How can we make hunting more popular among young people?
11-26-2013, 05:59 AM
#11
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 68
I think it has a lot to do with how society portrays animals these days. 100 years ago, people were still depending on the land for food. These days, we've taken the realism out of our food. We don't even have to look it in the eye anymore. We just pick it up prewrapped and cook it.
Coyotes and wolves and cute little rabbits are thrown out at young people as adorable pets and companions and kids grow up thinking this because they are from non-hunting families who have never encountered the animal other than a Nat Geo program. They then grow up and learn people actually kill these things, and its a shock to them.
I also think a huge part of it are animals who have been hunted to the brink of extinction. They have been brought back through campaigns and a lot of effort, and here we are killing them again. It doesn't make sense to someone who doesn't (or doesn't want) to realize that when the animal numbers return (ie: wolves) they then have to be controlled for other species to thrive too.
The country is almost a dieing place to live. I grew up in the country where a McDonalds was about 30/45 minutes away. Now its 15 minutes away, and the suburbs are still expanding. The growing suburbs means less land to explore, less land to hunt, and the introduction of "new" people who find hunting unecessary and cruel.
Other than exposing a child to the positive uses of hunting by someone who is an enthusiastic and ethical hunter, I don't
know if theres anything else we can do.
ETA: Also, tv shows on people cuddling lions, wolves, wolverines, etc don't help in the least.
Coyotes and wolves and cute little rabbits are thrown out at young people as adorable pets and companions and kids grow up thinking this because they are from non-hunting families who have never encountered the animal other than a Nat Geo program. They then grow up and learn people actually kill these things, and its a shock to them.
I also think a huge part of it are animals who have been hunted to the brink of extinction. They have been brought back through campaigns and a lot of effort, and here we are killing them again. It doesn't make sense to someone who doesn't (or doesn't want) to realize that when the animal numbers return (ie: wolves) they then have to be controlled for other species to thrive too.
The country is almost a dieing place to live. I grew up in the country where a McDonalds was about 30/45 minutes away. Now its 15 minutes away, and the suburbs are still expanding. The growing suburbs means less land to explore, less land to hunt, and the introduction of "new" people who find hunting unecessary and cruel.
Other than exposing a child to the positive uses of hunting by someone who is an enthusiastic and ethical hunter, I don't
know if theres anything else we can do.
ETA: Also, tv shows on people cuddling lions, wolves, wolverines, etc don't help in the least.
11-26-2013, 06:03 AM
#12
Fork Horn
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: maryland
Posts: 120
I got 3 kids all 3 love to hunt got 2 boys one of which will hunt in -10 to 100° he doesn't care about the whether the other is younger and doesn't like the cold days. He will go but can't take it long. My view on it is there has to be someone who shows them ropes. Father grandfather relitive. The only way I could see a help would be to move youth season to a warmer time of year for the kids. This year wasn't to bad sit out all day sat and son was sick Sunday. So half day it was Sunday. Youth day in Sept or October would be better I believe.
11-26-2013, 08:18 AM
#13
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,359
I'm probably in the minority but I don't like what the whole thing has become. Pay a couple grand, get dropped off at a stand, shoot deer when they walk by,have them throw it in the back of your truck, drive it down the road and pay somebody else to get it out of your truck and give you a call when they have turned it into food ....just not the way its supposed to happen IMO. Might as well just go to the grocery store and buy some food then go down to the sporting goods store and pick yourself up a nice trophy
I have an unpopular opinion on this topic usually. I also don't agree with teaching a kid its supposed to be easy. I totally disagree with that philosophy. Hunting is cold, it test your patients, it test your skill,it test your desire.
The feeling at the end is supposed to be a proud sense of accomplishment, the payoff for hard work IMO not just a cheap thrill from killing.
The harder it is the better the reward not the other way around. How can you teach a kid how to hunt by taking the hunt out of hunting?
