Hans Peter Hansen

Demographic transition among hunters: a temporal analysis of hunter recruitment dedication and motives in Denmark

Abstract Context. In many countries, hunting has emerged as a major source of funding for wildlife conservation and research or habitat acquisition. In some countries, recent declines in recruitment of hunters have generated concerns about the consequences of the rapid demographic change within society in general, and among hunters in particular. Gaining a better understanding of how these demographic changes influence dedication to and motivation for hunting has therefore become an important task. Aims. Our aims included documenting the demographic transition among Danish hunters, and identifying correlates of hunter recruitment age, motivations and dedication. Methods. We addressed these aims using a national survey of Danish hunters in 2000 (n = 1186) and 2006 (n = 701). Survey data were analysed using multiple regression models. Key results. Whereas recruitment numbers remained stable, the average age of recruitment for hunters increased from 21 to 34 between 1984 and 2006, and the percentage of new hunters younger than 20 declined from 63% to 19% during the same period. Respondents who hunted to experience nature were recruited at older ages than other hunters. Recruitment age was negatively related to number of days hunting per year and relative importance placed on hunting as a recreational activity, and positively related to being recruited by friends, female gender, being married, and having an urban childhood. Conclusions. The global demographic transition towards an older and more urban populace may drive a change in hunter demographics rather than a decline of hunting. Implications. The present study suggests that hunting can persist in the face of rapid demographic change. However, the study also indicates several important structural barriers for new hunters, favouring those hunters being economically most well off and leading to a decline in hunting dedication. To meet these challenges, the study suggests that modifications will be needed in hunter education programs and hunter recruitment campaigns, so as to maintain hunting as a significant positive factor within wildlife conservation.

Commons, sustainability, democratization : Action research and the basic renewal of society

This book presents theoretical discussions and practical examples of Action Research from Scandinavia, Latin America and Africa, primarily dealing with how to combine nature conservation and manage ...

Recovering Multiple Rationalities for Public Deliberation Within the EU Water Framework Directive

This book presents theoretical discussions and practical examples of Action Research from Scandinavia, Latin America and Africa, primarily dealing with how to combine nature conservation and manage ...

Discourses on illegal hunting in Sweden: the meaning of silence and resistance

ABSTRACT The first rule to poaching is that you do not talk about poaching. If you do, you do so behind a veil of anonymity, using hypotheticals or indirect reported speech that protect you from moral, cultural or legal self-incrimination. In this study of Swedish hunters talking about a phenomenon of illegal killing of protected wolves, we situate such talk in the debate between crime talk as reflecting resistance, reality or everyday venting. We identify four discourses: the discourse of silence; the complicit discourse of protecting poachers; the ‘proxy’ discourse of talking about peers; and the ‘empty’ discourse of exaggerating wolf kills as means of political resistance. Our hunters materialize these discourses both by sharing stories that we sort into respective discourses and by providing their meta-level perceptions on what they mean. Specifically we examine whether Swedish hunters’ discourses on illegal killing are (1) a means of letting off steam; (2) a reflection of reality; (3) part of a political counter-narrative against wolf conservation; or (4) a way of radicalizing peers exposed to the discourse. We conclude that illegal killing discourses simultaneously reflect reality and constitute it and that hunters’ meta-talk reveals most endorse a path-goal folk model of talk and action.

Results of the Nordic Hunting in Society Symposium

Representatives of the major Nordic hunter’s associations (i.e., Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) met in February 2010 to identify key challenges for the future of hunting and develop a vision for how hunting would fit within society in the future. Most participants (7) represented national level hunters associations, but agricultural landowners associations (4), national wildlife management agencies (2), and researchers (5) were represented as well. We facilitated the symposium using the Critical Utopian Action Research approach and Future Creation Workshop model (Nielsen & Nielsen, 2006). Participants were asked to explore concerns and visions in the intersection of hunting and society, and propose strategies for achieving their visions. The process included plenary brainstorming, prioritization of keywords, thematic synthesis of keywords, and elaboration of themes in small groups. Participants identified five main themes among their concerns: negative public perceptions of hunting, conflicts between user groups, poor match between governance scale and management decisions, internal degradation of the hunting ethic, and problems recruiting new hunters. The group discussions focused on changing perceptions of the appropriate human role within ecosystems and wildlife management, on the role of hunting in rural socioeconomic development, on how divergent values impacted people’s acceptance of hunting, and on the democratic deficit in decisions made at national and European Union (EU) levels. The discussions of hunting ethics examined both negative changes in ethics among hunters and how these changes might create a backlash against hunting among the non-hunting public and the discussions addressing recruitment of new hunters identified challenges such as low levels of practical knowledge about hunting, economic constraints, people’s minimal contact with nature, and presentation of hunting in the media. Participants identified three main themes among their utopian visions: no bad press, opportunities for anyone to hunt, and better decision-making. The discussions of these themes focused on need for critical media as well as the need for more transparency within the hunting community and the need for the hunting community to become more proactive in forming new alliances. Also, a better understanding of the internal norms and behaviors of hunters, and society’s perspectives regarding the relationship between humans and animals was encouraged. The discussions on better hunting opportunities for everyone focused on improving relations between hunters and landowners, the need for developing better ways to distribute game meat, encouraging diversity among hunters, preventing

