Surveys that show a steady decline in the number of hunters often strike fear in the hearts of wildlife managers across the country. Most states, including Michigan, are seeing a decline in the number of licensed hunters participating in the outdoors, and a national research project now points to some reasons why hunters are leaving the sport, but also indicates what state natural resource agencies can do about it.

Michigan recently hosted the author of the national research project, Mark Damian Duda, who heads up Responsive Management, an internationally recognized public opinion and attitude survey research firm specializing in natural resource and outdoor recreation issues. Duda presented three workshops around the state to discuss his recent findings on the future of hunting and the shooting sports.

According to Duda's research, the decline began in the early 1980s. Although Michigan has seen a slight decline year to year, it is not experiencing as significant a decline as other states, said Department of Natural Resources Director Rebecca Humphries.

"We are quite concerned about hunter and angler recruitment and retention in our state," Humphries said. "If we are going to preserve and continue Michigan's outdoor recreation heritage, we must attract new and non-traditional users to the outdoors. Hunters and anglers directly contribute to the work we do at the DNR to protect, manage and conserve the state's natural resources."

During his research project, Duda spoke with active, non- and ex-hunters. He also spoke to persons who identified themselves as anti-hunting. The focus groups of 10 to 12 people helped him ferret out reasons why people are leaving hunting and the shooting sports, or perhaps why people aren't as interested in hunting and shooting as in the past.

Duda also spent some time talking to hunters and natural resources managers in North Dakota, the only state experiencing an increase in hunter participation.

What his findings revealed is that key to an active hunter is having social support -- family or friends who hunt. These hunters were introduced to hunting at an early age, usually by their father. They tend to be 18-34 years old, and hunt annually with a family member or friends. Active hunters also tend to be active in other forms of outdoor recreation. A majority report they have camped, fished or went boating in the last few years.

Duda emphasized that family participation is extremely important to new hunter recruitment. In a survey he conducted of youth hunters ages 8-18 across the U.S., 92 percent indicated they came from hunting families.

But the research shows that a single-parent household does not negatively affect hunting participation as many people once thought. Duda found that children from single-parent households have about the same participation rate as children from dual-parent households.

Another myth dispelled by the research is that the number of adult Americans who support or approve of hunting has gone down as the number of hunters has declined. In fact, the overall approval of hunting by adult Americans actually has increased from 73 percent in 1995 to 78 percent in Duda's recent study.

The reasons for the decline in hunting vary, Duda said, but tend to include urbanization or urban sprawl, which equates to less hunting land in more densely populated areas, a dilution of the hunting culture, fewer rural residents and longer travel times to places where urban or suburban residents can hunt. Also, an aging population, less access and less opportunity are key factors in the decline.

Inactive hunters tend to be older (35 years or older), urban or suburban residents, started hunting at an older age and have no family member who hunts. They also tend to have not been introduced to the sport by their father.

Duda's survey also looked at reasons why hunters are leaving the sport. The top five reasons ex-hunters listed were: amount of free time (40 percent), family obligations (35 percent), work obligations (34 percent), loss of interest (33 percent) and not enough access to hunting (17 percent). Cost of hunting -- licenses, equipment and travel -- fell in the middle of the pack of about 20 reasons that hunters gave, Duda said.

"The real challenge to the DNR is that the top three reasons are beyond our control," Humphries said. "However, creating more interest and access and opportunities to hunt are things we can do, and we will be taking a very serious look at how we can package a hunting experience to make it better fit a busy lifestyle -- we will try to find ways to have inactive hunters 'schedule' time to hunt."

Duda also surveyed active hunters to see what things currently dissatisfy them about hunting. The top five reasons they listed were: not enough places to hunt (26 percent), not enough access to hunting areas (23 percent), work obligations (21 percent), amount of free time (17 percent), and pollution and litter concerns (15 percent).

"It's not enough anymore to put a deer in a field to make a hunter happy," Duda said during his Lansing presentation.

Duda's research report listed 196 things that natural resources managers, such as the Michigan DNR, should do to attract new hunters and retain currently active hunters.

"Agencies should promote hunting as a part of a total outdoors lifestyle," Duda said. "It should be cross-marketed to anglers, boaters and people already involved with other forms of outdoor recreation."

Duda also said that mentoring is vital to attracting new hunters.

"A mentored hunter is more likely to like hunting and is more likely to go hunting," Duda said. "It is important that mentors focus on sharing the total experience of hunting."

To view the PowerPoint slide show of Duda's presentation, visit the Michigan DNR's Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr.

Duda's Responsive Management's Web site has a comprehensive list of current and past research projects on various aspects of outdoor recreation at www.responsivemanagement.com.