Preserving the tradition?

[Pat Rockets]

Already practicing my backhand..lol

[fasteddie]

Good post Wooly .

My wife and kids camped a lot so we spent a lot of time outdoors . I never pushed my sons into hunting but 2 out of 3 hunt and my son bought hunting property in Italy Valley . He has turned into a venison hog , has some great recipes and has made his own sausage , etc ..

My dad took me woodchuck hunting with him twice when I was a kid . That is the only time I ever remember him hunting . He let me take his 22 out when I was 12 and I scoured the countryside shooting chucks . The farmers more than welcomed my presence on their property in Groveland . I am pretty much self taught .

My father in law got me started deer hunting when I was 23 years old . We would spend a week together hunting . When he quit , I stopped hunting for a few years and my sister in law asked me if I wanted to hunt with her on some property she purchased in Geneseo . I then got my son in law to start hunting again . Got a couple other folks started hunting but found that a lot of folks just don't care to hunt .

I think I have gotten "off topic" .......must be the old age thing !

[ELMER J. FUDD]

    As hunters, we are a special breed. Our love for the outdoors is in our blood. It is instilled one way or another in us. The recent bickering is part of human nature, just like violence, yet most aren't willing to admit it.

    I respect all outdoorsman and women. It takes a special (dedicated) person to go through what we go through just to experience the outdoors. That doesn't mean I agree with every person's opinion either, and that's ok with me. Personally I try to base my opinions and views on what makes sense to me, what I feel is the truth. When I can't find the facts, I go with the gut! We're not the type of people to take being proven wrong lightly. I'd like to think that we're all "mean what we say" kind of people.

    One reason I hunt is because our forefathers did it. I think it's cool to carry on traditions. Last year I got did the legwork to get my brother a replacement hunter safety cert. I got him back in the woods. I also have my 2 younger brothers interested in taking their hunter safety course. To all you self starter hunters, the tradition has to start somewhere. Much respect.

    So if you want to continue traditions, preach work ethic. From what I gather here, the youth are becoming too lazy to experience the outdoors. Sorry if I'm not making sense. There's too much to consider putting in one post. This message will self destruct...

   

[Doc]

It's not so easy today to "preserve a tradition". It seems to be a societal goal to actually stamp out traditions and any items of U.S. culture. To most today, tradition is simply another phrase for living in the past or doing things that an enlightened society has evolved away from. I think you can make efforts to slow the demise of hunting traditions, but as long as society has the attitudes that it it does, it certainly is just a matter of time before the hunter numbers simply become too small to be relevant. I've seen it happen in a big way to another of our traditional activities (trapping), and data now suggests that both hunting and fishing licenses are showing significant downward trends. In fact as was already mentioned somewhere on this forum, this idea of shunning outdoor activities goes well beyond hunting, fishing and trapping. I honestly believe that we are the last of the breed as technology and elite and supposedly enlightened attitudes continue to take over the psyche of society.

I know that is a real downer of an observation, but those of us who have been around long enough to get the long-term view of trends I would guess would have a hard time seeing it any other way.