doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Perhap OT, Perhaps not....

This may get a little drawn out for some so in advance I apologize but I've had some time to think on it, and it has to be posted for my sake.

I have been home now for about 48 hours from a hunting trip to Oklahoma in pursuit of the wiley quail. While the results of the hunting trip were not what I had dreamed is was good. We moved enough birds for it to be interesting and had fun. My only companion for the trip was my best hunting partner, Dad. While the days of he and I setting off on an ardent journey at sun up only to return to the truck for lunch or close of shooting time is over the 2 hours we get to spend meandering around behind our setters (he gets tired after a couple hard hours now) is still greatly appreciated by both. What did dissappoint me is the lack of enthusiasm toward upland hunting in general. We stayed in a wonderful little town called Beaver in a quaint little motel. There were a couple of good eating places in town, and anything else you could ask for in a town of 1300. There is 24000 acres of public hunting that is within 2 miles of Beaver. Everything was there sans one thing... The quaint little gun shop or gun rack at the hardware store. The people were friendly but all seemed to ask why we where hunting birds and not deer. Actually they kind of look at us like we were a little silly. Now I know that chasing upland game behind a fine dog (you can fill in the blank here mine just happens to be a setter) doesn't have the swagger of shooting a "book" big game animal but it is my passion and what I grew up doing. With all the "TV hunters" now it seems as though deer hunting rules. The "bird" guns seem to have dried up at smaller shows and those little shops that have some on a dusty old rack seem to be like finding hens teeth.

I can remember going on hunting trips with Dad when I was younger and we would hunt mornings in a strange place, drive around the little towns and stop to oggle the local fair and generally find some of these little shops. Sometimes there was a prize to be had too! Seems like we can't find them anymore. What is to "blame"? The internet has certainly increased availablity to a broader market and has had some influence on price as well.

My biggest fear is that once my Dad is no longer able to go hunting with me that I will be with out a hunting partner. I have tried to introduce people to my sport around here but to no avail. The dwindling bird population in Iowa doesn't help I'm sure... At 28 years of age I fear that I will see the end of my/our sport before I am ready as I don't see many people under 35-40 participating anymore. When I go to gun shows I see younger people but the general audience is for black rifles and handguns. My quite unpopular, I'm sure, opinion on hand guns and black rifles is- Hey you wanna play army man and go out and blow up 2000 rnds of ammo in a couple hours fine, join the service!! This younger generation I belong to doesn't seem to care much for "sport" To me the hunt is not all about the kill, it is a whole expirience that culminates with everything going right at once, A beautiful day, a nice gun, a good hunting partner, and a dog performing at peak level, the icing being a perfect shot followed by a retrieve. When I admire that bird, fold his beautiful plumes and tuck him neatly in my vest, the day and the moment are next to nirvana. I guess you can say it's my addiction. Cap the afternoon of with a pleasent conversation over a fire, and the smell of tobacco, Irish whiskey, and Hoppe's #9 and man I'm there. Sadly though I see this fading away all too quickly. Perhaps partially through the mortality of it all, perhaps because I can't seem to find someone that enjoys it as much as I do. (Even Dad calls me a gun yuppy sometimes) There's always hope for my children, but alas they are very young yet, and I don't know if I will be able to pursuade them to join me in my endevours.

I hope the senseless ramblin' didn't put anyone off too much, I guess that's why I enjoy this board so much we seem to be a like minded community. It's just something I had to get off my chest.

It belongs here Steve and you make a lot of sense. However, you're hitting on a subject that most of us want to avoid or just plain ignore as there is little we can do about it. I learned respect not only for the game and the written law from my Dad and Uncle but also the most important part of hunting...ETHICS.

Something that is quickly disappearing along with the game.

I 100% agree,being 38 myself and seeing the country up here devoid of young hunter's is discourageing to say the least,my kid's do however have an interest ...for now.
When I was younger we would get off school in the afternoon,grab a shotgun and shell's from behind the porch door,walk to/in the corner store with gun and shell's in hand to buy a lunch (coke,chip's & a bar)and the only response would be " what are you fella's goin hunting today ?".....try that today...sad ,sad state of affair's

I couldn't get off the bus fast enough when I was a kid!! By the time I was off the bus and had stuff ready I had one glorious hour everyday to hunt after school walked right through town with a gun and dog. Ahh... those were the days!!

