Youth are the Future: Trends in Youth Hunting Participation in Illinois

Hunting has several benefits, such as providing a source of food, recreation, social interaction, funding for wildlife conservation, and helping control wildlife populations. Hunting participation in the United States, including Illinois, has declined over the past several decades.

In 1996, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began allowing states to have a special youth waterfowl hunting season to reverse, or at least mitigate, declines in hunting participation. The youth waterfowl hunting season attempts to address the main constraints to youth hunting participation by providing an opportunity to hunt and gain valuable experience without competing against adult hunters.

After 27 years an important question remains: has the youth waterfowl hunting season had an impact on youth hunting participation in Illinois? To answer that question, we examined data from the annual Illinois Waterfowl Hunter Survey (IWHS) conducted by the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) and Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to identify trends in youth hunter participation, hunting effort and harvest success in Illinois.

The youth waterfowl hunting season is a 2-day season (expanded from a 1-day season in 2000) that occurs one to two weeks before the regular duck hunting season opens in each respective waterfowl hunting zone (mid-October to late November). Participation during the youth waterfowl hunting season increased drastically after the season length was expanded to two days, but overall participation is estimated to have decreased by 56 percent since 2001 (15,148 youth hunters to 6,593 youth hunters). In comparison, participation among adult hunters during the Illinois waterfowl hunting seasons declined by 38 percent during the same period (59,029 hunters to 36,419 hunters; see Figure 1). The short season length (2 days) means that events, such as poor weather, can have a major impact on participation during individual years and can lead to large fluctuations in participation and harvest between years.

The timing of youth waterfowl hunting seasons means that youth hunters have more opportunities to harvest ducks that are not wary from past interactions with hunters, though anecdotal evidence suggests that some adult hunters believe youth hunters are harvesting too many ducks and that it is affecting their hunting during regular seasons. Data show youth hunters harvest relatively few waterfowl during the youth waterfowl hunting season compared to the other waterfowl seasons. For example,12,672 waterfowl during the 2022 youth season compared to 489,094 waterfowl harvested during the regular season (see Figure 2). Youth hunters are allowed to harvest ducks, geese, and coots in accordance with each species bag limits, though most waterfowl harvested during the youth waterfowl hunting season are ducks (87 percent vs 67 percent among adult hunters). The shorter season structure means that harvest during the youth waterfowl hunting season is disproportionately affected by changes in daily bag limits. During 2013, Illinois increased the daily harvest limit for ducks from four to six ducks per hunter. Daily duck harvest per hunter was similar during the youth waterfowl hunting season and regular duck hunting season prior to 2012, but daily harvest among youth hunters has increased over 0.5 ducks per hunter since 2013, whereas harvest among adult hunters has not experienced a corresponding increase in daily harvest (see Figure 3).

Although the youth waterfowl hunting season provides a unique opportunity for youth hunters, a limiting factor may be adult mentorship (or lack thereof) during the youth hunting season. On average, only 14 percent of waterfowl hunters between 2011 and 2022 took a youth hunting during the youth waterfowl hunting season. In comparison, 24 percent of respondents took a youth hunting during the regular duck or goose seasons during the same period. Over half (53 percent) of the groups that participated during the youth waterfowl hunting season included at least one youth hunting waterfowl for the first time. During 2020, we found that adults who accompanied youth during the youth waterfowl hunting season participated most (24 percent) or every year (53 percent). The youth hunter who respondents took hunting during the youth waterfowl hunting season was typically their son (46 percent), son of a family friend (24 percent), son of a relative (20 percent), or a daughter (10 percent). Respondents believed that the most important reasons for taking youth hunting were (1) to teach responsible and safe hunting practices (31 percent), (2) protect the sport for future generations (28 percent), (3) demonstrate a love for the outdoors (21 percent), and (4) to make memories (16 percent).

To answer our original question, “Yes” the Illinois Waterfowl Hunting Season has had an impact on youth hunting participation in Illinois over the past 27 years. The Illinois Youth Waterfowl Hunting Season provides an important opportunity to recruit youth hunters and provide them with valuable experience, though participation continues to decline. The current season structure has limitations (e.g., short season length) but provides opportunity for youth hunters to experience waterfowl hunting and develop their skills with a mentor to guide them without needing to compete with adult hunters. In the future, we will need to determine whether youth hunters are continuing to participate in hunting as adults in order that we may understand the contribution of youth hunting seasons to overall hunting participation in Illinois.

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Eric Walberg is the Human Dimensions Research Coordinator for the Illinois Natural History Survey at the University of Illinois. His research focus is human dimensions of wildlife, with an emphasis on hunter and public wildlife management preferences, harvest estimates, and wildlife disease. He earned his B.S. from Minnesota State University and M.S. from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Craig A. Miller is Leader of the Human Dimensions Research Program for the Illinois Natural History Survey at the University of Illinois. His principle research focus is human dimensions of wildlife (especially hunters), with emphasis on integrating human dimensions research into state agency planning and management programs.

Dan Stephens is a Hunter Recruitment Specialist with the Illinois Natural History Survey. The Illinois Learn to Hunt program is a statewide program designed to teach adults (18+) why, where and how to hunt a variety of species in Illinois. Visit Illinois Learn to Hunt for more information or to sign-up for an event near you.

Brent Williams is an Assistant Research Scientist for the Human Dimensions Research Program at the Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focus is hunting and trapping and he joined Dr. Craig Miller’s lab in 2012. He earned a B.S. in Wildlife Management from Eastern Kentucky University and an M.S. in Wildlife Sciences from Auburn University.