What influences hunting participation of potential new hunters? Qualitative insights from Sweden

Abstract

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Expanding arenas for learning hunting ethics, their grammars and dilemmas: An examination of young hunters’ enculturation into modern hunting

“…This trend is seen throughout Sweden, where a stable number of people take the hunting exam, but a much lower number are leasing hunting permits. Some of them may hesitate to hunt as their main motivation might lie in ‘…a great interest in animals and nature, so rather this motive seems to be connected to an ethical consideration to not take an animal's life’ (Hansson‐Forman et al., 2020, p. 5, our italics). Nevertheless, new groups of hunters are emerging with heterogeneous backgrounds and perspectives (Larson et al., 2014).…”

“…The hunting community remains active in trying to recruit new hunters into their globally declining ranks, and Sweden is no different, with active (permit leasing) hunters having declined by about 30,000 hunters from 1993 (a record high period) to 2021 (Eriksson et al., 2018; Naturvårdsverket, 2021). Although there has been a slight uptick in people taking the hunting license in the last couple of years, reports still show a general decline with some slight buffering by growing numbers of foreign and female applicants (Eriksson et al., 2018; Hansson‐Forman et al., 2020). Women are increasingly taking the hunting exam, although recent statistics show that in Sweden, out of 2,822 women who took the hunting exam, only 1,076 continued to lease hunting permits to hunt practically (Eriksson et al., 2018; Hansson‐Forman et al., 2020; Marklund, 2019).…”

“…Although there has been a slight uptick in people taking the hunting license in the last couple of years, reports still show a general decline with some slight buffering by growing numbers of foreign and female applicants (Eriksson et al., 2018; Hansson‐Forman et al., 2020). Women are increasingly taking the hunting exam, although recent statistics show that in Sweden, out of 2,822 women who took the hunting exam, only 1,076 continued to lease hunting permits to hunt practically (Eriksson et al., 2018; Hansson‐Forman et al., 2020; Marklund, 2019). This trend is seen throughout Sweden, where a stable number of people take the hunting exam, but a much lower number are leasing hunting permits.…”

“…However, the traditional and patriarchal ‘father‐to‐son’ inheritance of hunting practices (starting from young childhood and continuing throughout maturation) and passed‐on situated knowledge appears to be decreasing in Sweden (Gunnarsdotter, 2005; von Essen, 2018; von Essen & Tickle, 2020). As older patriarchal family values change and more people from varied backgrounds are introduced to hunting, such as women, foreigners or those without a hunting heritage (Eriksson et al., 2018; Hansson‐Forman et al., 2020), enculturation into hunting takes place increasingly through formalised and more scholastic means such as literature, classes, examinations and training. In addition, technological developments such as the accessibility of audiovisual information on the Internet also open up for the different ways of informal learning unfettered by geographical constraints.…”

Using Different Migratory Game Bird Hunter Types to Explore Drivers of Support for Hunter Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation Policies in North Carolina, USA

“…Conversely, hunting policies can be employed to increase hunting activities and better control species populations when relaxed (e.g., promoting zone-based management based on motivational factors for red deer (Cervus elaphus) harvesting in Norway [6], permitting the taking of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens) outside of the regular hunting season in parts of Canada and the U.S. [7]). Similarly, policies to recruit, retain, and reactivate hunters have been implemented by wildlife agencies in North America and Europe in an effort to slow or reverse decades-long declines in hunting participation [6,[8][9][10]. Declining numbers of active hunters may cause significant ecological and socioeconomic ramifications, including reduced funding for conservation, damage to crops, potential disease outbreaks, and disrupted wildlife management implementation [8,11,12].…”