Hunters Getting Older

[bluemike807]

thats what happens when f**king hippies have children

You, friend, are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Blame random groups - I can all but picture you hunched over a darkened bar with a cheap beer, muttering that into a smouldering ashtray.

The hunting community has alot of parallels with the church; the bulk of the regular population is older, with different values, and tend to pass hasty and heavy judgement on the new and the young who try to come in. Both groups also represent ideas and standards which are becoming archaic, even to the point of being openly satirized, and which modern day people are increasingly told by media are not worth their time or are in some manner reprehensible.

Both groups represent the same closed cycle of exclusion, inflexibility and mounting desperation. What is happening with the young/new is the equivalent of "Im spiritual but not religious" - meaning they are pursuing alternative methods of expressing their interest; and in many cases having to start from scratch or undertake weird/unsustainable options (allegorically: trespassing, shooting out of season, breaking laws, otherwise screwing up).

Both groups need to pull their heads out of their backsides and embrace flexibility. Change does not mean the abolishment of established values - rather it means the translation of those values to fit modern circumstances. We complain about modern standards slipping, but the only alternative people have are those standards which are too old to apply - this is as much true for hunting as it is many other aspects of our society. It is a part of our heritage and, like it or not, those who have done it in the past - for the most part - are letting it die because they aren't willing to see it taken up and reshaped by a new generation.

 

[CROWCA]

The hardest thing in learning to hunt is getting the place,you go to the work of getting a hunting area I would gladly teach you how to hunt everything.If you can't put the effort into getting a hunting area,why would you think I would give you mine.You can hunt with me if you get the permission were I hunt,I would help you then.

 

[Gatehouse]

I took a coyote seminar Friday past and the instructor, who's with the wildlife, informed us the average age of the typical hunter in Newfoundland is 53 yrs old!!! What the hell is happening to the young un's, are they too engrossed in their Wii's and X-box's to get outdoors and enjoy nature or is it the parents fault? I take my 7 yr old daughter every chance I can, and she seems to like it. If this trend continues, we are likely to be the last generation taking part in the hunting aspect of the outdoors. We have to get the future generation involved or its likely to go the way of the doe-doe bird. Its pretty discouraging, that's for sure. Cheers.

What happened is that hunters started hiding their activities and the younger generations were not exposed to hunting or hunters. Hunters let Hollywood educate people about hunting, so it was mostly a negative education. Kids that wanted outdoor recreation didn't even think of hunting as on the list- and why would they? They had never seen a gun or a hunter but they were inundated with advertising for other stuff like snowboarding and video games.

 

[PeakXV]

Video age, Animal planet / cable TV 'Bug' shows, buddhism, peta, spca esque organizations & their media blitz. Geesuz, we had none of that growing up in the late '60s, early '70s - it wouldn't of mattered to me any because hunting was a family tradition handed down & thus it was an honor/pride/must thing to carry on the torch.

However I'm certain these new wave external influences do take their toll - if not directly on the would be teen/twenty something hunter - then almost certainly through the women folk in their lives. 'You killy bambi you getty no nookie.'

There's also the gun licensing, hunter training courses, habitat issues &,in many cases untimely single parent family situations that can soon make the decision not so worth it ........ again those of us growing up a generation or two ago had little or none of that beeswax to worry about.

 

[davemccarthy707]

In Newfoundland, age restrictions, along with C-68, are playing a major part in turning young people away.

You can't legally hunt, under adult supervision, with a firearm until age 16, and then only for small game. You must be 18 before you can hunt without supervision, and/or hunt big game.

The 'sweet spot' for recruiting new hunters is from age 8-14. Always forced in a tag-along position or restricted to snaring a few rabbits, many kids simply get bored - especially when they have so many other distractions such as the Internet, TV, video games, texting, chat rooms and the opposite ###.

By the late teens, unless they have had parents who made it a point to take them in the field, or come from a background that stresses hunting/fishing as part of their culture/heritage, chasing girls and a part-time job to earn money for a used car has a much higher priority for many.

Our Wildlife Dept. is to blame. They're stuck in the 1970s and are unwilling to change without someone holding a gun to their head.

Just look at how long it took for us to convince them to establish a coyote hunting season or permit Sunday hunting. They still won't permit crossbows.

What I find really funny is the fact that they've let our Woodland Caribou population essentially collapse, despite the warnings of hunters and outfitters for the past 10+ years...yet what do I find in a recent copy of North American Hunter magazine? A full-page colour ad promoting Woodland Caribou hunting in Newfoundland by the same dept. that allowed the population to collapse. Yeah, money well spent, just like the millions the spent 'studying' the caribou 'problem' - while the population continued a steady decline.

There is absolutley no reason why a 10-12 year old could not hunt under adult supervision. Tens of thousands do it every spring and fall in the US and in many mainland provinces without a problem. I fear, however, that by the time our Wildlife Dept. officials pull their heads out of their butts, the majority of those '53 year-olds' will be going to the bathroom in a diaper or in the ground, their kids will be non-hunters and their grandkids will be so far divorced from the land that they'll never give the concept of hunting a moment's consideration.

Those kids who still stick it out, face mountains of paperwork and the lack of available classroom slots to complete the required CFSC. In rural Newfoundland, potential students will often have to travel 50-100km in order to take the course. That is one-way, and will require multiple trips to do the whole course. It is even more difficult to complete the restricted course, as it is only offered in the larger centers such as St. Johns. Add in those costs, plus the cost of the license and the firearm and most kids are priced out of the 'market' without help from their parents.

The course should be free and considered an 'investment' in our youth by the Wildlife Dept. Give it another generation and they'll have to hire professional hunters to reduce moose populations to keep motorists happy.

Awesome post! Right on the money. I have no faith and or respect for the Newfoundland wildlife department. Their limitations on rifles that can be used for hunting coyote is proof of that. Their thinking is archaic and liberal.

-Dave

 

[davemccarthy707]

The hardest thing in learning to hunt is getting the place,you go to the work of getting a hunting area I would gladly teach you how to hunt everything.If you can't put the effort into getting a hunting area,why would you think I would give you mine.You can hunt with me if you get the permission were I hunt,I would help you then.

See, that's not a problem here in Newfoundland. You can hunt EVERYWHERE!
The whole island is crown land once you go outside any communities. In all fairness Newfoundland should be top of the heap for hunting.

 

[pres717]

I have to respectfully disagree , I offer many times to take younger hunters , or tell them I will take them once they get the Hunters Safety course. As well as some of my friends doing the same.

Heck, I even took a friends nephew when he couldn't. I think there are many that would but yes there are many that can't be bothered because it inconveniences them too much.

Also consider that there are a lot of youth that are interested to try hunting but don't have parents who know how. If each hunter introduced one person to hunting each season, I think that would do a lot.

 

[gorky]

Next time you go to the range in the fall when the once a year shooters are sighting in look at the average age, I bet you in alberta it's in the 40's at least.

I have an interesting counterpoint to this. When seeing guys at the rifle range, and talking to them about their rigs, it seems like the guys zeroing for hunting season JUST BEFORE season opens is split between under/over 40 years old. However, months before season opens, I tend to see more younger people at the range and many that say they are practicing for the upcoming season. Maybe our range is different or maybe it is a function of when I use the range, but I do see a lot of younger people using the range.