I teach Hunter Education classes as a volunteer for Arizona Game and Fish department. We see quite a few youngsters coming into the sport (I am involved with training about 650 hunters per year and 70% are kids). Arizona runs Junior dove, pheasant, deer and elk hunts annually to further encourage them along with the scholastic clays program which brings more youngsters into the shooting sports. If you want to have more hunters you have to be proactive. The old formula of Grandfathers, fathers and uncles bringing them to the sport is broken because most now live in cities. Further once trained they don't know where to go to have a decent hunt - the posted land doesn't help. Families used to go to the same hunt areas generation after generation. But they have now been relocated for jobs and lost their connection to hunting space. You need to help them get hooked up to a place to hunt or they will fall away. It isn't the gun issues, it is the change in populations tied to cities and the mobile society.
I will admit my own grandson sometimes thinks hunting is boring and doesn't want to go. Three weeks ago he thought he was going to skip out on a bull elk hunt with me and his uncle. But I still swing enough weight that when I said he was going that resolved the issue. Didn't get a bull for his tag, but he saw 17 bulls within range plus a cougar. We made a couple pretty good parallel runs to get ahead of a herd for better look and I made sure he noted all that nature had to offer. Got his little butt pretty chilly and learned about winter camping in a tent, but he hasn't stopped talking about the trip yet! Don't let them off the hook! No cell phones or game boys and a good lesson in campfires, and being made to feel an equal with men in camp and field eventually sinks in. I haven't figured out granddaughters yet.
