I'm obviously not Amish.. but you know what I think is the reason?
Electricity.
People getting too damn lazy to get outdoors much anymore. So therefore there is a cultural shift where more people are interested in the internet and video games and TV. REI said the same thing not too long ago... that their biggest competitior - was the same as above, laziness. Hunting and shooting as a sport takes knowledge, and work. It's something you can't do half-you know. Or you won't last that long.
I've played games, I've shot 10,000 rounds of ammo in an arcade game in ten minutes I'm sure. (Do they still have arcades?) And I thought 500 rounds was a lot to reload in a day!!
That is why I love Alaska. Because we still are a culture of subsistence, where people aren't above going out and working to get what they want and need. We don't have only ranges and set areas where you can hunt. It's open. There is lots of state land. There is terrain where nobody can live, so they let anyone who will dare hunt it hunt. Every once in a while... I catch myself referring to the outside as the US, at a difference to Alaska.. because going outside really can be quite a culture shock. It is strange to learn the rules and differences of a people in the same nation... I find the biggest difference between the people not to be how they act... but how they act in the regulation of themselves and the government.
Think of how many times you and I have grouped all politicians together? Your politicians wouldn't last a second in my state, and I'm sure the same my politicians to your state, just because of the difference in the mindset of the people? Hey, at least we have some representation, right?
So it's going to keep changing, whether you and I like it or not. It's hard being part of the minority. So the best thing that we can do is to do what any good business does nowadays.
Invest in our future. Have a strong stance on who we are. Market ourselves for who we are- Sportsman. Smart and hardworking to achieve the elusive.
I guess I can look back at what my old man has up in his garage. It is a drawing of a fly-fisherman, which states:
"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."
Try, keep trying. The moment you stop... all sportsman have lost one in the battle. The less people that do it, the less room they let the rest of us have. We are pretty close to understanding what the native americans felt when they first heard the word "reservation."