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Coyote Crusader
PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 10:38 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 13 Mar 2017
Posts: 44
Location: Nacogdoches Texas

https://www.projectupland.com/bird-hunting-articles/bird-hunter-recruitment/?utm_source=GoWild+Users&utm_campaign=4571b0292f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_10_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7b8971214b-4571b0292f-468571817&mc_cid=4571b0292f&mc_eid=462f16287f



Also some good comments on land access at the bottom.

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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:53 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

I was glad to see those comments about access at the bottom, below the article. To add a little more information to this, I recently looked up a national survey from 2012 that surveyed former hunters, those who once hunted but stopped for a variety of reasons. The results echoed what I feared.

Once you take away the respondents that quit hunting due to various physical impairments/ hindrances, over half of the remainder (those still able to hunt) responded that cost and land access caused them to abandon hunting. There is a reason I have never been willing to bribe my way onto hunting land, this is why.

In the eyes of a young perspective hunter, the cost of hunting in many areas is high enough to be impossible. This sounds harsh, but in many areas these kids could probably support a drug habit for less cash than hunting access fees amount to. This is not the future we should be handing them.

I am fortunate to live where I can still take somebody's kid hunting for free. I wish I could say that of everywhere, but I can't. I will continue to do what I can on many fronts. There are kids/teens out there who are interested who unfortunately have no family member to guide them through the myriad of possibilities and responsibilities of hunting. It is up to us to nurture that urge and curiosity to provide them a realistic opportunity to become hunters. I suppose I should add that there are a few adults in this category as well. We can do this.

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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:02 am  Reply with quote



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

Gentlemen,

IMO the very best way to get a youngster interested in Hunting, is by introducing them to hunting with a beautiful talented Gun Dog.

Myself I was just a little boy when it all happened, my GrandFather and Father allowed me to walk with them in the forest, as our beautiful dog preformed her magic of setting a spooky Grouse for gunning. I was taught at an early age about the incredible dance that goes on between a Grouse Dog and a Grouse in it's home habitat. To this day few things I have ever done have equaled this kind of out door excitement.

The very 1st time I watched a Ryman Setter Grouse dog work the woods, find and points a Grouse, I was hooked for life, on one of Gods most mysterious shows. Of course it did help that my Grandfather and Father were incredible Grouse hunters and back woodsmen.

If you would like to get a person hooked on hunting, gift that person, especially little boy, a Ryman Setter Dog. As George Ryman often said, his dogs teach people to Grouse hunt.

I was very lucky to have grown up here in Potter County Pa, born into a family who's way of life was Grouse Hunting and Fly Fishing. I try my best each year to introduce new and different people, into that upland shooting life.

If you want to introduce a person into a hunting life style, 1st introduce that individual to a great/beautiful Ryman Gun Dog. As longs that person takes the Ryman dog to the woods, the beautiful dog's magic will hook that individual into an upland shooting way of life.

Further if you want your children away from the crazies and the drug culture, bring home a beautiful Ryman Setter Gun Dog and introduce your children to the upland shooting life.

Of Course this also leads people to the purchase of good American Classic L.C. Smith, Parker, LeFever and other Double Guns, along with shooting Clays for Grouse hunting practice. Simply a great way of life, in God's Country.

Pine Creek/Dave


Last edited by Pine Creek/Dave on Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:53 am; edited 1 time in total

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AmericanMeet
PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:27 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 26 Apr 2010
Posts: 3172
Location: NCWa

Research has shown there are five stages for hunters: Shooting, Limiting-Out, Trophy, Method, & Sportsman. Considering this, the best way to get someone interested in hunting is to put them in an environment where they get a lot of shooting. In most cases this is going to be target shooting that replicates hunting, such as Trap, Skeet & Sporting Clays; then on to live birds, even if planted.
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duckdup
PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 6:57 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Feb 2018
Posts: 258
Location: West-central Missouri

If you & your buddies talk about the great fun you're having and do so within earshot of a youth, that kid will want in on it. Be sure to tell the kids they aren't allowed until they are much older. There will be no stopping them...

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Gran16
PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:02 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Mar 2016
Posts: 120
Location: South Dakota

I think it all needs to start with small game hunting. Most that are getting into hunting now are starting at the top and then either failing and giving up or having immediate success then have nothing else to work toward and don’t continue on the journey.

