Not sure I can get the thought that is running around inside my head written down, but I'll try. How and when did deer hunting become the only kind of hunting that matters? Every single one of my hunting mentors did not start out by deer hunting. There just weren't that many deer back then. They started on squirrel or rabbit. They started by trapping coons or muskrat. They started by shooting groundhogs out of the farm fields. I don't think a one of them went deer hunting until they were 10 or 12 years old. They love deer hunting, but it is not the only kind of hunting they do. In most cases, it is just a small proportion of their total hunting days. Many waterfowl hunt. Most turkey hunt. Some have bird dogs and travel to Pennsylvania or other states in the midwest. Today I see all these videos of folks putting deer guns in the hands of 6 year old kids. Why? I don't get it. I don't think it is wise to pin our hunting heritage on just one species of animal. Hunting is about much much more than the almighty white-tailed deer. To save hunting, we should be teaching kids and new adult hunters this. I love deer hunting and I never want to quit hunting deer. But if all the deer in the world up and vanished, I would still be hunting. That is what we need to teach new hunters, both adults and kids.
