Decline in hunting and fishing reduces ODFW revenues

If you are a hunter in Oregon, you are among just one in 10 Oregonians. If you fish, you are only one in five.

While the state’s population has doubled in the past 50 years, numbers of hunting and fishing licenses have steadily declined since the 1960s, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). The same decline is happening nationally, but only two states, Nevada and Michigan, are losing hunters faster than Oregon. And Oregon’s numbers are dropping twice as fast as the national average.

What is causing the declines and what does it mean to those Oregonians who don’t hunt or fish?

Loss of habitat is the primary reason for the decline, according to Steven George, district wildlife biologist for ODFW’s High Desert Region headquartered in Bend.

“Wildlife habitat is being diminished or altered as we see more forest subdivisions, development of agricultural lands, more destination resorts, and urban sprawl,” George said. “Less habitat means a diminishing number of animals and that leads here in Eastern and Central Oregon to fewer deer and elk tags for controlled hunts, resulting in fewer hunters.”

Eventually, many hunters become discouraged and don’t even bother to apply for tags, George added.

“We are still seeing a demand for the lower number of tags that we do offer,” he said. “However, in the past where we had an estimated 6,000 hunters in a single unit, we now have only from 500 to 2,000 a unit with the lower number of tags we can offer.”

Other current and former hunters see other reasons for the decline. Some are critical of ODFW’s management practices that critics believe have led to smaller numbers of game animals. Cost of licenses and tags, expense of equipment, fewer areas available to hunt or fish, and busy family lives are other reasons that have been cited.

More people living in metropolitan areas with few hunting and fishing opportunities and more newcomers moving to Oregon with no interest in either sport are other reasons.

Hunting and fishing organizations see the 25 percent decline in juvenile fishing licenses and a 30 percent decline in juvenile hunting licenses in Oregon as an indication that the numbers won’t get any better soon. Special hunts and fishing opportunities are being offered to stimulate interest.

Others believe that “baby boomers” went through an educational system that encouraged environmental protection of all natural resources, but turned off students to hunting and fishing.

Called the “Bambi complex” by some, it convinced young people that all hunting or fishing was bad. Just recently, a public television program reported on crop damage caused by the rise and fall of jackrabbit population in Eastern Oregon and how ranchers attempt to reduce their numbers by hunting. The program narrator warned viewers “there would be scenes of hunting in the program,” which there were, but there were no scenes of actual shooting of rabbits.

The impact of these declines is far greater than just less revenue for ODFW through the sale of licenses and tags. Those dollars support ODFW in managing both game and non-game animals. Over the years, hunting and fishing licenses have financed all the work that the agency does to protect habitat and keep populations stable.

“We spend about 20 percent of our time on non-game management work,” George said. “This includes reviewing land management activities of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management and land use proposals at the county level to provide input on wild land management.” Fish and Wildlife personnel also respond to complaints about wildlife damaging crops or creating disturbances. All of this work is funded by the sale of licenses and tags.

The non-hunting and fishing public also enjoys viewing animals and fish as a big part of outdoor recreation in the state.

As the state’s population continues to grow and as habitat continues to decrease, more pressure will be felt by professional fish and wildlife managers to try to find solutions.