Policing Peers and Selves between Law and Morality: A Socio-Legal Perspective on Managing Misconduct in Hunting

Contemporary hunting is at great pains to assert a sovereign jurisdiction to state interference. Hunters sometime view laws as illegitimate and cultivate an informal normative order to guide conduct and to protect the integrity and outside representation of hunting in modernity. This involves policing selves and peers mainly from an ethic of fair chase, which is multifaceted. In this study, we interview hunters who reflect on the dynamics of the fair chase ethic as a guiding principle across various dilemmas, including technological gears, commodification of hunting, game allocation and social sanctions over transgressions. Consistent with our socio-legal theory, we observe hunting’s moral and cultural perceptions of what constitutes fair chase in many situations is at odds with what is legally proscribed. Our final discussion elucidates the implications of hunters turning away from authorities in these situations, concluding with calls for deliberative culture that can re-integrate moral norms and formal laws.

Shoot shovel and sanction yourself: Self-policing as a response to wolf poaching among Swedish hunters

Self-policing is essential for addressing wildlife-related crime where illegal activity is extremely diffuse, and limited resources are available for monitoring and enforcement. Emerging research on self-policing suggest key drivers including economics, folk traditions, and socio-political resistance. We build on this research with a case study evaluating potential drivers of self-policing illegal wolf killing among Swedish hunting teams. Swedish hunters marginally leaned toward considering illegal hunting of wolves an expression of resistance (10.30 out of a possible 17 on a resistance scale) and strongly believed outsiders had undue influence over hunting (15.79 out of a possible 21 on an influence scale). Most (73%) Swedish hunters stated they would report illegal wolf killing to authorities, but 20% stated they would handle the infractions through internal sanctions. Viewing illegal hunting of wolves as a form of political resistance, viewing wolf management as being controlled locally, and perceived prevalence of illegal wolf killing among hunting acquaintances were positive predictors of preferring internal sanctions to address illegal wolf killing over reporting the crimes. Resistance and perceived prevalence of wolf killing also predicted preferring no action to address illegal wolf killing. These results suggest that a counterpublic of marginalized ruralism may promote forms of self-policing that rely on internal censure for illegal wolf killing rather than using formal legal channels. Similarly, folk traditions within this counterpublic (e.g., perceptions of prevalence of illegal wolf killing) shape if and how internal sanctions are advocated. Re-engaging marginalized hunting groups and emphasizing the rarity of illegal wolf killing may promote wolf conservation, both in Sweden and in other democratic regimes.

Hunters, Crown, Nobles, and Conservation Elites: Class Antagonism over the Ownership of Common Fauna

Because of their status of res nullius —owned by no one—property theory is underdeveloped in regard to wildlife. In this article, wildlife is seen to be sometimes subject to a shadow ownership by class interests in society. Hunters accuse protected wolves of being the “pets” or “property” of an urban-based conservationist middle class. This phenomenon fragments the common fauna and undermines responsibility taking and policy compliance for wildlife that is seen as being owned by an oppositional social class. Using an empirical case study of Swedish hunters, we show how responsibility for wildlife has become entangled with property rights. A historical materialist analysis reveals that hunters once experienced ownership of wildlife by the nobility as co-opting state coercive power. Today, however, aristocracy is replaced by a new elite class of conservationists. Noting the hunters’ tendency to evoke quasi-aristocratic virtues of ownership, we advance recommendations for an alternative approach. We appeal to deliberative democracy to promote the “communing” of wildlife across classes in fora that withstand co-optation by class interests.

Editors' introduction : Why sustainability and democratisation?

This book presents theoretical discussions and practical examples of Action Research from Scandinavia, Latin America and Africa, primarily dealing with how to combine nature conservation and manage ...

Introduction to part two

This book presents theoretical discussions and practical examples of Action Research from Scandinavia, Latin America and Africa, primarily dealing with how to combine nature conservation and manage ...