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Riflemeister
PostPosted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 12:58 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 27 Jun 2012
Posts: 1111

I run my dogs in some local field trials as a way to give them exposure to another hunting situation. This past weekend they had a big National Upland Classic Series field trial that drew contestant from 8 different states and over 70 dogs entered. I entered my 7 year old GSP just to see how he would do against the "big guns". I knew the local crowd was predominantly gray beards, but we do get a few youngsters occasionally on "Buddy Hunts". On the Upland Classic there was no handler under the age of 30. Talking with one of the oldtimers in the field trial world, he said the Joplin club used to have 80 members, but currently stands at 26.

It looks like we can add field trialing to the outdoor sports that are slowly dying out along with the older generation. I suppose short of kidnapping some teenagers, the only answer is as stated in the earlier posts, we have to sell these sports and our outdoor lifestyle to a generation that lives online and if it doesn't happen on the web, they're not interested. I'm not sure we can win that one.

As a by the way, my 7 year old Bode placed 11th in the trial, but his 5 minute 34 second run for three quail in the bag would have taken second if his handler (me) hadn't had to take two shots at one bird. I'll need to work on that.

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16gaDavis
PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 5:46 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 24 Jun 2013
Posts: 2062
Location: canandaigua - western n.y. (formerly deerhunter)

We've been getting some actual positive PRESS lately ,and this AM , FOX is running snippets on the local TV . They are at our Newark GC , and doing segments on the youth clays team . Last fall they approached us about sponsoring , and right now , they are in the middle of the league . We ended up with the min 5 kids , so if they stick with it , we're G-T-G !! The regs always make it difficult , and of course there is a 65buck entry (plus shooting costs), so we didn't have more kids . We are doing what we can to minimize their costs ... When they approached us last fall , it was to get to the 5 team requirement for the league . The number I heard , there are now 19 , and they are lurking in the woods for many more ! It was kind of funny to watch the reporters . The girl doing the program shot a few birds and actually hit the 4th one . At the studio , a couple non shooters were clenching each other , scared !! The teaching needs to continue to all levels of participants , and programs like this help soo much ..... thanx to FOX Rochester , and Jeremy Newman on 92.5 WBEE for the support that's been so long over due !

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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2017 9:07 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

Gentlemen,
Here in our Potter County, Pa Mountains we still have a lot of youngsters participating in our hunting/shooting sports. In fact pretty much thru out Pa our shooting sports are still pretty big. Unfortunately around the big cities with the anti hunting public school indoctrination, the inner city kids are hardly participating any more. in fact if you want to get elected to anything in Pa, it is wise not to cross the NRA, even the liberal Democrats do not speak against gun sports here, unless they want to get voted out of office.

The sportsman clubs and the NRA are big here in Pa and Upland Bird Hunting is still a big time sport for youngsters, here in Pa. Unfortunately unemployment is much greater here than actually being reported by the liberal news media, this hurts our shooting sports, especially traveling to hunt. Pa has the highest gas taxes in the country, thank to our Pa liberal/progressive Governor.

Here in our Potter/Tioga mountains Grouse and Woodcock hunting is a big time sport, along with Deer, Bear and Turkey hunting. Pheasant hunting is pretty much put and take, however the Pheasant youth program is really going strong, with lots of kids participating and many Pheasants taken.

It really all depends on where you live as to the shooting sport participation. However with the passing of the WWII and Viet Nam Baby Boomer generations, the numbers of our sport hunting population is decreasing, simply because of the actual over all population decrease. Modern ladies are not having the number of children that the WWII and Viet Nam ladies had, a very unfortunate situation for not just our shooting sports, but for every aspect of our American culture.

Pine Creek/Dave

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