It looks like a wave of anti-hunting propaganda (AHP for short) has a delayed effect, hitting hardest about 20 years since it was launched. Yet, after a while, it stops being "news", and is bring gradually dropped.
As it happens, however, a curious counter-effect takes place. Before AHP, hunting was percieved by the public as norm, during AHP non-hunting is perceived as something new and juicing, a sort of revolutionary thinking, a fashion, attractive for the newness sake alone.
After AHP, when passions have settled, non-hunting is the norm in the general public's eye. This, however, makes hunting attractive again, hunting means defying the norm, just as non-hunting used to be. As a result, there are grounds for another rise in interest towards hunting.
I say "grounds" because I believe a surge to hunt is a genetic thing, it might be enhanced or suppressed by social/cultural beliefs (myths perhaps is a better word), but initially you either have it or haven't. And if it's inside, it will find its way out, sooner or later.
Here's an example. When I was starting to hunt, about 1990, I didn't know anyone my age that hunted. Even kids from families with longtime hunting traditions were mostly interested in the miraculous new entertainments like VCRs. This possibly resulted from the AHP wave, which started in the early 70s, and was possibly worse tan in the rest of the world, because it was the governments's policy, and with zero free press the pro-hunting groups hadn't a chance to voice their opinion.
At that time it looked like hunting would be dead in a decade or so. But the decade passed, and we witnessed a resurgence of interest towards hunting. Each year more and more kids and middle-aged guys are saying "I'm not sure I'm gonna like hunting, but I sure wanna try!". At least, that's what I see. And, anti-hunting bits have long since made the national news. But a very positive coverage of President Putin's hunting trip just did.
I hope that the ill-structered and incoherent text above will serve as proof that hunting will come pon top again, some day.
