Hunting Today’s Youth
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has taken notice of the lack of interest in deer hunting by today’s youth and it worries them. They have every right to be worried, just as officials in every other state should be as well. The number of young people who take up the hunting tradition is rapidly falling and the average age of active hunters is rising.
This is true for all hunting, not just deer hunting. There was once a time when the first hunting trip was a rite of passage. It marked the beginning of becoming an adult and taught valuable lessons about ethics and responsibility.
With a decrease in hunting land and opportunities, the faster paced world we live in, and technology like video games, very few youth are being exposed to hunting. For many, the closest the have ever come is playing hunting games on gaming consoles. While this at least exposes them to the concept, it doesn’t replace actually going afield and actually doing it. And if we want hunting to survive, that is what needs to happen.
It’s not only a matter of preserving our hunting heritage, but it’s necessary in helping control wildlife numbers. Each day we are responsible for taking away thousands of acres of their habitat. For that reason, it’s our responsibility to make sure we manage their population so that they can survive and be healthy on the limited land they have left.
While many people may cheer at a possible future decline in hunters, let’s see what they think when wildlife becomes a nuisance because of their numbers. Auto insurance will go up because of collisions with them, crops will be destroyed, property will be damaged, and many other things associated with overpopulation. It’s a problem that has the potential to affect everyone.
So, with this in mind, what should we do?
Take our kids hunting. Get them off the streets and out from in front of the television and video games and pass on our heritage so that hunting will not only survive, but that is may thrive as well.
hunting, heritage, tradition, ethics, responsibility, children, youth, teens, outdoors, woods, wildlife, population, overpopulation, management, Minnesota, natural resources
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