Mentored youth hunts are an important tool to boost waterfowler numbers in Canada.

Delta Waterfowl president Rob Olson vividly remembers the day he realized Canada's waterfowl hunting heritage was in trouble.

"We were having a meeting to look at declines in scaup and pintail numbers, and a press release happened to come across the fax machine," he recalled. The information, sent by the Canadian Wildlife Service, detailed a steep decline in the number of waterfowl hunters.

"We were aware of a decline in hunter numbers, but it hit us like a ton of bricks," Olson said. "We had lost 75 percent of our duck hunters."

In 1978, CWS sold 505,681 waterfowl hunting permits to Canadians. By 1984, the number had fallen back to about 350,000, similar to late 1960s levels. But then, the number of Canadian duck and goose hunters tumbled steadily, slumping all the way to 136,000 in 2005.

Searching for Answers
Unlike hunters in some areas of the United States, Canada's waterfowlers have an abundance of excellent opportunities to hunt ducks and geese.

"In Canada, we live at the source," Olson said. "There's no lack of birds. The decreasing number of hunters has never been linked to a lack of birds. In America, hunters seem to be limited by access. Canadian hunters have good access."

So why then, have so many Canadians given up the sport?

More complex hunting regulations, lower bag limits and gun control certainly deterred some Canadian waterfowlers. Increased costs of licenses and hunting supplies might have weeded out a few more.

Another possible cause is a shift in hunting tastes -- in the field and at the table.

"Some people have said the family just didn't want to eat ducks and geese anymore," Olson said, pointing out that big-game hunter numbers have remained relative stable in Canada. "Some people prefer venison."

But the overriding reason for the decline in waterfowl hunters might have been peer pressure.

"I think it's a lack of social acceptance of hunting," Olson said. "We are becoming more urbanized, and when you move to the city, there's a disconnect."

Regardless of the causes, as the Baby Boomer generation aged, the number of waterfowl hunters in Canada sagged.

According to the CWS, more than 78,000 Canadian males age 15 to 24 bought waterfowl permits in 1986. By 1996, only 35,700 males of the same age purchased a waterfowl permit.