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Hunting provides significant economic, cultural and ecological benefits. For example, approximately 60 percent of state wildlife agency budgets come from activities related to hunting and fishing.
“Without hunting and fishing, wildlife conservation as we know it today wouldn’t really exist,” said Lincoln Larson, associate professor of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State College of Natural Resources.
But these benefits are at risk of being lost as the number of hunters in the United States has declined steadily over the past 50 years due to urbanization and demographic changes.
Wildlife agencies and NGOs are working to recruit new hunters, retain old ones and reactivate those who have dropped out of the sport. The problem, Larson said, is that many of these projects, often referred to as R3s, have largely failed to attract new hunters.
Larson and Richard von Furstenberg, Ph.D. NC State candidates have been testing and reviewing R3 programs across the county aimed at recruiting non-traditional audiences. Their recent research found that recruiting programs targeting college campuses may increase their chances of success.
Results from the study are used in a new guide and toolkit released by the Georgia Wildlife Foundation to provide practitioners with everything they need to start and sustain an R3 program with a local college or university.
We recently spoke with Larson and Furstenberg about the R3 program and how practitioners can effectively recruit new hunters on college campuses. See Q&A below.
Why has the R3 program failed to attract new hunters?
Furstenberg: The sport began in the 1980s, but has really taken off among wildlife agencies in the past 20 years to address declining hunter numbers. Much of the focus is on recruiting new hunters because it represents the shortest path to increased participation. But such recruitment has traditionally been targeted at an audience already familiar with hunting: young, white hunters living in rural areas. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as we need more hunters, but these efforts don’t really expand the base of traditional hunting participants. If we want hunting to become more important in the 21st century, we need to introduce and foster diversity in what hunters look like, where they come from, and why they hunt.
What makes college students an ideal target for the R3 program?
Larson: College campuses are an ideal place to recruit potential hunters for a number of reasons. First, in the United States, more than 40% of young people (more than 20 million students) are enrolled in some type of college. R3 collaborative efforts between agencies, NGOs and universities provide a streamlined opportunity to engage large numbers of young people. We also know, based on our research across 22 states and universities, that nearly a quarter (22%) of these students are “potential hunters,” meaning they are interested in hunting but have never hunted before. Perhaps most notably, these would-be hunters look very different from the “traditional” hunter. These students are more racially, ethnically, and gender diverse, with a large proportion coming from urban areas. These differences are key when we think about looking beyond traditional audiences and creating a “bigger tent” for hunting.
What are some common challenges that prevent college students from hunting?
Furstenberg: The biggest predictor of whether a person hunts is whether members of his family hunt. Social support is critical and provides hunting-related knowledge, skills and opportunities. Many college students don’t have these connections, and because they come from non-hunting families, they lack this support. Some other common challenges that are logistical in nature and faced by college students include challenges with firearm and equipment storage, time commitment, cost, and lack of transportation to viable hunting locations.
How does the R3 program address these challenges of recruiting college students?
Larsen: The key to meeting these challenges is to leverage the strengths of wildlife agencies, NGOs and universities to work together on R3 collaborations. No one group can do this alone. Agencies and NGOs are positioned to provide the skills, knowledge, resources and opportunities to help students grow into safe and ethically aware hunters. Universities can identify interested students, mobilize them, and evaluate R3 programs. Assessment is the historically missing piece of R3, and this is where much of our work at NC State is focused. The data we collect from programs across the country tells us how well we are meeting the challenges faced by these new players and how we can do better.
Your study examines the demographics and motivations of college students in R3 workshops. Why is it important to consider these?
Furstenberg: Effective R3 programs for college students must resonate with new and diverse audiences. That means working to understand who is represented, where they come from and what sparked their interest in hunting. Using this information, practitioners can create content and guidance that is relevant to participants. This is crucial to avoid a one-size-fits-all R3 approach that can leave students feeling isolated or unwelcome.
How does R3 plan to retain new hunters?
Furstenberg: Since the main focus to date has been recruiting, retaining new hunters is really the next frontier for these R3 plans. Outdoor recreation research and our own experience show that ongoing social support is critical to the persistence of these new hunters. This means R3 program leaders must find ways to build and sustain relationships between participants and hunts from one season to the next. This might include pairing students with peer mentors or hosting non-hunting activities during the off-season, such as game dinners, nature hikes or scouting trips. Providing this continuity opens the door for more sharing of participant needs or challenges and creates opportunities for mentors to provide assistance. Even if program participants do not end up hunting, they will have a greater understanding of the value of hunting and may become hunting advocates.
Larson: Recruiting new hunters is a challenging but important job. We hope that our new university-focused R3 guidance and toolkit, based on the lessons we have learned over the years, will inspire practitioners to find new ways to create a broader, more inclusive hunting community – ultimately Reshaping the future of wildlife conservation.
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