The numbers below represent the self guided hunters that hunted at least one day within each hunting discipline and state.
These numbers reflect the number of individual hunters that hunted in each state. Adding up all the numbers does not equal our total membership as many hunted more than one hunting discipline and in more than one state. For example, an upland hunter may have hunted all three states. His counting is as one person in each state's count. Add to this the same upland hunter also went deer hunting making this 1 member is counted a total of 4 times above.
Combine this level of pressure with our property unit and individual property management system to prevent too many consecutive hunting days on the same land and the quality control exercised by this Association is more evident. Most importantly however is our management of property units and individual properties is based on their hunter carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is the number of hunting days a unit or individual property can sustain per hunter. A quarter section of CRP Bluestem may sustain anywhere from a 2 to a 4 hour pheasant hunt. While a 480 acre farm may support 3 deer hunters or 3 deer hunting days.
Our membership levels separated by primary and secondary hunting interest is not based on a simple mathematical equation of acreage available by the number of hunters. It is rather based on the carrying capacity of the habitat. This is the art of hunting and an intangible made possible by the hunting experience of our land managers. The hunter's proof of effectiveness comes from the fact that no hunter is denied hunting on his schedule, hunters are not in competition with others, hunters are not counting boot prints or mixing their dogs with others.
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To gain a more accurate perspective of hunting pressure compare any of the numbers above to the total number of hunting days in a season and the amount of land available. For example, Kansas upland bird season is 75 days long and 116,000 acres was available with only 197 hunters hunting the entire acreage all season long (2000 data). Consider also many of these hunters are non-residents of Kansas, Missouri or Iowa and they hunt one or two weeks of valuable vacation time a season. If all had hunted on the same day, an impossibility, each would have had several hundred acres to hunt.
While the Kansas upland example above indicates plenty of land on the macro scale it is mis-representing all the 116,000 acres (2000 data) as upland habitat. This of course is not the case.
The confidence the hunter will have a good hunt is that is what brings back membership renewals. This organization is a business and not a god ol' boys hunt'n club. That difference is treatment to all members is the same without any friendship connections.
