To Revive Hunting, States Turn to the Classroom

by Amy Judd | March 8, 2008 at 09:57 am

1080 views | 2 Recommendations | 24 comments

Personally, I am against hunting, and think that this is a drastic measure to take to revive a sport that is so cruel in the first place. But if you think otherwise, I would love to read your point of view below.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When David Helms was in seventh grade, he would take his .22-caliber rifle to school, put a box of ammunition in his locker and, like virtually all the other boys, lean his rifle against a wall in the principal’s office so he could start hunting squirrels as soon as classes let out.

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Mike Shay, left, owner of the Sports Emporium in Morgantown, W.Va. He said he was 8 or 9 when his father first took him hunting, and it took him years before he was ready to shoot.

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

The number of hunting licenses bought in West Virginia dropped 20 percent in the last decade.

Now, when he takes his 8-year-old grandson hunting on weekends, Mr. Helms, 55, searches the boy’s pockets before sending him back to school to ensure that there are no forgotten ammunition shells. But most of his grandson’s peers never have to worry about that, Mr. Helms said, because they would sooner play video games than join them outdoors.

Hunting is on the decline across the nation as participation has fallen over the last three decades, and states have begun trying to bolster this rural tradition by attracting new and younger people to the sport.

In West Virginia, state lawmakers gave final approval on Friday to a bill that allows hunting education classes in all schools where at least 20 students express interest. The goal is to reverse a 20 percent drop in hunting permits purchased over the last decade, which has caused a loss of more than $1.5 million in state revenue over that period. At least six other states are considering similar legislation.

Moreover, in the last two years, 17 states have passed laws to attract younger hunters by creating apprentice hunting licenses that allow people supervised by a trained mentor to sample the sport before completing the required course work, which typically takes 8 to 10 hours and can cost more than $200.

In that effort, Michigan, Nebraska, South Carolina and Utah have enacted laws since 2004 lowering or removing minimum age requirements for hunters, while Louisiana, Montana and Georgia have amended their constitutions to protect the right to hunt and fish. Eight states are considering similar amendments.

Hunting has seen its ranks fall nationally to 12.5 million in 2006 from a peak of 19.1 million in 1975, according to the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. While the National Rifle Association has enthusiastically backed the campaign to get states to try to reverse the trend, groups like the United States Sportsmen’s Alliance have been the strongest lobbying force.

Of course, this issue is raising eyebrows amongst gun control advocates.

“In the post-Virginia Tech era, there is absolutely no reason to be bringing unloaded guns, toy guns or any guns into schools,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun-control group based in Washington. “What West Virginia is doing is essentially trying to bolster gun sales and hunting participation by advertising to children, which is really cynical.”

Wildlife officials and environmental researchers offer different explanations for the decline in hunting, including rural depopulation, higher gas prices and the increased leasing of land by small exclusive clubs or the posting of “No Hunting” signs by private land owners.

Others cite the prevalence of single-parent homes, where the father is not present to pass down the tradition, and the growing popularity of indoor activities that offer immediate gratification, like the Internet, video games and movies.

“Hunting takes time, effort and patience,” said Capt. Louis DellaMea of the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. Shaking his head, he said that among the few young people who do hunt, the habit is to ride an all-terrain vehicle to a tree platform, pour out a bag of corn and sit waiting for the prey to show up.

There are other ways to enjoy wildlife however.

Andrew Page agrees about the draw of nature, but as the director of hunting affairs for the Humane Society of the United States, he sees the drop in hunting as heartening, partly because it has come with a simultaneous rise in other types of outdoor activity. The number of birdwatchers, wildlife photographers and other wildlife watchers grew to 71 million in 2006, up from 62.8 million in 1996, according to surveys conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

However, the decline of hunting has had some consequences as well.

In West Virginia, the Department of Natural Resources has lost at least $1.5 million in revenue from hunting and fishing licenses, which affects the department’s ability to conduct conservation work, state officials said.

Hunting is the largest factor in controlling the deer population, and without enough hunters, the deer population can grow and has contributed to an increase in road accidents, said Steve Brown, the state’s fish and wildlife planner. West Virginia has the highest rate of vehicular accidents caused by deer, according to State Farm Insurance. In 2006, the state Division of Highways reported 15,918 deer were killed in motor vehicle collisions.

