600 000) (the number of hunters has started to increase again during 2019, after an institutional intervention where payment information was sent out more frequently, as a measure of reactivation, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency 2019b, Fig. Over a ten year period, the number of state-owned hunting licenses paid has decreased by about 7%, or about 20 000 hunting licenses, which translates to an annual income loss of SEK 6 million (approx. In addition, each individual hunter pays an annual mandatory hunting fee to the state, termed state-owned hunting license ( Swedish Environmental Protection Agency 2019a). To have the right to hunt and to apply for gun license for hunting, you need to pass a theoretical and a practical test in Sweden. Number of Swedish hunting licenses sold to Swedish hunters between 20. There is a lack of in-depth knowledge about HRR in the Swedish partnership model for wildlife management and, from a Euro–American perspective, we suggest that Sweden provides an interesting case study for exploring the issues facing HRR. Fewer hunters can lead to the breakdown of institutional arrangements such as lack of funding for wildlife management, decreased legitimacy, lower capacity in implementation, and erosion of urban–rural relationships ( Decker et al. 2016), and common to these models is the vital role that hunters play. Various forms of such partnerships can be found around the world ( Brainerd and Kaltenborn 2010, Helle et al. In many countries, wildlife management is carried out by a partnership between landowners, hunting communities/organizations and the state. 2014).Īn often overlooked effect is the negative impact declining numbers of hunters can potentially have on wildlife management. Another challenge is that the role of hunters as ecosystem stewards may change ( Lindqvist et al. 2013), but this will be impeded if the hunting culture is breaking down. Individuals already within a hunting community are more likely to recruit new hunters ( Larson et al. 2018), as recruitment require time for socialization into a hunting community ( Littlefield and Ozanne 2009). It is argued that a decline in hunters also leads to a general dissipation of hunting culture ( Ryan and Shaw 2011, Price Tack et al. Socio-culturally, when hunters provide meat to the larger society outside the hunting community, hunting constitutes a socio-cultural bridge between urban and rural communities, upholding not only the importance of rural activities to urban communities but also gaining public acceptance and support for hunting and wildlife management activities ( Ljung et al. A decline in hunters can lead to less revenue and taxes through the sales of hunting gear and hunting opportunities ( Arnett and Southwick 2015, Mensah and Elofsson 2017). Management of wildlife in production landscapes require regular harvest as wildlife populations may cause problems such as disease outbreaks and biodiversity reduction ( Messmer 2000), and damage to crops, forests and vehicle collisions incur high costs that may be mitigated by hunting ( Messmer 2000, Larson et al. According to the hunter recruitment and retention (HRR) literature, a decline in hunters can have major ecological, economic and socio-cultural consequences ( Larson et al. Fish and Wildlife Service 2016, Eriksson et al. 2012) has been identified as a growing problem world-wide ( Ryan and Shaw 2011, Hansen et al. The declining number of active hunters ( Decker et al. We offer suggestions to help curb the negative trend of declining hunter numbers and we identify research gaps for future studies to address. Our thematic analysis identifies structural, institutional and individual factors influencing hunting participation, such as social networks and access to land, rendering two ideal types of new hunters. We explore in an interview study with potential new hunters in Sweden what factors affect and motivate individuals to take the hunter proficiency test and to hunt. In Sweden, the number of individuals taking a hunting proficiency test is high even though the number of hunters has declined during the last few decades although with a recovery the last 12 months, indicating an under-utilized source of potential new hunters. This has ecological, economic and socio-cultural consequences, and the issue of hunter recruitment deserves more scholarly and political attention. Hunting, an activity conceptualized as part of wildlife management partnership between the state, landowners and hunting communities, is increasingly challenged by a decreasing hunter base.
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