Killing the future of hunting.

[Clay Hayes]

#4409

I recently walked into my office and noticed a copy of a magazine sitting on my desk. It was put out by the International Hunters Education Association and it didn’t take long to figure out why it was sitting where it was. I was a little aghast at what I found inside – so much so that I felt compelled to write a letter, something I never do.

Are we killing the Future of Hunting?

[David Fudala]

#30467

Wow Clay! You could not have been more right with that one! The worst part is, this is actually having an affect on new hunters! There is a significant “Generational Skills Gap” that you can see in people you meet afield. Those of us who still try to hone our woodsmanship every chance we get and those who only challenge themselves by finding a gadget to get around every obstacle they meet! This phenomenon is dummying down the I.Q. of sportsmen. They no longer think for themselves. I was channel surfing in my hotel room last night and I couldn’t help but stop on the outhouse channel. Honestly, there was NOTHING else on. I only lasted for a few minutes before I had to turn it off, I was already angry! These two “Bow Pro’s” were checking their trail cams. Now here’s the ignorance of their “Scouting”… These two knuckleheads drove their pick up truck right up to their trail camera and as they were checking all the NIGHT TIME pics of the monster, whopper bucks, obviously eating something right in front of the camera, THEY WERE WHISPERING!!!!!

That was it for me! Time to check the home shopping network! The biggest fear I have when I see this type of mentality is, with the constantly growing dependence on super-technology to be sucessful in the field comes an ever growing separation FROM the field itself! Every gadget out there has it’s natural counterpart, I think a great challenge for young hunters would be to ask them what gadgets they believe are necessary to hunt with and then have them figure out what they would use if they didn’t have them? Nature is the greatest classroom ever conceived. It’s a shame thaat for now, the teachers don’t seem to be encouraging studying!

[jpc]

#30769

Hi, You wrote Perhaps I’m just old fashioned

Not at all, but you and I and many others are

faced with the infernal machine

How does this machine?

You put lies on one side there will always be an idiot to recover what comes out the other side

Those who know how to keep feet on the ground and maintain true values ??are increasingly rare

But for those happiness is the ultimate

For them to share these values ??with younger or more weak

[paleoman]

#30826

Thanks Clay for bringing the piece to light. Much like taking a Space Walk, you have to “suit up” and really be conscious of how to protect yourself from the void of consumerism.

[Col Mike]

#30851

Clay :D. Please let us know if you get a response:roll:

Mike

[Clay Hayes]

#30909

No response as of yet, but I’ll be sure to post it if they do respond. And thanks to all who’ve shared it via social media, e-mail or other. It’s going far. Apparently there’s a lot of folks out there that are fed up with this sort of thing.

[Fallguy]

#30948

The NBEF (National Bowhunter Education Foundation) last year certified a online course with no field day for their class. They are thee accepted course for all 50 states and Canada plus other countries around the world. Our archery club used to put on 2 classes a year and get 45 to 50 students per class now I have the only classroom style class listed in the state of Minnesota. I have 10 students signed up and it is less than 2 weeks before the class.

Everything is being geared toward getting it done faster and easier. There is no pride or bragging on how much effort it took to be successful. This may be our last class at the club. It is hard to bring in 6-8 instructors for a 8 hour class when you have less than 10 student. I did the class for 24 years so far I guess I can take Solis in the fact I tried to keep the tradition alive.

[Stephen Graf]

#31349

It’s not a new problem. I guess I am getting numb to it as I don’t get worked up about it anymore. Each new instance just pecks at the joy of life a little bit.

And the answer to it is the same as the answer to most problems – money.

If the IBEF got it’s money from the Pittman-Robertson fund, and didn’t need to depend on corporate generosity, it might go differently.

If BHA (or another organization) took the lead and found a funding source for the IBEF and applied pressure to make them change, maybe it would help.

I know that Pittman-Robertson funds are used to pay for CWD testing of wild cervids around deer farms here in NC. Yet another example of private wealth and public risk. Wouldn’t it be great if it could be used to actually help get commercialism out of hunting?

[Charles Ek]

#31401

I am frequently quite discouraged at the direction things are headed with regard to humans’ understanding of our place IN the natural world, not above it or simply alongside it. I found some encouragement yesterday, however, when a compound-shooting friend came over to shoot my trad bows. He had a lot of fun and a convert was made. Now, his own dissatsfaction with the direction of bowhunting (and hunting in general) had a lot to do with his coming over; I just added some kindling to the tinder that was already lit.