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Jordan Yerman

at 10:05 on March 8th, 2008

I'm not opposed to killing an animal in order to eat it (as a matter of survival), but I don't really see it as a sport. Taking down a deer with one's bare hands, though- that would be a sport!

vegan angel

at 07:43 on March 19th, 2008

absolutely! And we know 'hunting' is nothing about "survival" today!

Anthony K.

at 12:16 on March 8th, 2008

I only hunt on occasion now as I am more of a gun collector than hunter. As far as hunting goes, being humane is important. I believe any responsible person has the right to hunt as long as he or she does so with prudence and maturity.

Anthony K. has contributed a photo to this story.

vegan angel

at 08:06 on March 19th, 2008

and how would you like a serial killer to say "i have the right to kill humans" imagine that?

Austin f2.8

at 19:54 on March 8th, 2008

Austin f2.8 has contributed a photo to this story.

lancefisher

at 23:57 on March 8th, 2008

I took this photo while hunting deer in North-Central Montana with my dad and uncle. I've hunted since I was 12. The sport has been great as a way to bond with my dad, and also put meat in the freezer. It has also given me an understanding of what it takes to make a hamburger or a steak. Venicon is a great alternative to beef since it is lower in fat, and for us it is quite a bit cheaper as well.

lancefisher has contributed a photo to this story.

vegan angel

at 07:38 on March 19th, 2008

same old excuses. You know the main reason why you 'hunt' is because you love to snuff out a life and use living creatures as targets. YOu want to bond with your dad, go bowling, dancing, play chess, go camping, tennis, football, photographing (not dead animals) but living nature, go to the beach, baseball, so many thing you can do and that "bonding and eating meat" is getting to be a very tiresome excuse that just do not jive!!

The excuses of "cheaper" does not hold water either. How much did you and daddy poo spend on your 'hunting' equipment? What is the cost to chop up the dead the body and/or process it? I heard 65 dollars a pound, please correct me if I am wrong.

"hunting" is not a sport., real sport both side have equal challenge, what you do is terrorize, and destroy. That is what you all do and you are not 'hunters' you are coward murderers!!

did you hear about the mad deer disease..yup

Creutzfeldt-Jakob is a rare, fatal illness often described as "fast
Alzheimer's" that occurs for no known reason in the population. It
almost always occurs in the elderly.The first rash of cases in younger
people was found in Britain and turned out to be a new variant of CJD,
which was traced back to consumption of mad-cow beef. Variant CJD is
similar to the "classic" illness, but often strikes younger people and
tends to progress much more rapidly.

At least seven
people age 66 or younger -- all hunters or venison eaters -- are known
to have died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob in the U.S. in the last nine years.
The total number will never be known because there's no federal
requirement that all cases be reported. Preliminary studies suggest,
and some neurologists suspect, that CJD is more common than generally
believed -- it's simply misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's. That raises the
obvious question: How many people would die of chronic wasting disease
before a doctor called it?

In a highly publicized
case, three Wisconsin hunters who attended wild-game feasts died of
neurological diseases. Two had Creutzfeldt-Jakob, one turned out to
have another rare neurological ailment, Pick's disease. Tests are
ongoing.

Another victim from Oklahoma died with a
freezer full of venison. A 50-year-old Montana elk hunter died last
summer; his brain tissue is now being analyzed at one of the world's
foremost prion labs, at the University of California in San Francisco.
Test results are pending.

I guess Karma is in the works here

What the government isn't telling you about mad deer disease.

mseanbrowne

at 07:11 on March 9th, 2008

I started hunting only five years ago at age 40. Nothing could be more natural than hunting and I think the country is well served especially in the 'Post Virginia Tech' era (what a crock that that defines our current era in any way) We could do a lot worse than fostering a generation of young people that enjoy all the responsibility and reward that hunting has to offer.

mseanbrowne has contributed a photo to this story.

vegan angel

at 16:21 on July 7th, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ozJZA-GkxQ

mikewarren

at 14:01 on March 9th, 2008

I have hunted exactly once now, and found this story because Amy asked to use one of my pictures.

I decided I wanted to start hunting because I do eat meat and didn't know anything about how to kill, skin, etcetera a beast. If you're opposed to hunting (for food) then you shouldn't eat grocery-meat, either: slaughterhouses are no picnic. At least wild beasts have a more-or-less natural life before they're eaten.

vegan angel

at 08:12 on March 19th, 2008

I cannot stand the "at least" ! You would not want to have someone invading your home , terrorize you and murder you!

