Survey of hunters shows concern for costs, conservation
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Mike Leggett
Texas hunters are concerned about the cost of hunting, high-fenced ranches and preserving outdoor traditions, according to the preliminary results of a survey conducted on behalf of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Wildlife Association.
The survey, expected to serve as the foundation for a statewide marketing plan designed to improve the image and future of hunting in Texas, has been conducted over the Internet and at a series of public meetings around the state.
"Hunters want to save the sport," said Brett Boston, president of Group Solutions, the Georgia company conducting the survey. "Hunters see themselves as conservationists, engaged in nature. Passing along tradition was the No. 1 value Texas hunters had."
However, the rising cost of recreation, which isn't limited just to hunting, as well as issues of fair chase and the ethics of intense management of deer and other game species, repeatedly showed themselves as concerns for a large number of hunters, Boston said. He commented Monday during a session to allow nonhunters, retailers and the Hunting Advisory Committee to take part in the survey, which has elicited more than 1,000 responses and continues through June.
That could be troubling for people who want to preserve and enhance hunting's image in Texas because hunting in this state isn't always cheap; high fences and intensive management are here to stay; and an increasingly urban population is getting further and further away from hunting opportunity, both geographically and psychologically.
Whether the public's views about hunting are based on perception or reality doesn't really matter, said David Langford of the Texas Wildlife Association. The purpose of the survey is to identify the barriers to hunting and to develop ways to recruit young hunters to the sport.
"It's been my contention since 1991 that we needed to get marketing people involved in delivering the (positive) message about hunting," Langford said. "I always saw the same group of people sitting around the same room talking about how great the message was about conservation and management. But we weren't doing anything about it."
Langford said he has some concerns that nonhunters and even some former hunters may hold, mainly that fences and intensive game management — two things many TWA members obviously embrace — represent something negative about hunting and landowners.
"But we've got to show the benefits of holding habitat together, the family values involved in hunting. I'm encouraged (by the survey responses) because this could be the wet washrag that slaps people in the face to show we need to get the professionals involved in delivering the right message about hunting," Langford said.
The Texas Wildlife Association's membership includes the majority of the larger landholders in Texas, many of whom derive considerable income from hunting and outdoor recreation. The price of access to those activities, along with other recreation, has increased during the past two decades. Many survey respondents see the increase in the cost of hunting as a big wall between them and the outdoors.
"The belief of the people who are avid (about hunting) is that they will be priced out of the sport and it will be reserved for the wealthy," Boston said. The survey also shows that there is also some discontent with the growth of trophy hunting in Texas, Boston added. Parks and Wildlife and TWA will have to deal with that in any campaign trying to market hunting to nonhunters in Texas.
"It doesn't matter what's going on behind those fences," Boston said. "It's their perception that counts."
http://www.austin360.com/aas/sports/leggett/0602/061302.html
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Mike Leggett
Texas hunters are concerned about the cost of hunting, high-fenced ranches and preserving outdoor traditions, according to the preliminary results of a survey conducted on behalf of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Wildlife Association.
The survey, expected to serve as the foundation for a statewide marketing plan designed to improve the image and future of hunting in Texas, has been conducted over the Internet and at a series of public meetings around the state.
"Hunters want to save the sport," said Brett Boston, president of Group Solutions, the Georgia company conducting the survey. "Hunters see themselves as conservationists, engaged in nature. Passing along tradition was the No. 1 value Texas hunters had."
However, the rising cost of recreation, which isn't limited just to hunting, as well as issues of fair chase and the ethics of intense management of deer and other game species, repeatedly showed themselves as concerns for a large number of hunters, Boston said. He commented Monday during a session to allow nonhunters, retailers and the Hunting Advisory Committee to take part in the survey, which has elicited more than 1,000 responses and continues through June.
That could be troubling for people who want to preserve and enhance hunting's image in Texas because hunting in this state isn't always cheap; high fences and intensive management are here to stay; and an increasingly urban population is getting further and further away from hunting opportunity, both geographically and psychologically.
Whether the public's views about hunting are based on perception or reality doesn't really matter, said David Langford of the Texas Wildlife Association. The purpose of the survey is to identify the barriers to hunting and to develop ways to recruit young hunters to the sport.
"It's been my contention since 1991 that we needed to get marketing people involved in delivering the (positive) message about hunting," Langford said. "I always saw the same group of people sitting around the same room talking about how great the message was about conservation and management. But we weren't doing anything about it."
Langford said he has some concerns that nonhunters and even some former hunters may hold, mainly that fences and intensive game management — two things many TWA members obviously embrace — represent something negative about hunting and landowners.
"But we've got to show the benefits of holding habitat together, the family values involved in hunting. I'm encouraged (by the survey responses) because this could be the wet washrag that slaps people in the face to show we need to get the professionals involved in delivering the right message about hunting," Langford said.
The Texas Wildlife Association's membership includes the majority of the larger landholders in Texas, many of whom derive considerable income from hunting and outdoor recreation. The price of access to those activities, along with other recreation, has increased during the past two decades. Many survey respondents see the increase in the cost of hunting as a big wall between them and the outdoors.
"The belief of the people who are avid (about hunting) is that they will be priced out of the sport and it will be reserved for the wealthy," Boston said. The survey also shows that there is also some discontent with the growth of trophy hunting in Texas, Boston added. Parks and Wildlife and TWA will have to deal with that in any campaign trying to market hunting to nonhunters in Texas.
"It doesn't matter what's going on behind those fences," Boston said. "It's their perception that counts."
http://www.austin360.com/aas/sports/leggett/0602/061302.html