I have an unpopular opinion on this topic usually. I also don't agree with teaching a kid its supposed to be easy. I totally disagree with that philosophy. Hunting is cold, it test your patients, it test your skill,it test your desire.
The feeling at the end is supposed to be a proud sense of accomplishment, the payoff for hard work IMO not just a cheap thrill from killing.
The harder it is the better the reward not the other way around. How can you teach a kid how to hunt by taking the hunt out of hunting?
Last edited by rockport; 11-26-2013 at 08:51 AM.
11-26-2013, 08:21 AM
#14
Fork Horn
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Staten Island, NY
Posts: 361
I have two girls an I fully intend to get both of them afield starting next year with my older one. I'm a straight up city boy, can't deny it, but I've been hunting every single year except for one since I was 4 years old. All through high school, even while playing sports, hunting with my dad came first. In the Army, I scheduled leave for hunting even though that meant not making a single holiday home in 4 years. I only missed one year due to the "occupation" of Kosovo in 1999.
I wouldn't miss a hunt with my father for the world. We have differences in life on many topics, but our time hunting is irreplaceable and sacred. One of my major parenting goals is to instill the same in my daughters, hopefully while crazy grandpa as they call him is still trudging around the woods with me.
So basically, that's how we ensure hunting is popular with new generations: we get out there with them and show them why we love it so much while hopefully instilling a proud tradition of family bonding which can never be broken.
I wouldn't miss a hunt with my father for the world. We have differences in life on many topics, but our time hunting is irreplaceable and sacred. One of my major parenting goals is to instill the same in my daughters, hopefully while crazy grandpa as they call him is still trudging around the woods with me.
So basically, that's how we ensure hunting is popular with new generations: we get out there with them and show them why we love it so much while hopefully instilling a proud tradition of family bonding which can never be broken.
11-26-2013, 08:49 AM
#15
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,359
I think it has a lot to do with how society portrays animals these days. 100 years ago, people were still depending on the land for food. These days, we've taken the realism out of our food. We don't even have to look it in the eye anymore. We just pick it up prewrapped and cook it.
Coyotes and wolves and cute little rabbits are thrown out at young people as adorable pets and companions and kids grow up thinking this because they are from non-hunting families who have never encountered the animal other than a Nat Geo program. They then grow up and learn people actually kill these things, and its a shock to them.
I also think a huge part of it are animals who have been hunted to the brink of extinction. They have been brought back through campaigns and a lot of effort, and here we are killing them again. It doesn't make sense to someone who doesn't (or doesn't want) to realize that when the animal numbers return (ie: wolves) they then have to be controlled for other species to thrive too.
The country is almost a dieing place to live. I grew up in the country where a McDonalds was about 30/45 minutes away. Now its 15 minutes away, and the suburbs are still expanding. The growing suburbs means less land to explore, less land to hunt, and the introduction of "new" people who find hunting unecessary and cruel.
Other than exposing a child to the positive uses of hunting by someone who is an enthusiastic and ethical hunter, I don't
know if theres anything else we can do.
ETA: Also, tv shows on people cuddling lions, wolves, wolverines, etc don't help in the least.
Coyotes and wolves and cute little rabbits are thrown out at young people as adorable pets and companions and kids grow up thinking this because they are from non-hunting families who have never encountered the animal other than a Nat Geo program. They then grow up and learn people actually kill these things, and its a shock to them.
I also think a huge part of it are animals who have been hunted to the brink of extinction. They have been brought back through campaigns and a lot of effort, and here we are killing them again. It doesn't make sense to someone who doesn't (or doesn't want) to realize that when the animal numbers return (ie: wolves) they then have to be controlled for other species to thrive too.
The country is almost a dieing place to live. I grew up in the country where a McDonalds was about 30/45 minutes away. Now its 15 minutes away, and the suburbs are still expanding. The growing suburbs means less land to explore, less land to hunt, and the introduction of "new" people who find hunting unecessary and cruel.
