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nca225: Parenting is a very personal process. My perception of what is needed to get a child interested in hunting might be a bit different than yours. Participation is pretty critical IMHO, and then a modicum of success. I hunted grouse for many years before I had any success. If I'd of had access to the internet then, or the dreck of media sources that kids have now at their fingertips, I might easily have pitched it all for the much-more immediate satisfaction those outlets provide. When the special meal is served to the extended family and you know you have participated in providing the main course, it can be a significant moment. At least, I know it was for me almost 50-years ago now.

So your perception of what is needed to get a child to hunt is to show them that its as easy as picking low hanging fruit from a tree. It doesn't require any ethics, effort hard work or skill. I don't know about your life experience Lloyd, but I find once those traits take, they are hard to shake.

Your right, we do share different perceptions. I would not feel proud at all if I fed my family a plate of full of ground shot grouse after I spent several thousand dollars on guns, ammo, trips, lodging and the whole shebang. Although I understand YMMV on that.

Life is full of low-hanging fruit. It is also full of some very intense challenges. The trick is to see the bigger picture and appreciate both.

Both God and life are like that...IMHO.

I, I, I. So, what do you do, text your family these pearls about how lucky they are that it only costs them thousands for you to whip up a plate of grouse nuggets? Are you going to get full value when you get the buy back going?

Well as per usual thrifty, you base much of your thinking here on an assumption. Its much more efficacious to just go to the store and get them some groceries for dinner. I just send them a text about what's for dinner after I pick it up. Besides, my wing shooting exploits aren't good enough to put grouse on the plate for all of them, so I just keep all of it to myself and not bother them with stuff they could not care less about.

I well remember my first grouse. He flew parallel with a logging road that about four of us kids were walking up to, out of a woods, doing a �drive�, as we were pretty much clueless about how to hunt grouse. Every single one of us was equipped with a single shot, mine was the only hammerless version. The three other guys fired and missed, and as the grouse flew past me, I fired, and he tumbled from the sky, hitting the ground right in front of me, where he flopped until I pounced on him. I was fourteen years old, and king of my tribe for the rest of the day.
Upon examination of the grouse, I discovered he had the wad from my shell stuck in his armpit. If a single BB had touched that bird, I found no evidence of it. I had simply knocked him off balance, and, if he had a moment or two more to flop, I expect he would have shaken the wad, and resumed his flight.
I cleaned, and later ate him, after we pooled our collective rabbits, squirrels, and pheasants from that season. It was just enough to feed the four of us, and one of our fathers-we had much to learn about hunting. The grouse ate well.
I suppose a real sport would have set the grouse free after the discovery of poor marksmanship and accidental grounding of the bird. But, I didn�t and don�t subscribe to a notion of accidents not being sporting. I collect the birds I hit with the car (always an accident) and one time witnessed a long CB radio antenna whip a grouse out of the sky as a truck went past. The truck never slowed a bit.
That grouse ate well, too.
Hang a gun out the window of a vehicle and shoot a bird and I�ve got no time for you. Stop the truck, get out, and hunt a bird you saw run across the road is different.
Steve Bodio wrote eloquently on this exact subject in �On the Edge of the Wild�, in the chapter �Evolution of a Hunter�.

Best,
Ted

"Let Him that is Without Sin among you Cast the First Stone"!!
Lot's of folks here Don't need to be Pitching any Rocks!!
Just Saying, to Borrow an expression from Ho Joe.

Lloyd, sorry about your "hunting buddy." You'll have to make the fresh memories for him from now on. Godspeed.

limapapa: Thank you. Left a bunch of birds up there for he and his wife to enjoy if his chemotherapy allows. Just when you think you've got the next few years figured out, this happens. Didn't even try to fish or hunt ducks without him. The blind would of been a very lonely place...