The outlooks is probably worse for upland bird hunters (and maybe waterfowlers too, which pretty much covers everything we hunt with doubles except turkeys) than for other segments of the hunting population. Focus seems to be shifting to deer in many places. Some of that is due to a decreasing availability of game or access to land, but some is also due to a much longer learning curve for the bird hunter. Shooting flying is a challenging skill. Add to that a knowledge of the birds and their habitat . . . and let's not even talk about hunting dogs!

When I was a kid, hunting squirrels and rabbits were the "gateway" activities that preceded becoming a bird hunter. Although numbers of bird hunters have dropped quite a bit, there's been an even steeper decline in the numbers of squirrel and rabbit hunters.

And it's not all related to a shortage of gamebirds. South Dakota has much better pheasant hunting now than they had in the 80's, but there are fewer SD residents hunting pheasants.

On the bright side, there are more kids coming into shotgunning via the scholastic trap and skeet programs. Some of them will certainly take up hunting too.

I suspect that some of it has to do with lack of conditioning of the Hunters these days. Walking up Game is a much more physical activity that sitting in a Deer Stand.

What can we do ? We can take folks Bird Hunting and display ethical hunting behaviors.

Take a youngster small game hunting, and have him assist you in cleaning and preparing the Game.

Now about the types of guns you don't care for. I like all types of Firearms, and the attitudes of FUD Gunners, and the SHTF Gunners can both be counterproductive. So live and let live I say.

Scarcity of birds in areas where they were once abundant is a very large part of the problem, IMO. It's hard to get a new hunter interested in upland hunting when you don't see any game.

Our small clique of hunters has one old guy whose doc won't won't let him go out any more, a couple of moderately old guys with grown kids who used to hunt but are now consumed with career and family, and a couple of middle-age guys with sons in the 4-9 age range. The 4-year old has not been out yet, but is itching to go. The 9-year olds go with us whenever they are not in school (and some times when they should be in school) and they have a ball shooting dirt clods with their .410. We treat them like princes when they are with us, and try to make sure that they are always having fun or learning the ropes, preferably both simultaneously. They function as bird boys and pluckers and are now strong eough to breast out doves without making a big mess. They know we will be eating whatever we kill, and they seem to enjoy the game, especially if served with french fries. It won't be long before they are hunting with us, and before you know it we will be the ones who tire after a couple of hours.

Amen replacement wish there were more stories like yours! Again to all this post was perhaps a bit one sided but I had to state my frustrations...

Steve
First thing, tell your dad to get in shape; more hunters die from heart attacks than anything else. Let me see, you�re 28, I�m 63 and my kids are 30 and 34 so I�m figuring your dad is in his mid-50�s. Now I haven�t hunted in three years, my wife has incurable cancer and it�s just been too hard to leave her for the weekend while I go hunting. If only I still lived in IL I could hunt at some of the half-day state-run put and take operations. Unfortunately, what cost me $35 in IL costs about $500 here in TX. As usual I�m getting distracted (one reason I don�t reload). The thing is, at the ripe old age of 60 I had no problem putting in a full 8am-5pm day of hunting, usually having lunch with my dog in the field, you just have to watch your weight and do a lot of walking off-season. When I lived in IL, nearly every Sunday I�d do a 6-mile walk with my dog through one of those put & take areas. I could enjoy God and nature while my dog flushed birds left over from the hunting season.
You�ll find like-minded people to hunt with, but don�t be put off, not everyone who hunts has your ethics and there will be a lot of people you may not want to hunt with (and vice-versa). For many guys hunting is nothing more than an excuse to get away from the wife and get drunk every night, I�ve hunted with my fair share of them. Usually on a weekend they�re good for a morning hunt on the first day and maybe another late morning hunt the last day. Over the years I�ve found three people I really like to hunt with, one guy and also my best friend, lives in AK and we get together here in the lower 48 (or hunt grouse in AK) every few years. The other two I�d get together with several times a season and often shoot clays with. Anyhow don�t despair; there are still many people who like to hunt upland. Perhaps you could join a local sportsman�s club.
Jeeeez what a rambling post, I�m starting to feel like RWTF!
Steve