Other than exposing a child to the positive uses of hunting by someone who is an enthusiastic and ethical hunter, I don't
know if theres anything else we can do.
ETA: Also, tv shows on people cuddling lions, wolves, wolverines, etc don't help in the least.
But the anti's don't see it that way.
11-26-2013, 11:11 AM
#19
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Stitzer, Wisconsin
Posts: 201
I believe hunting will never be as popular as it used to be. In my younger years most boys hunted because it was a family tradition passed down from fathers and grandfathers.
As the older generation dies off and kids become more and more infatuated with high tech fun instead of a good time afield with the old man the traditions fade away. Not to mention the anti hunting propaganda today's kids are fed in government schools.
Blessed are those families that keep the traditions alive and take the time to talk to their kids about what is real and what is BS fed to them by teachers.
As the older generation dies off and kids become more and more infatuated with high tech fun instead of a good time afield with the old man the traditions fade away. Not to mention the anti hunting propaganda today's kids are fed in government schools.
Blessed are those families that keep the traditions alive and take the time to talk to their kids about what is real and what is BS fed to them by teachers.
As a hunter and a teacher, I take mild offense to this. However, your point may be well taken in urban areas. I can't make the claim that teachers give students false information and preach about the brutality of hunting in a disturbing way. I teach in a rural district where most of the male teachers hunt and many of the female teachers do or have been around it their whole lives. Hunting is a way of life in this community and that is what most of the kids talked about on Monday when they got to school this week. Teaching kids that hunting is wrong doesn't typically fit into the schools curriculum in any way, shape or form. Perhaps you have personal experience with this being the case, but I certainly do not. I am sure there are thousands of members on this site that are teachers and hunters. It is our job to maintain a neutrality and not try to persuade a student one way or the other and let them form their own opinions. In contrast, the piece I watched on GMA the other day about the woman, her name slips my mind, hunting for the Winchester television show has certainly put a negative spin on hunters. It upset me to see one person singled out, posing with their trophy, when it is every host of a hunting show doing the same. Why is she any worse or any better than another. It seems that her joy and lifestyle has just made a U-turn because media got a hold of something and ran with it. Media can create an opinion for the uninformed person in seconds and that opinion can spread like wildfire. Even the journalist following the segment said "That is just tough to watch." referring to a picture of her posing with a male lion that she had just taken. I wonder what he would say if he watched what happened to his hamburger while it was still walking around. Now that is tough to watch!
Last edited by earnabuck; 11-26-2013 at 11:13 AM. Reason: grammar
11-26-2013, 11:28 AM
#20
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,358
It's not video games, it's not distractions, it's opportunity. Hunter numbers are dropping, primarily due to a combination of cost and harder to find places to hunt that aren't over crowded. I've been hunting since I was in 8th grade. My dad didn't hunt, well he did growing up, but never in my lifetime. I asked him to take me, he did.
I have two boys, both hunt, my wife hunts. Both boys interest levels changed as they grew. When young, both were dieing to hunt. High School, other things take over, sports, girls, friends, social life. Takes away from hunting time.
One is now out of college, the other a senior, they are both hunting again. Both LOVED duck hunting over deer hunting. I did to with them. we could sit in the duck blink and chat, joke around etc and watch for ducks. Deer hunting is MUCH different, you have to stay quiet etc.
Some early success helps as well.
Simple math: hunter numbers dropping. Number of kids who are exposed drops.
I have two boys, both hunt, my wife hunts. Both boys interest levels changed as they grew. When young, both were dieing to hunt. High School, other things take over, sports, girls, friends, social life. Takes away from hunting time.
One is now out of college, the other a senior, they are both hunting again. Both LOVED duck hunting over deer hunting. I did to with them. we could sit in the duck blink and chat, joke around etc and watch for ducks. Deer hunting is MUCH different, you have to stay quiet etc.
Some early success helps as well.
Simple math: hunter numbers dropping. Number of kids who are exposed drops.