I am fortunate enough not to have access issues but it would easier for someone that was starting out to get access to hunt squirrels and such than trying to get permission to hunt deer. Especially here everybody always talks about hating all the squirrels they hear coming though the woods thinking it’s the big one, but nobody bothers to hunt them earlier in the year when nothing else is open. The access will soon be much worse here because of all the small farms going out of business and selling out.

Maybe what I said doesn’t have much to do with upland hunting but I think it would be easier to take someone up the hunting ladder than back down.
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jschultz
PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:47 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 1624
Location: northwewst Wyoming

In my county the state has a wildlife management area where they release pheasants. There is one week end set aside for youth only hunts and the state encourages dog owners to provide trained dogs for the kids to hunt behind. Each kid must have completed hunters safety training and be accompanied by and adult.
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 11:44 am  Reply with quote



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

AmericanMeet,

I do agree with your analysis, however we have a serious problem to over come with the public schools teaching that guns are bad and dangerous to our children.

Back in the early 70's this back door gun control agenda expanded in both the public schools and with the federal government's protected predator bird regulations.

In the 50's and 60's every boy and some girls also, got shotguns and rifles as Christmas presents. Small game hunting was a very big American tradition in the USA at that time. With the new predator bird laws placing them on the no shoot list, small game numbers in our country were devastated. Our children with indoctrination from the liberal school teachers, in our public schools, started to believe that guns were the problem with our society, instead of the law breakers.

I was part of the Charlton Heston NRA Speakers Bureau during the 80's when we helped reverse this indoctrination. We the NRA Speakers Bureau actually taught the 1st Ten Amendments of the US Constitution in public school history classes, as guest speakers. Especially focusing on the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution.

To say we were unwelcome by the liberal public school teachers would be an understatement. We were even threatened. I am probably the last of the original Heston NRA Speakers Bureau still alive, from what i can see Heston's program has unfortunately faded away.

Getting young people involved in sport hunting is more complicated today than ever before. We do have groups like the RGS, Park Cities Quail and Ducks Unlimited that are helping however. Of Course you will not hear anything about these organizations on national TV any longer.

One of the other good educational entities you might consider doing, is purchasing a youngster a subscription to the Shooting Sportsman Magazine, or the RGS. Believe it or not these memberships open many doors to the hunting world that many youngsters never see.

Every year my old Gun Dog Training business introduced at least 10 new young people to our Upland Shooting Life, even though I am retired now from most of the gun dog training, I do not intend to let that introduction to Grouse hunting, great Double Guns and fine Bird Dogs end.

Pine Creek/Dave

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tramroad28
PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:00 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 20 Jul 2011
Posts: 625
Location: Ohio..where ruffed grouse were

Gran16 wrote:
I think it all needs to start with small game hunting.....
.....Maybe what I said doesn’t have much to do with upland hunting but I think it would be easier to take someone up the hunting ladder than back down.


Your comment has everything to do with upland hunting... well noted and said.

There can be degrees of application in each area of the country but the thought is sound.
Access loss....from other hunters.....is a large problem in some areas and boredom or burn-out happens with kids of an true young age too often seen on the tv hunting shows and deer mesage boards of today.

Avain predator rants are a non-starter regarding any meaningful resolution of hunter retention or recruitment, with our schools and teachers facing greater issues than any stab at a connection to a decline in hunting.
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hayseed
PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:05 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 14 Feb 2017
Posts: 401

Pine Creek/Dave, you are dead on. There was no better gift or more excitement than a long wrapped gift for Christmas or a birthday. I can remember taking my deer rifle to school to work on it in shop class. Hunting before and after school meant the firearms were in my vehicle. And we never shot or threatened anyone. In fact, we were good kids that stayed out of trouble by focusing on the outdoors. Of course there was proper parenting and discipline/responsibility back then.

My job gives me the opportunity to speak to school kids on a fairly regular basis. One of the key points I stress to the children are the positive uses and enjoyment. First thing I ask is who thinks guns are bad. I then address this head on. I will say, I have not met with any opposition from the administration, yet.

We have to take every opportunity we can to change the minds of children before the negative in ingrained in them.
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