By: Bob Hendricks
It has been said more times than I can count that the future of the shooting and hunting sports lies with our youth. Truer words have never been spoken. The future of the shooting sports is the legacy that we pass down to the next generation of shooting sportsmen.
Equally as important is recruiting women into the shooting sports. It is a fact that many of today’s young people are being raised in one parent homes and many times the one parent is a woman. While I see more and more women in the shooting sports I also see a huge need for more women to get involved in shooting. Not only can the introduction of a new women shooter benefit the sport as a whole but also it is an avenue for the introduction of the shooting sports to our youth who otherwise have no exposure to shooting.
There is a wealth of misinformation today to turn youngsters and women alike against the sport of shooting and hunting. Propaganda from the anti hunter elements infiltrate the prospective shooter’s life from an early age. Rarely is the pro shooting and hunting side presented in equal amounts of time and material. It is up to us to inform and involve prospective shooters to our sport.
One way is to encourage your local gun club or rifle range to hold a program of introduction to the shooting sports. Send out advertising invitations to attend an informative program where experienced shooters and good communicators can introduce these prospective shooters to the shooting sports. Let the prospective shooters see what is involved in the sport of shooting and the skills that are developed. Let the prospective shooter learn first hand how much fun shooting can be by supplying ear plugs and throw away shooting glasses and under strict supervision let them shoot a couple of rounds from a .22 rifle at a target. This gives the experience a whole new dimension to the person that is not sure about whether shooting is for them or not.
Present hunting in its natural positive light and hold a wild game dinner where the outside public is invited to attend. Label the array of game dishes and let the prospective hunter know that hunting involves usage of the game hunted by seeing the game served first hand. Hold an informative program to educate those in attendance to the positive sides of hunting in controlling animal numbers, as well as providing meat for the table. Of course it would be wrong to deny that sport hunting is downright enjoyable and don’t hang your head in shame when defending your sport.
Gross pictures of bloodied game animals with their tongue hanging out are of course discouraged in introducing prospective hunters to the sport on the other hand we must not deny that killing the animal is an essential part of the hunt and that while we take the animal’s life we do it with respect and humanely never wasting the animal for the sake of killing.
If you are in a position to do so take a prospective hunter with you on your next hunt. Small game and upland bird hunts are all great introductions to the prospective hunter to the sport. Seeing the dogs work and the skills needed to down a ringneck pheasant is a great hunt for future hunters.
Fall squirrel hunts can be an exciting introduction to hunting for the novice with a very real possibility of harvesting game should they be inclined to hunt. Just observing these types of hunts can spark that first interest into hunting. Be sure to allow them to partake of the meat of the harvest so that they can know firsthand the enjoyment and reward of the hunt and that the game animal is not wasted. Be prepared to answer questions and answer them as honestly as you can. Don’t be afraid to be direct, hunting is that kind of sport. Remember we are educating the prospective hunter to our sport just as he or she has probably already been educated by biased special interest groups against hunting. People respect the truth.
Once you have successfully introduced someone to hunting help them find a place to hunt. Whether you share your spot with them is strictly up to you. Keep in mind though that the hunter who has no place to hunt doesn’t hunt for long. This is probably the toughest aspect on developing new hunters today. There simply are limited areas to hunt. Try to find out where the closest public hunting land is and encourage the new hunter to use this land. Take the new hunter with you whenever convenient. This is where shooting preserves shine. A shooting preserve not only provides a place to hunt but there will always be game birds there to keep things exciting. While a preserve will charge a certain amount of money explain that compared to other forms of entertainment it may not be all that much more in the long run. Any hunter that experiences a well run preserve will soon abandon any misconceptions of a canned hunt that the anti hunting groups like to label preserves. The pheasants still fly hard and are no easy target on a preserve, as they will soon learn.
Safety is of course the mainstay of introduction of new hunters. Hunter Safety Courses in most every state provide good initial training in handling and safe use of firearms. Make safety your number one priority on your outings with the new shooter. How the new shooter is introduced to the hunting sports is pretty much the ethic that he or she will follow in their own hunting pursuits so be a good example of safe sportsmanlike conduct.
If we do it right and present hunting in its true light a useful tool in the conservation of animals by responsible and ethical means then we can expect to draw new hunters to our ranks and leave a legacy of a new generation of ethical hunters to maintain the future of our sport. If you are lucky you could be the person to be responsible for the birth of a new hunter.
