A workshop at the upcoming 79^th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference will explore the tactics and strategies to effectively recruit and train adult hunters. Titled "Food for Thought: Increasing Return on Investment by Reaching Out to Recruit New Adult Hunters," the session will take place from 1 to 3 pm on Tuesday, March 11^th at the Sheraton Downtown in Denver, Colorado.

Events and programs targeting youth have historically been the staple of hunter recruitment strategies. While participants and mentors alike enjoy these programs, research shows that they are often only marginally successful at producing new license buyers.

In the majority of cases, participants in these programs or efforts are frequently the sons and daughters of hunters, and would likely become hunters with or without these events. If the goal of an agency or organization is to stem the tide of falling hunter numbers by engaging new participants, most current programs provide a low return on investment.

Training adults is the cheapest, fastest, and most effective means of generating a new hunter ? in other words it is the best return on investment. Why? Because adults want to hunt, have the decision-making authority necessary to hunt, have money they are willing to spend on hunting, have their own transportation, and have an active community to support their initial and continued involvement. Perhaps most importantly, active adult hunters are the best-equipped mentors for teaching their own children to hunt.

Adults seeking to live sustainably are emerging as a driving force behind this increased interest in hunting. Hunting provides these individuals local, wild food but most people lack the skills and knowledge to hunt and do not have access to knowledgeable mentors. This represents an untapped source of future engaged conservationists and license buyers connected to each other through food co-ops, slow food organizations, and farmer's markets.

The workshop will focus on why a paradigm shift from youth-focused recruitment and retention programs is important to agencies, non-profit organizations, industry, and the broader conservation community. Attendees will learn how to effectively reach, recruit and train new adult hunters, and workshop presenters will share examples of successful pilot programs that can be expanded and applied for any agency or organization.