Not for the sake of arguement, but for the sake of the specifically stated discussion, I am not buying it. I thought I grew up poor; I did not. BUT, my family was tight, frugal, and did not have much excess. My father had 3 sons by age 22. He worked in a PIttsburgh steel mill and took EE night classes at PITT for 8 years. Mom kept three boys, safe, in school, sports, and out of trouble.
Dad hunted in the traditions of Pennsylvania, an annual trek up North to a very social family deer camp and kicking rabbits and pheasants out of the strip mines and industry sites around Carnegie. It all helped feed us, but was more of a luxury/method of pride in tradition and subsistance than a necessity. It likely didn't support near as much as the hours would have paid otherwise. After he graduated, we moved to the Blue Ridge Mtns of VA, and hunting became a far more solitary and exploratory endeavor. Deer were hunted in natural settings and not pushed or driven. Of the three boys, I have always been an avid and die hard hunter. I credit, Dad, Grandpap, and my Uncles for the love and passion of the hunt, as well as the Pennsylvania Games News magazines that I read cover to cover from the school library and Grandpap's house. One brother dabbled and has started trying with his kids now... the third, shot one deer and was done.
I now have two kids of my own. My wife and I are both college grads, my wife has additional levels of education. We married at 30 and had kids "late." My children HAVE NO IDEA what a $ struggle could be, I have never door- dashed anything in my life and my 14 yo daughter argued to the end of the world this week that $30 to door dash 2x Starbucks drinks ( as her friend did ) "was not a bad deal." That said my son is insanely passionate about hunting, that feeling I have firmly driven, but he is even more so into fishing, which I do not do. So where does the appreciation and the drive come from? I think it comes from experience and success or the hope for success. For me it was the dream I would one day get that buck, see that bear, be there and experience. For my son? Well, he's 12 and in the last two years he has harvested a 9pt, 8,pt and a 10pt. He has landed 6+ 5lb largemouth and more than one 20 in Smallmouth. He firmly believes he will have success and loves every minute of it. My daughter dabbles with it all, but may not for much longer...
It's different strokes for different folks, some take to it and some do not. There are many reasons that people choose to do what they do, but amoung my family and my closest hunting friends, I dont' see hardscrabble experiences driving specific hunting motivation or appreciation. The other note on this discussion... my family has proudly only used venison for red meat for decades, but regarding the "must live hardscrabble" to want to hunt... I have experienced the opposite. The people I have meet with the BIGGEST aversion to venision are those who reflect upon a time it was "all they had" or that eating venision itself was proof of poverty. I have heard/seen this feeling more in rural VA than I would have ever imagined ( I had a minor/ focus in Appalachain Studies.) I think it may be better presented that "those with the resolve to work hard are more likely to find appreciation in the predatory behaviors."
EDIT: ADD on -- the same 14yo daughter is pestering my wife this afternoon to cook the single 4 inch crayfish she brought home from the creek.
Last edited by Marks_21; 06/04/26 03:54 PM.