It has been said more times than I can count that the future of the shooting and hunting sports lies with our youth. Truer words have never been spoken. The future of the shooting sports is the legacy that we pass down to the next generation of shooting sportsmen.
Equally as important is recruiting women into the shooting sports. It is a fact that many of today’s young people are being raised in one parent homes and many times the one parent is a woman. While I see more and more women in the shooting sports I also see a huge need for more women to get involved in shooting. Not only can the introduction of a new women shooter benefit the sport as a whole but also it is an avenue for the introduction of the shooting sports to our youth who otherwise have no exposure to shooting.
There is a wealth of misinformation today to turn youngsters and women alike against the sport of shooting and hunting. Propaganda from the anti hunter elements infiltrate the prospective shooter’s life from an early age. Rarely is the pro shooting and hunting side presented in equal amounts of time and material. It is up to us to inform and involve prospective shooters to our sport.
One way is to encourage your local gun club or rifle range to hold a program of introduction to the shooting sports. Send out advertising invitations to attend an informative program where experienced shooters and good communicators can introduce these prospective shooters to the shooting sports. Let the prospective shooters see what is involved in the sport of shooting and the skills that are developed. Let the prospective shooter learn first hand how much fun shooting can be by supplying ear plugs and throw away shooting glasses and under strict supervision let them shoot a couple of rounds from a .22 rifle at a target. This gives the experience a whole new dimension to the person that is not sure about whether shooting is for them or not.
Present hunting in its natural positive light and hold a wild game dinner where the outside public is invited to attend. Label the array of game dishes and let the prospective hunter know that hunting involves usage of the game hunted by seeing the game served first hand. Hold an informative program to educate those in attendance to the positive sides of hunting in controlling animal numbers, as well as providing meat for the table. Of course it would be wrong to deny that sport hunting is downright enjoyable and don’t hang your head in shame when defending your sport.
Gross pictures of bloodied game animals with their tongue hanging out are of course discouraged in introducing prospective hunters to the sport on the other hand we must not deny that killing the animal is an essential part of the hunt and that while we take the animal’s life we do it with respect and humanely never wasting the animal for the sake of killing.
If you are in a position to do so take a prospective hunter with you on your next hunt. Small game and upland bird hunts are all great introductions to the prospective hunter to the sport. Seeing the dogs work and the skills needed to down a ringneck pheasant is a great hunt for future hunters.
Fall squirrel hunts can be an exciting introduction to hunting for the novice with a very real possibility of harvesting game should they be inclined to hunt. Just observing these types of hunts can spark that first interest into hunting. Be sure to allow them to partake of the meat of the harvest so that they can know firsthand the enjoyment and reward of the hunt and that the game animal is not wasted. Be prepared to answer questions and answer them as honestly as you can. Don’t be afraid to be direct, hunting is that kind of sport. Remember we are educating the prospective hunter to our sport just as he or she has probably already been educated by biased special interest groups against hunting. People respect the truth.
Once you have successfully introduced someone to hunting help them find a place to hunt. Whether you share your spot with them is strictly up to you. Keep in mind though that the hunter who has no place to hunt doesn’t hunt for long. This is probably the toughest aspect on developing new hunters today. There simply are limited areas to hunt. Try to find out where the closest public hunting land is and encourage the new hunter to use this land. Take the new hunter with you whenever convenient. This is where shooting preserves shine. A shooting preserve not only provides a place to hunt but there will always be game birds there to keep things exciting. While a preserve will charge a certain amount of money explain that compared to other forms of entertainment it may not be all that much more in the long run. Any hunter that experiences a well run preserve will soon abandon any misconceptions of a canned hunt that the anti hunting groups like to label preserves. The pheasants still fly hard and are no easy target on a preserve, as they will soon learn.
Safety is of course the mainstay of introduction of new hunters. Hunter Safety Courses in most every state provide good initial training in handling and safe use of firearms. Make safety your number one priority on your outings with the new shooter. How the new shooter is introduced to the hunting sports is pretty much the ethic that he or she will follow in their own hunting pursuits so be a good example of safe sportsmanlike conduct.
If we do it right and present hunting in its true light a useful tool in the conservation of animals by responsible and ethical means then we can expect to draw new hunters to our ranks and leave a legacy of a new generation of ethical hunters to maintain the future of our sport. If you are lucky you could be the person to be responsible for the birth of a new hunter.