I also fight for animals in farming, I am an abolitionist vegan and I do not even agree with this so called "humane" farming because no death is ever "humane" when one wants to live. You want to live dont you? why would you think the animals doesn't ? Is that fair?

Joshua Ricardi

at 15:45 on March 17th, 2008

Stefaan Christopher

at 15:40 on March 10th, 2008

The first day of Fall 1994 was perhaps the most Adventurous in my whole life. After working hard years of giving the Flemish hunting assosiations (Belgium, Europe) their self-esteem back, and teaching Hunters to do their passionate hobby in a humane way, I was granted a whole season of hunting on big game in the Royal Hunting Grounds of Hertogenwald; In these dense woods, I shot that day a roe deer and a male wild boar in the moring. The Pig run away in stead of staying dead. We did the search with the hound after lunch and found it dead after a trilling half hour of Search - Nazoek. In the evening stalk, the stalker Thys and I could see a male red deer coming out of the forest to graze at about 185 meters. It took af few very trilling minutes before it was ready to be killed: the hunter has to wait untill the animal presents it side, before he can pull the trigger. Ethics are what makes good behavior possible. (The atmosphere at the Lodge near Malmedy and in the Forests reminds me of the Great Movie "The Edge" with Antony Hopkins.
In my Country, hunting is becoming more known, respected and popular; I know that the putting in place of the official Exam, with theory and practice exercise, have added to the respectability. Also my own many articles have helped. I have been inspired by the look on nature that is typical for the Native American Indians, through reading of Indian and European hunters stories. I think a good hunter love the animals. He takes up his role and responsibility and exercises himself to talk about the joy he feels; city people cannot always understand us hunters; like some of their children do not know that milk comes from the cow...
i consider Hunting as a good training for the male mind. The confrontation with the male/female interaction in the animal kingdom, the silence, the space, the phenomen of death... is constructive to the identity. And to learn to be "a good shot" to of course ;-)

Stefaan Christopher has contributed a photo to this story.

magda_wojtyra

at 06:04 on March 11th, 2008

American Indians would NEVER hunt for "sport" and only take what they need from the land. "roe deer and a male wild boar" in one day? Wow, your tribe is safe from hunger for weeks!

What does hunting training do to the female mind?

And the benefits to the male mind, are there any other ways to get it then through hunting training?

If you truly love animals and nature, then maybe instead of hunting you might launch an educational campaign about where milk comes from directly.

It might not make "great film" or stroke your "male" ego quite as much, but the joy you would feel at the good you are doing in the world would be even greater.

vegan angel

at 07:25 on March 19th, 2008

what is the "good" that comes out of "hunting".? I cannot even call people like you 'hunters' because in actuality you are all rapist, serial killers and child abusers. These animals are as defenseless as any child, or any women or any innocent humans.

Is it "good" for the animals? I would be feel really "good" if what I was doing benefited both animals and myself. what you are doing is selfish for your own sick gratification so stop painting this 'pretty" picture because all I see and most decent humans see if blood, guts, suffering, pain, terror , and the life of once beautiful creature gone, sometimes babies left orphans

THERE IS NOTHING "PRETTY" ABOUT 'HUNTING' AND IF BENEFITS NO ONE BUT YOUR SELF!!

magda_wojtyra

at 05:18 on March 11th, 2008

This year I am living in rural France, where "La Chasse" is alive and well. From what I have seen, it is the local equivalent of golf with the addition of guns and death. A small group of men (NEVER any women), sometimes on horseback, large packs of dogs - 40, 60 dogs is not uncommon.

And it is loud! The barking of the dogs is joined by the yelling of the men (not only to each other but also at the dogs, and also a very loud "LALALLALALALALALAA!" simply to make noise), cracking whips and horns to scare the prey out of the small and diminishing bits of woods and even tiny woodlots into the surrounding farm fields of the open countryside, over public and private property indiscriminately.

There are apparently many rules, for example, if a deer is scared out into the open and dashes into the next bit of thicket a farmfield over before the men can catch up, no witnesses (in their houses, on the roads) are allowed to point the hunters in the right direction. There is also a rule that there is to be no hunting in any of the protected zones, such as the Green Line. Yet you can see clearly in the photo of the dogs that they are right on the Green Line.

