Just about any time hunters gather and chat, stories will surface about things they did with their father, grandfather, uncles or another relative.
“Most people learned from older relatives,” said Justin Grider. “Most people have a close family member to teach them at a young age. But some people don’t have that.”
Those people often never learn to hunt and fish and they miss out on a lifetime of pleasurable days outdoors. Grider, the hunter education coordinator for west central Alabama and mentored hunt coordinator for the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, said reaching that group of people is important for the sport of hunting.
“There has been a huge decline in hunting license sales since the 1980s,” Grider said. “So much so that in a few decades, hunting will be a thing of the past.”
This year, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries partnered with the National Wild Turkey Federation to ramp up its Adult Mentored Hunt Program in an effort to combat declining license sales.
“This program is designed to teach adults who never had a chance to learn when they were younger,” Grider said.
Nationwide, 2 million fewer hunting licenses were sold last year than were sold in 1982.
Experts point to multiple issues, from the country’s growing urbanization to the high cost of leasing private hunting land. Those factors and others have led to a significant adult population that has never been exposed to the sport.
It is very difficult for adults who have no experience with hunting to pick up the sport. Several states recognized that and started programs that paired up novice adults who wanted to hunt with experienced hunters who could teach the sport. Alabama officials took note and followed suit.
The National Wild Turkey federation joined in to help.
“Part of our mission is conservation and hunting heritage in the shooting sports,” said Bev Leigh, Tuscaloosa NWTF chapter president and a member of the state NWTF chapter board. “We’re interested in introducing anyone to hunting, including adults.”
Adult participation means license sales. And the money from license sales funds wildlife conservation efforts.
“Typically, only 7 percent of adults across Alabama are buying hunting licenses and that holds pretty true across the country,” Leigh said. “Those dollars are what drives wildlife conservation.”
Grider said Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division Director Chuck Sykes realized that people wouldn’t remain interested if their introduction to the sport wasn’t a high-quality experience. So, the state set aside parts of the Cedar Creek Special Opportunity Area for the program.
Cedar Creek was a first-rate hunting property in Dallas County the state purchased with Forever Wild funds. The 6,500-acre tract is located about 30 miles southeast of Selma on the banks of the Alabama River with diverse habitat, including hardwood bottoms, planted pines and cedars.
The property was divided into 16 units and the state limited hunting pressure and tightly controlled the harvest to manage the property for quality hunting. Three Cedar Creek units were set aside for adult mentored hunts. Grider said the intent was to provide a hunting experience comparable to an expensive hunting lodge for the cost of a hunting license.
Applications for the mentored hunt programs were opened to adults age 19 and older.
Their applications were assigned four levels of priorities. The top priority was people with no hunting experience while the lowest priority was people with extensive hunting experience.
People with varying levels of hunting experience fell in between.
In all, 120 people applied for mentored hunts. A computer randomly selected the participants for nine mentored deer hunts, two small game hunts and a turkey hunt on Cedar Creek Special Opportunity Area and eight one-day mentored hunts in Mobile County. The Mobile County hunts were a cooperative effort of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, the NWTF, the State Lands Division and the Mobile County Board of Education.
Of the applicants, 40 percent were women. The youngest person was 19 while the oldest was 78. Applicants came from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Arkansas. In all 52 people have participated or will participate in the hunts when they are complete. They were required to complete an on-line hunter education course and to buy an all-game hunting license.
Mentors were selected from Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries employees and other volunteers.
They were chosen for their experience and their ability to patiently teach inexperienced hunters.
But people who have never hunted are likely to need more than a guide and place to hunt. The state and sponsors that included private companies and non-profit organizations provided the novice hunters with everything they needed. The state has a “Mentored Hunt Trailer” that is stocked with rifles, ammunition, clothing and other accessories.
“Anything you need for a day in the field, we’ve got in that trailer,” Grider said.
Sponsors also provided food and lodging for the hunters in addition to tree stands and safety equipment. Sponsors included Pradco, Summit Tree Stands, Code Blue Scent, Moultrie Feeders, Knight and Hale, Bald Cypress Camo, Redneck Blinds, Hunter Safety Systems, The Alabama Wildlife Federation, NWTF, the Cabela’s Outdoor Fund, the Alabama Conservation and Natural Resources Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Land Realty and Grand Slam Outdoors.
For the Cedar Creek hunts, the hunters arrived on Friday and went to the rifle range for gun safety training and getting acclimated to their firearm. Saturday morning the hunters and mentors hunted until about 10 a.m. and then came in for wild game cooking lessons and lunch. After lunch they got training and tips on scouting techniques and safety equipment before hunting again.
After the hunts they were taught how to blood trail a deer and then how to field dress and quarter a deer. They hunted again Sunday morning before departing.
“There was a lot of hard work by mentors,” Grider said. “It’s not possible without a big group of dedicated volunteers.”
For Grider, it was interesting to see the sport through the eyes of people who hadn’t hunted before. They saw and marveled at things that he had come to take for granted.
“It was very refreshing, as an experienced hunter, to talk to a new hunter,” Grider said. “There is a lot of opportunity to teach a lot of folks and help save a sport that is very near and dear to my heart. I was very fortunate that I was able to do that.”
Robert DeWitt is the Outdoors writer for The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at robert.dewitt@tuscaloosanews.com.