No tags yet.
"The best thing about hunting and fishing,' the Old Man said, 'is that you don't have to do it to enjoy it. You can go to bed every night thinking about how much fun you had twenty years ago, and it all comes back clear as moonlight."— Robert Ruark
When I grew up, small game hunting was a big part of my hunting culture. Where most people spent the spring chasing trout, I spent it chasing rabbits and squirrels. This was not the same for all my generation, most kids my age spent time chasing big bucks and nothing more. After reaching the pinnacle of harvesting a trophy buck most people my age dipped out of hunting.
Small game hunting is an easy way to teach young kids the fundamentals of hunting, from tracking to target recognition. Small game hunting is also easy for introduction because it has little downside attached to it. This means that you are moving around being active and you can be more choosy about the type of weather you participate in. New hunters tend to lose interest when the factors outweigh the benefits when the only thing you are experiencing is the bad part of hunting.
The disappearance of small game hunting has probably a lot to do with the continual decrease of hunters over the last 20 years. This will more than likely be a continuing factor until we spread the same light on this outdoor experience. Some of the best stories one can have in the outdoors are when that is spent with friends. Small game hunting is a good social event to have some of the best stories.