Garand - a couple of points ...
Since the bulk of our population is urban rather than rural, it follows that the greater number of sports shooters and hunters are urban. Who has the greater disposable income - a rural mill worker or rancher/farmer or the average SUV driving suburbanite?
Moose hunting in my region of BC is by LEH draw. Rarely do I hear of a local getting a draw and the hunters I meet with tags are NFH (Not From Here). They outnumber us so they get more draws.
As for the negative connotation of shooting sports and the gun culture, it has been socially engineered into society for decades. Kids can no longer play 'Cowboys & Indians' (I mean 'Cowboys & First Nations) or roam vacant lots and back alleys with BB guns lest they be taken down at gun point.
Making a 'pistol' out of a piece or pizza or drawing your Daddy defending you from "monsters and bad guys" will result in your kid being suspended, you being arrested, strip searched and your home ransacked. If this venom was directed at ANY other segment of society, it would be deemed a 'hate crime'.
Enjoy your guns while yet you may. In all likelihood, barring an 'Arab Spring'-like revolt, (Canadians? It is to laugh, acquiescence being our true national characteristic) we are among the last Canadians to enjoy the guns we are currently allowed to 'own' by Big Brother and the Thought Police. The list of guns banned, confiscated, restricted grows exponentially, likewise the regulations regarding their use, storage and transport.
The next step will be to proscribe more types of ammo and enact Draconian regulations for the storage of ammunition, powder and components. Find and read a copy of "Unintended Consequences" by John Ross and you'l have a better grasp on the current reality. Copies go for $200+ on the net and they are extremely hard to find in libraries. Fortunately, you can download it as a pdf file.
As a gun owner, you have NO friends in government, the civil service or the various police agencies. Hard fact to accept, but I am willing to be proven wrong in this at any time.