Apparently, less and less Americans are going hunting. This is a problem we need to fix.
A hunter and his trusty dog (photo via Double P Ranch) According to Marketplace.org, less young people are taking up the skill and craft of hunting, even though many current hunters want to pass on this tradition.
An experienced turkey hunter named Leith Konyndyk from Tennessee is still serious about getting up at the crack of dawn with a call in one hand and a gun in the other. His hunting belt is full of tools and thingamajigs that are meant to attract turkeys.
“Hunting and trapping is why we’re here,” he said. “If it wasn’t for beaver skin hats that people wanted in Europe, we wouldn’t have spread westward, and the Hudson Bay and Northwest Companies wouldn’t have ever established trapping posts.”
Some of the Duck Dynasty fellas wearing their hunting getup – they sure know the importance of the craft (photo via Wide Open Spaces)
And he knows how this country was basically founded on hunting.
“[Hunting] had a lot to do with our foundation of who we are today, and I think that’s what we’re trying to pass on,” he said.
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife data, the number of hunters is down to 15 million from 17 million in the 1980s, despite our country growing by nearly 100 million people.
One thing that makes it more difficult for people to get into hunting is not knowing someone with hunting land.
“Maybe people don’t have the opportunity they used to have to access and hunt those pieces of property,” Konyndyk said.
This is where hunters have to step up and encourage the younger generations to get into hunting. We have to unite around one common goal — share our love of hunting so the tradition doesn’t die off!
Hunters unite!
Check out this video of Jase and Uncle Si Robertson hunting turkeys:
