Rural tradition of hunting shows signs of decline

Increasingly, he says, those factors are changing. More children are growing up in cities and more are being raised by single mothers. Fathers play a key role in passing on hunting traditions, since few people take up the sport if they didn't do it as a kid.

Brad Herrin, for one, appreciates that his dad took him shooting as soon as he could walk. The 19-year-old Hereford, Ariz., hunter regularly travels across the Southwest in search of elk, deer, and quail. But few people he knows do it. "My friends aren't opposed to hunting, but they live in a big city and their dad doesn't do it, so they don't have the opportunity," he says.

Another factor contributing to disinterest in hunting is that society is seeing "changing values toward animals," says Ms. Prescott.

Safety is an enduring concern, too. In Yarmouth, Maine, for example, town officials last year placed tough restrictions on hunting in a local woodland to help protect joggers and mothers with strollers.

"The growing sentiment against firearms is a critical factor" in antihunting ordinances recently passed by six towns in Maine, says George Smith, the director of the Sportsmen's Alliance of Maine in Portland.

Hunting remains a hot political issue as well. Animal-rights groups were successful in blocking a bill in New York that would have lowered the big-game hunting age from 16 to 14. In Maryland, the Fund for Animals is lobbying for a minimum age for hunters. "If you have to be 16 to drive, 18 to vote, and 21 to drink, we think there should be some kind of minimum age for children to carry guns in the woods, for their own safety and for the safety of people in the area," says Mike Markarian, the Fund's national president.

Faced with a backlash against hunting, states such as Alabama, Virginia, Minnesota, and North Dakota have amended their constitutions to include the right to hunt and fish.

Others are doing more to promote the sport. Illinois is buying private lands slated for development to preserve as hunting grounds. The state has even set up easy access to deer stands so wheelchair-bound residents can hunt, says Carol Knowles of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Some state officials and others worry that a decline in hunting will lead to imbalances in wildlife populations.

"It used to be a big deal in Wisconsin if you went out and saw a deer or two in the woods," says Mr. Heberlein. "Now hunters come back and say, 'I saw 30 or 40 deer and I was just waiting for the big one.' "

Johnston, for his part, sees hunting as a vital part of father-son bonding. Nor does he detect a drop in interest in the sport in his area. "We had camo [camouflage] day at school a couple of weeks ago, and practically everyone came wearing some," he says.

Page: 1 | 2