They will shoot anything - wild boar, deer, rabbits, pheasant, quial - there is less and less in the woods.

The hunt seems less about communing with nature, developing quiet patience or even shooting skills and more about a sadistic, vengeful act of scaring the s**t out of all the little creatures and ordering around the dogs, who are not fed for a day or two before the hunt to make them that much more desperate and alert.

No animals hunts like this - no tiger or wolf takes such obvious pleasure in terrorizing its prey.

In the past, only the lords of the land were allowed to hunt. After the French revolution, the pleasantries of the beheaded ruling class were joyfully adopted by the oppressed who were very quick to become the new oppressors of the only creatures left to be oppressed in the new "egalitarian" France, and the irony of that seems completely lost on everyone except the visitors to the area, who "don't understand" the local "customs".

The points about nature - why kill what you love best? Why the need to bag it? Why the need to feel superior over this?

The point about shooting skills - what are you practicing FOR? Don't get good at things you don't want to do - doesn't that make sense?

I'm not a vegetarian at all, and I've had the very tasty local rabbit
stew - my point is, wouldn't a rabbit raised in a fenced yard have more
meat on him than a rabbit terrorised all over the countryside? I can
understand that this might not be the case with deer, perhaps deer
cannot be raised inside a fence like cattle, and perhaps the freedom running through their veins is what
makes them taste so good. Well, white siberian tigers would make the
most fantastic looking fur coats, but guess what! Some sacrifices have to be
made!

Too often the need to avenge ourselves on creatures who we perceive to be less than us - whether human or animal - are simply perverse reversal of our own deeply repressed grievances of similar acts perpetrated against us, whether from childhood by our parents, older children, and teachers, or later by professors, bosses or spouses in adulthood, or even simply the incomprehensibly quickly changing world that threatens to pull the rug of stability from under our feet. We feel the need to be in control of something, and if it is scared of us, then so much the better.

magda_wojtyra

at 05:27 on March 11th, 2008

PS. Perhaps instead of hunting with a gun for sport, one could do it with a telephoto camera lens? All the same lessons of patience and technical skill in the setting of the great outdoors could be learned, and the skill could furthermore be transferable to other subjects, including protected wildlife, and even shooting people.

magda_wojtyra

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 08:02 on March 11th, 2008

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.

vegan angel

at 16:19 on July 7th, 2009

First of all what you all do is not "hunting" is murder of innocent wildlife. True hunters hunter for survival (food and clothing) used every part of that animals. Today they snuff out lives of thousands of innocent defenseless animals calling it "sports" or making excuses of "conservation", "wildlife management" "population control" when we all know its nothing about that. These are all euphanism to make give reason for 'hunting' season so coward scums can snuff out the lives of animal for "fun". Taking sick photos smiling next to a deer who died such horrible death. An arrow into the lung of the deer so they would drown in their own blood. Imagine that? We do not need to murder any animals to "save" land or other speicies of animals for 'hunters' murder even the deer natural predators , ie, coyotes, wolves, lynx etc.

about the population control...lol!! "Hunters" are the CAUSE of overpopulation and DVA's. These "wildlife" org manipulate wildlife so no matter how much deer the mass murder the rebound effect would so drastic that is would double in size. I mean you can see DVA's injuries and death still continues and it never gotten better, same with overpopulation. You mean they can send a man to the moon but cannot solve this overpopulation and DVA problems. You know why? because these wildlife org wants to make sure there will always overpopulation and DVA;s injurie and death because without it there will be no more excuses to mass murder wildlfie and 'hunters' scum bag could terrorize the forest, murdering the families, leaving babies orphans. yeah yeah the season you murder does not have babies but some 'hunting' bow hunting is done all year round!

Would you all like to have someone invade your home, terrorize and murder your family? And if any of you do eat the vension have you heard about the mad deer disease the gov't is not telling you about?

