Alabama Deer Hunters Asked to Share the Hunt

Alabama Deer Hunters Asked to Share the Hunt

Author: Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Published: November 23, 2022

Here is a recent article from Outdoor Alabama!

“The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division is teaming with Buckmasters on an outreach program to promote hunting across social media platforms.

The Share the Hunt initiative (https://buckmasters.com/Share-the-Hunt), which kicks off November 19, encourages deer hunters to introduce new people to the hunting opportunities available in Alabama’s great outdoors and record the hunt to share on social media. Each hunting mentor who participates will receive a Buckmasters subscription and discount codes for some great hunting gear.

Don’t fret if you’re not a Buckmasters member. The Share the Hunt promotion is open to everyone!

All participants must be 19 years old or older, including the new hunters. A new hunter, or mentee, is defined as any adult who has not purchased a hunting license in the past three years. Mentors are required to submit photos of their hunt along with a brief description of the experience to be eligible for the rewards and be considered for Mentor of the Year. Bonus points will be given to mentors who share their experience on social media.

“I think everybody should know by now that hunters and license sales have been dwindling for the past several decades,” said Chuck Sykes, WFF Director. “We (WFF) created the Adult Mentored Hunting Program, Go Fish, Alabama!, and Shooting 101 to reach a new audience.”

Sykes said the Adult Mentored Hunting Program was started after he realized that even some WFF employees weren’t hunters. They wanted to learn to hunt but were hesitant to ask someone to take them. He hopes the partnership with Buckmasters will expand that outreach exponentially.

“With Share the Hunt, we’re working with Buckmasters, trying to reach their membership to stress to them how important it is to share their experience and teach someone new how to hunt,” he said. “Honestly, hunters I’ve seen over the years kind of live in an echo chamber. The people we associate with most are fairly like-minded, and most of us hunt. When you ask most hunters how many people buy a hunting license in Alabama, they think it’s 40 to 50% because that’s the group of people they hang around with. In reality, it’s 4% or less who buy a license.

“There are people we work with, go to church with, go to kids’ events with who would really like to learn to hunt and be more self-sufficient. They’re just a little hesitant to ask for that assistance. We need to step out of our comfort zone and ask people if they want to go and teach them what we know.”

To read the full article, click here. 

Photo Credit: Original Author


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