I enjoyed that! Thank you for the link. Wild Goose Barbacoa Taco's are now on my foodie list of things I must try.

PML

Interesting! Before I retired, I developed and taught an interdisciplinary course on "Hunting in America." It became a part of wide choice of courses that satisfied a University requirement, so the class was always filled with students who hunted, did not hunt, and a few who were anti-hunting.

Man, did I learn a great deal from teaching that course for several years, much of what I learned frightened me for the future of hunting. Some takeaways from teaching the course that are salient to this thread (by the way, we read Rinella's American Buffalo among other readings, and I communicated with Rinella in selecting his book and developing the course):

- If we want to perpetuate hunting, make sure women -- specifically moms -- are recruited into the ranks. So many students could not hunt or have guns in their homes because "Mom" would not permit it. The young women in the course were there significantly because they wanted more control over the origins and quality of the food they ate. If Mom is a hunter, kids will very likely hunt or have a good opinion of it.

- Understand that the word "trophy" has very (very!) bad connotations for non-hunters. They believe that a trophy hunter just cuts off the head and leaves the rest. Scary, but true. Also, they don't know the difference between the Conservation Dept. and the Humane Society of the U.S.

- We all need to work to understand the origin of the concept of "sport" hunting. This concept developed early in American history as leading figures (writers like Frank Forester) began to distinguish between market and subsistence hunting and hunting with ethical rules (like other sports) to be followed. It had nothing to do with viewing killing as a game, but rather was about rules of conduct and ethical behavior.

- Be a good ambassador for hunting and take a non-hunter (preferably a young person) on a hunt. We had a "hunting requirement" in the class. No, students did not have to use a gun (although many wanted to shoot, having never even held a firearm before) or kill anything, and many things qualified as hunting, including students following my dogs and me around on a local WMA, or, after reading Aldo Leopold's writings on the woodcock "Sky Dance," accompanying me to see and hear woodcock on their penning grounds. We also helped the local Conservation Dept. personnel with their fall quail counts. It was an eye opening experience for students -- literally and figuratively -- to get out into the fields in the dark before sunrise to hear covey calls.

- Understand that everyone is watching you as a representative of hunting. How you act matters.

Hi Once again Garry, you have very eloquently presented the case for hunting and ethics, and for teaching those things, that we all need to espouse if we are to pass these passions and traditions on to future generations.





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Well said Garry.

The good news is I hear women are the fastest growing segment of the shooting sports crowd. I have observed that to be the case as well

Mills, I also see the growth in women hunters and shooters, too, and I hope it bodes well for the future of our sports. I have no children, but I worry for younger folks, like your son, if so much of the future voting populace has moved too far away from all of our roots (and rest assured, as I'm sure you know, we all have roots in both hunting and guns).

It's why seeing your family hunting/outing pictures is so encouraging to me.

Thank you Garry.

When I was growing up, the men hunted and the women (for the most part) complained, griped and made fun of the men for hunting. That has changed much for the better. Now, a lot more women hunt and even the ones who don't seem to be more accepting of it. The dove hunt we go to every year is truly a family affair

My Mom would most times go with my Dad, more often than not, after squirrels. When I got married, Elaine would go with me on occasion. When I got bird dogs, she decided she would go along every time they did so that she could look out for them (yea, I think she likes the dogs better than she does me, but, hey, I get the world's greatest "kennel boy" to go with me). I like to tell folks that when we go hunting (Elaine does not shoot) I am always the best shot out there(...and the worst...). Elaine is the best hunting buddy I have ever had.

Great article. The times are a changing and we must change with them. If millennials hunt for different reasons than we do, that's ok. The important thing is, they go hunt. My wife does not hunt but is very much of the same mind in terms of controlling your food source and processing things yourself. She comes to a pro-hunting position sort of from the left, and that is just fine. I love to hunt and she is happy when I come home with birds for dinner. Speaking of, I have chukkars and pheasant to process tonight. This is a good development.