Time and place. Dad started taking me squirrel and rabbit hunting at age 5. Deer were something you read about in magazines at the barber shop. We definitely utilized the game to supplement our diet. We weren't hardscrabble but we were poor, just not quite dirt poor. We didn't have running water in the house until I was about 6 and then it was just a galvanized pipe coming up through the floor with a hose bib and a dishpan underneath. A bathroom didn't come along until I was 7 or 8...and we lived in town, such as a town of 1700 souls can be. Times were still tough in the Ozarks in the 50's and early 60's. Dad worked and at times so did Mom. Much to Dad's work ethic and natural intelligence he died a wealthy man. But that isn't the topic.
As has been mentioned there is a lot of factors that influence ones interest. My oldest son loved hunting and shooting growing up on our farm. He's gotten away from it after 9 years in the Marine Corps and taking a job in a city the last 25 years. To use his words, it isn't as convenient to do as when all you had to do was walk out the back door to access hunting ground and two 500 yard ranges.
Availability and, as others have mentioned, being exposed to hunting, fishing and the outdoors in general surely makes a difference today. And, unlike me and no doubt many of you, kids today don't have half their classmates who live on a farm and hunt and fish like I did. It's a whole lot different world from the one I grew up in.
Last edited by sharps4590; 06/05/26 06:25 PM.
