King: Those vast tracts of wild land are the beneficiaries of inaccessibility.

There was a time when I could get from my suburban home to do some plinking in 15 minutes - a duck blind on the Minnesota River in 20 minutes - good pheasant hunting in 45 minutes - good grouse cover in 45 minutes. No longer.

In three decades, urban sprawl has tripled the travel times for Twin Cities hunters. Land closures are multiplying, and so are the prices per gun for hunting pheasants in the Dakotas. Game farms and shooting 'preserves' are popping up everywhere, and the price of shooting poultry is going up fast.

Plinking has all but disappeared from the lexicon of urban youth (unless they're shooting at each other - but that's a different story).

Population pressure pushes out from the centers; I'm sure hunters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are having the same experiences. Friends in small towns have the same complaints, just on a closer level. City hunters are crowding once-remote coverts, and quiet sanctuaries once reached only by long foot-slogs are now overrun by 'sports' astride their roaring ATVs.

The percentage of hunters in the US population is dwindling. And the demographics are working against us. Forty years ago, my regular hunting partners were a doctor, a bricklayer, a major general, a machinist and a construction worker. Hunting was affordable for everyone, and everyone supported hunting. But it is becoming a costly game, and as the price tag goes up snobbery and elitism creep in. Men used to talk mostly about hunting, now they talk mostly about owning. Many seem to spend more time in catalogues than in the field.

I've been fortunate to have seen better times, fortunate still to have the time and money to enjoy what's left today. And I encourage everyone to get out there and make the most of your opportunities - you may not see them again!

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