DVA CAUSED by 'hunting' and 'hunting' org

http://www.all-creatures.org/hope/deer-20070829.htm

So long as we have 'hunting' we will have overpopulation, starvation and DVA's. That is why we need the non-lethal options including fencing and IC birth control. We must end 'hunting' because the excuses to manipulate wildlife for abundance of deer will continue.

http://www.all-creatures.org/hope/DOE/index.htm

As far as teaching the kids to 'hunt'. dowe really need to teach kids that to direspect life, and that to terrroize and murder animals is "acceptable?" Murdering an animals is not "sports" it is not "bonding' with dad and son its murder, its taking the life of an living being before its time. Think for a moment if you like that to happen to you because that is why I am vegan, I would never want to be in the place of the animals and I can feel their pain, and the life they must lead only because they were born a certain type.

"A 1985 study found that a child who learns aggression against living creatures is more likely to rape, abuse, and kill other humans as an adult"

The Obvious:

" A society that condones large scale, institutionalized, recreational killing of animals may be inadvertently encouraging susceptible individuals to commit acts of violence towards humans. Again, this is not new thinking. In the 1700's, German philosopher, Immanuel Kant said: "He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." Man deliberately torments, injures and kills other creatures as though they were created to provide him with amusement and sport. Such thinking is the height of absurdity, and evidence of moral degeneracy."

A video I made and you think this is "acceptable"? I do not know about 'hunters' but what you all do is pure evil and as close to satan as you can get

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37q5d4h51A8

vegan angel

at 05:35 on March 19th, 2008

And another fact..you want your children to be statistics from 'hunting' accident?

How Safe is Hunting by Young People? See the Statistics

Of 333 documented hunting accidents in our database for the years
2004 and 2005, the percentages break down like this:

63 accidents (injuries and fatalities combined) of children aged 18
and younger (18.92% of all accidents)

34 accidents that resulted in injury to children aged 18 and
younger (10.21% of all accidents)

29 accidents fatal to children aged 18 and younger (8.71% of all
accidents)

27 injuries of children aged 11-18 (8.11% of all accidents)

7 injuries of children aged 10 and younger (2.10% of all accidents)

27 fatalities of children aged 11-18 (8.11% of all accidents)

2 fatalities of children 10 and younger (0.61% of all accidents)

Of 333 hunting accidents that I came across for 2004 & 2005, 135 of
them resulted in fatalities (40.54% of all accidents).

and look at this list

http://www.all-creatures.org/cash/accident-center.html

can you imagine they shoot and kill each other yet they think they kill animals "humanely' because they know where to shoot. lol. YOU PEOPLE SHOOT EACH OTHER!! Look at the latest one, the man thought the other was a Partridge!!!! hahha

vegan angel

at 05:46 on March 19th, 2008

Seems lik I can get the link now si This is the video I made called "god and hunting"? I wanted to show the pictures in there, pure evil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ5ROrPgjas

And this is about 'hunters' like, BS and excuses refuted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAoH_zPo9ZM

vegan angel

at 05:59 on March 19th, 2008

oops never mind it took you all to my vegan brownies hahhahha

just copy and paste the link on the early post. I do not understand the comment box here

This is the list of 'hunting' accident because the other one may take you to the browinies too. lol

http://www.all-creatures.org/cash/accident-center.html

dr.droo (not verified)

at 17:03 on April 29th, 2009

i think vegan angel needs to watch the Lion King and learn about the circle of life.

so what hunters die in accidents. vegans die of stupid diseases and from stupid accidents, who cares. thousands of people and animals die everyday, and no one cares. do you drive a car? ride a bike? ride a bus? well you're at a greater risk of dying than some dumb kid with a hunting rifle. why? because you're mortal like everyone else and you will die. sadly not soon enough.

being an "abolitionist vegan" is literally as stupid as being a crazed militant muslim hell bent on keeping woman in veiled servitude and converting the entire world to dead people or muslims. it will never happen, your goal is so far outside of the realm of possibility that you will never do any good for your cause or beliefs, just like militant terrorist muslims.

why don't you go bother people who really abuse animals. people who fight dogs or mistreat horses. hunters kill, but they try to make it fast, they respect the prey and use all of it. death is never painless, for anyone, but we all meet our maker. whether it's from a mountain lion, rifle shot, car accident or slipping in our bathtub while eating vegan brownies.

vegan angel

at 16:25 on July 7th, 2009

Sorry everyone, I have been so busy with hunting issues that I completely forgot about this place until I happen by here when I was googling "hunting and serial killers" lol.

This is my youtube channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/DeliberateCruelty

And my blogger

http://mathew5-7.blogspot.com/

read and learn the ugly disgusting reality of wildlife serial killers .