Viral Hunting

“I’ve been hunting since I was about six years old. I started with chipmunk and squirrel and worked my way up. Now I'm hunting turkey, pheasant and deer.” said Karie Curtis a senior at Winneconne High school. 

“Deer hunting has been in our family for as long as I can remember, so it was a tradition for me to start as well.” Curtis said. Curtis’s family, is like many Wisconsin families, with a long tradition of deer hunting but it appears that tradition is withering away.

The percentage of hunters in Wisconsin and nationwide has been declining due to urbanization, an aging population, competing demands, and changing views of hunting. This concerns the state Department of Natural Resources, because hunting license fees help support conservation efforts and hunting is a key part of the state's wildlife management strategy.

“You don’t protect what you don’t love.” said Bret Shaw, a UW-Madison Environmental Communication Specialist. Shaw is leading a study that partners UW-Madison’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 

Shaw and his team are exploring how using social networking technology can help with hunter retention and recruitment. 

“Pretty much everyone is Wisconsin likes hunting.” said Beth Ryan, a Life Science Communication doctoral student and the graduate assistant in charge of the day to day operation of this project.

“From our research, 86% of people in Wisconsin approve of hunting.” Ryan said, according to the Hunting and Conservation Organization Survey conducted by Ryan and Shaw.  

“The first phase of this project consisted of gathering information to portray a more realistic picture of a hunter. In the media hunters are talked about as violent and not well educated. We found that most hunters make a good living, are well educated and simply like being outdoors.” said Ryan

The next big phase is outreaching to veteran hunters, like Curtis and her family, and connecting them with people who haven’t grown up with a tradition of hunting. As part of this project the Hunters Network of Wisconsin was created. This is an online network designed to connect new and experienced hunters, discover reasons why people hunt and give hunters a chance to share their stories. 

“Most new hunters start when they are teenagers because their families are hunters but there is also a big group that start after college. These are people who are open to hunting but not socialized into it.” Shaw said. This is the group that the Hunters Network of Wisconsin is being designed to reach. Connecting the new and potential hunters with the seasoned and experienced.

“We want to build champions, people who will serve in that role and show why hunting is important and needed.” said Shaw.