I believe the cure for what ails bowhunting lies in two approaches, both of which I’m going to do something about:

1. Introducing adult acquaintances to the unique pleasures of shooting trad bows. If a hunter commits to using this tackle, a change in mindset and relationship to the natural world is almost inevitable, IMO.

2. Find a way to do the same with kids. Bend that twig at an early age.

[FarHunter]

#31423

I’m new but I feel the urge to chime in and say that the point you made is incredibly important.

A little story time to start. While I am new to archery I tried to start hunting and fishing 6 years ago as an escape from the great doom that befell my marriage. I was one of those guys. New truck, 250k house, video games, no experience. I ended up falling in with a straight up mountain boy who showed me a few things.

Modern rifle season killed any want to join that circus. Dove into fly fishing and chasing ducks and pheasants with a boomstick.

In fly fishing I was first attracted to traditional steelhead and spey flies. Got some, tied some and hooked my first steelhead. Then I met a guy that fished a different way and killed it. Big streamer and 2 nymphs. Not the beauty I was looking for but I got caught up and in the end was rolling beads for steelhead. This was not what I wanted out of it. So I went back to where I started. Soft hackles for trout, spey flies and traditionals for steelhead. I’m the guy on the river with a wood drift boat and old school flies now. Love it!

So when I crossed the line from the fly side to the archery side at our local shop it was with a firm idea of what I wanted out of it. So after the shopkeep was done laughing maniacally and asking for quotes on the worth of my soul I told him I wanted a wood bow, I wanted to shoot wood arrows. I want to hunt in a way I find exciting. I plan to play the ground game. No tree stands, game cameras, scent blockers. Basically all the stuff plastered over the big magazine and outdoor channel. I’m going to study up on the books and other material and shoot, shoot, shoot until the season starts.

And then more than likely I am going to fall flat on my face. Hopefully not literally, that hurts. It’s the same idea behind steelheading. You can prepare all you want, it happens when it happens. But I will learn, and next year I’ll come back for more. But it will be the way I want to do it. It’s my solo nature that will probably have me doing this alone. No one wants to take the time to do that anymore. Don’t get me started on ATV’s, I left the NRA over that.

I think you make a great point and I hope it spreads.

[drew4fur]

#31546

Steve Graf wrote: It’s not a new problem. I guess I am getting numb to it as I don’t get worked up about it anymore. Each new instance just pecks at the joy of life a little bit.

Not only do I often parrot what Graf has said, Aldo Leopold recognized it decades ago

“Then came the gadgeteer, otherwise known as the sporting-goods dealer. He has draped the American outdoors man with an infinity of contraptions, all offered as aids to self-reliance, hardihood, woodcraft, or marksmanship, but too often functioning as substitutes for them. Gadgets fill the pockets, they dangle from neck and belt. The overflow fills the auto-trunk, and also the trailer. Each item of outdoor equipment grows lighter and often better, but the aggregate poundage becomes tonnage.”

Aldo Leopold

A Sand County Almanac

[Stephen Graf]

#34779

eidsvolling wrote: …I believe the cure for what ails bowhunting lies in two approaches, both of which I’m going to do something about:

1. Introducing adult acquaintances to the unique pleasures of shooting trad bows. If a hunter commits to using this tackle, a change in mindset and relationship to the natural world is almost inevitable, IMO.

2. Find a way to do the same with kids. Bend that twig at an early age.

Bravo! And I might add to the list to give them a copy of A Sand County Almanac too. That’s the first piece of “equipment” I give to people I have tutored in the great sport of traditional bowhunting.

[Charles Ek]

#40345

Warning: Brag ahead

[brag]

Bagged a big one in the past week. A guy I know who has shot a compound for the last several years, with an enormous circle of hunting acquaintances and very considerable influence on policy matters, came over a few days ago to shoot my bows and mull the idea of going trad. I handed him a rubber ball first and told him to hit my hanging stall mat. From there he progressed through my selfbow, Kodiak De Luxe, Kodiak Magnum, Morrison Dakota and Paxton Talon Swift, all without the “benefit” of anything smaller than the mat to shoot at. We discussed the importance of not overbowing himself. I was nudging him toward the mid and upper 40s.

Early this morning he sent photos from shooting his new-to-him ’70s Kodiak Magnum, 48#. We found it yesterday at a very reasonable price and excellent condition. When he held the grip for the first time and flung some arrows in the retailer’s testing booth, his smile told me the bow was sold.

[/brag]

[Mark Turton]

#41010

Well done Sir, brag away:lol:

[Author]

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