Why does the NW goes so horribly down under Targaryens rule?

[UnFit Finlay]

1000% that! He was sent to recruit at court, even, which was just completely idiotic.How many more quality recruits might NW have had if they had sent Benjen Stark or one of the other nobles not named Thorne?

And really, they should have forcibly washed and shaved Yoren or something in any case. Dirt and lice are hardly harmless.

Occasions of notable scions joining - Benjen, Waymar, even Jon should have been turned into recruitment drives. Let them visit around the North and make their pitch - a lot more young men of quality would have been inspired to join.

It has to be said also that Ned had two golden opportunities to send recruits to NW during Robert's Rebellion and Greyjoy Rebellion and fail to take advantage of both.

First point, I don't think Jon would be a particularly good recruiter, at least on the surface. A bastard is still a bastard.

Yoren might not have been the best choice at Court but he was definitely suited for, say, scouring Flea Bottom. I think his appointment as recruiter is more a symptom of the decline of the Night's Watch, rather than a cause of it.

The Night's Watch did get recruits after Robert's Rebellion. I doubt Alliser Thorne and Jaremy Rykker were the only Knights who stayed loyal to Aerys. Ned also wanted Robert to send Jaime to the Wall, which would've been interesting to say the least.

[butterbumps!]

Isn't the decline mainly just function of the Iron Throne (not Targ specific)? Do any other places outside of Winterfell send support to the Watch in terms of resources? If the realm's taxes go to the IT now, and the IT is the central institution charged with allocation, doesn't that answer much of why it declined? That is, the Watch doesn't get the resources from all these kingdoms directly anymore, as that money and power is being funneled toward KL, which simply doesn't appear to allocate much to the Watch.