that option is often present from Day 1....we simply do not always recognize it or value it with the same currency exchange factor.

However, commenting upon the actual center point of the noted article, I suspect there may be more than a bit of over-selling in the course of conducting business with the masses and an unsupported optimism present over Time and Reality.....which may be why I do not see that article's center point of decline for a hunter of 50+ years re Birdhunting.
 
#16 ·
From Successories website, intended as inspirational, but applies to nature.... Quote:

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed...every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle...when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

Unfortunately a growing and larger segment of people than the hunters in our society have never had the privilege of being exposed to the natural world in which we live. Although my body complains, my spirit commands I must continue to hunt as a reminder of what God & Nature intended.

Fewer hunters over 50 are likely due to complaining bodies and an increasing awareness of our own mortality due to age and a gradual loss of hunting friends to the obituary columns. I will be 69 this year.

I will continue to hunt as long as my body permits and then in my memories to acknowledge what God & Nature intended. To me both are the same. Nature is a miracle that surrounds us daily. Many are blind to the miracle.

Then "the hyenas and worms" may have their due.
 
#17 ·
65 here, hunting partner is 78! We still love to hunt like we did in our younger years while the hills seem be steeper and the miles longer. Both enjoy hunting with a bow and or crossbow more than with a gun. Bow season gets us in the woods more. The only thing slowing us down is lack of good hunting spots and family commitments. Although I should add that for the first time my season was cut short because of back/siatica problems, (probaly caused by draging our bucks out of the woods this year). We need to find a few younger hunting partners
 
#18 ·
SteveOh
My hunting partner is 79. Unfortunately, he lives in NJ. We hunted deer in Potter County PA from 1966 - 2006 in gun season on 385 acres adjoining state game & forest lands. Landowner & hunting friends & partners died. Property was sold. Since then, he has come to Ohio for either a week of gun or archery. We hunt private & in archery, Salt Fork a couple of times. Due to hunting PA for forty years, most of my deer hunting friends were from deer camp in PA. I always hunted archery & Muzzleloader in Oh but mostly alone. I still hunt solo when he is not here, but memories are best when shared! I am thankful for those 40 years in PA and got to share them with my Sons & Grandson a few of those years. Living Son & Grandson live in a different state, so it's been too long since I've been able to share a hunt with them. Memories, family & friends are precious & priceless, as is Nature!
 
#19 ·
My partner is also a Pa. native, born and raised in Mercer Co. He had never "bow" until I loaned him my crossbow. The first evening out he shot low under a buck. The next morning he shot a different buck. He was hooked from then on. We have bow hunted together ever since. We laugh and cut up and just enjoy our successes and blunders together. Couldn't ask for a better partner...
 
#20 ·
I sat in a tree stand for 4 hours before having open heart aortic valve replacement on 10-14-14 at the age of 58. Needless to say my hunting was over for 2014. That was the first opening day of WV rifle season I missed in 46 years. After sitting out the 2014 season, the drive was not as strong in 2015, I still enjoyed the hunting but the killing desire was just not there. I think I developed a soft spot for the game. Plus, being self employed and not surveying for two months and then part time for a couple months, it was hard to turn down work, now that I'm back up to speed, during hunting season. We'll see what 2106 brings?
 
#21 ·
"So the years roll on; another spring comes. The air warms once more, and barren trees sprout new. fresh leaves. The natural cycle of regeneration continues for the woods, for their wild creatures and for the humans who hunt them. In the process the hair of the latter grows increasingly gray, the gait becomes a little slower, the hard-charging attitudes are tempered more often by times of reflection about the core things of life - what they mean. For indeed while turkey hunters hunt for birds, they also search for themselves."
While this quote is about turkey hunting and comes from Knight and Hales book Ultimate Turkey Hunting, It speaks to all aging hunters. I've been fortunate enough to have been hunting for over 50 years now. If the good lord is willing I'll put in another 15-20 years. I don't have the fire that I used to and my hair definitely has more gray in it and my gait is slower. I was at the NWTF convention this past weekend in Nashville. I had a chance to meet up with an old friend. Dale is 87 years young and still hunting turkeys! He had triple bypass surgery at 66, and plenty of other health issues, A few years ago he made the comment that he was only going to live until he died..........and he hoped he could hunt that long too!
 
#23 ·
As far as your bucks....you need to let me cook up some deer steaks for you sometime. I have a way to prepare them where it doesn't matter the age of the deer or cut of meat I use....they're restaurant quality steaks. I've yet to run into anyone that didn't think they were some of the best steak they've had....beef or venison.
I'd love to hear how you prepare your steaks!
 
#25 ·
Thanks to all who have responded to this thread. I have enjoyed every post.

I can't say that I know very many in my hunting circle who are healthy and over 50 who have given up hunting. I'm not sure who these folks are that are dropping out of the ranks. But living in a farming community, most of the folks who I know who hunt own their own land or have very close friends who do. Farmers and friends of farmers. So access in not much of an issue.

Last year we had a similar thread about losing the desire to shoot (or something similar). Since my main purpose in hunting is to acquire food in such a way that I am totally involved in the process and since I presumably am going to need to eat up until the time I die, I cannot imagine not hunting for food. But who knows what the future holds in store.
 
#26 ·
Thanks to all who have responded to this thread. I have enjoyed every post.

I can't say that I know very many in my hunting circle who are healthy and over 50 who have given up hunting. I'm not sure who these folks are that are dropping out of the ranks. But living in a farming community, most of the folks who I know who hunt own their own land or have very close friends who do. Farmers and friends of farmers. So access in not much of an issue.

Last year we had a similar thread about losing the desire to shoot (or something similar). Since my main purpose in hunting is to acquire food in such a way that I am totally involved in the process and since I presumably am going to need to eat up until the time I die, I cannot imagine not hunting for food. But who knows what the future holds in store.
Ha!
 
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