The number of hunters in the U.S. continues to drop. Some states run events to get more kids interested in the sport. We join a pheasant hunt in Connecticut.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Hunters across the U.S. are getting older and few young people are replacing them. Those who practice the sport say kids are more likely to play video games or school sports. But as Connecticut Public’s Aine Pennello reports, there are some kids keeping the hunting tradition alive. And a note that this story does contain the sound of gunshots.
AINE PENNELLO, BYLINE: Twenty minutes from the highway, off an old dirt road in northwest Connecticut, dozens of people are milling about in bright orange hats and vests, getting ready to hunt pheasants.
(SOUNDBITE OF BACON SIZZLING)
PENNELLO: There’s bacon on the grill, a place to practice target shooting and plenty of birds to hunt. But these hunters are not the big burly guys you might be picturing.
GARRETT ZAGURSKI: As a kid, I would say I’m decently experienced.
PENNELLO: That’s Garrett Zagurski. He’s 14.
GARRETT: But if we’re talking about hunters who’ve been around 20, 30 years, I know nothing compared to them.
PENNELLO: Every year, the state of Connecticut puts on a series of training days just for kids, where they learn to hunt different animals. More than a dozen states put on similar programs to encourage kids to learn how to hunt safely and get them excited about the sport. Today, it’s all about pheasants.
UNIDENTIFIED HUNTING INSTRUCTOR: OK, so get in a shooting position.
PENNELLO: Zagurski does a couple of practice shots with an instructor.
UNIDENTIFIED HUNTING INSTRUCTOR: And you let me know when you’re ready to fire.
PENNELLO: An orange clay target whizzes through the air…
(SOUNDBITE OF CLAY TARGET LAUNCHING)
PENNELLO: …And Zagurski takes aim.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT)
PENNELLO: After a few more practice shots, the instructor asks Zagurski if he’s ready for the real thing.
GARRETT: Hell, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED HUNTING INSTRUCTOR: All right (laughter).
PENNELLO: Chris Campbell is running around the different stations. He’s part of the local rod and gun club.
CHRIS CAMPBELL: Ask my wife. I’ve been up since 3 o’clock. This is like Christmas morning for me, I get that excited (laughter).
PENNELLO: He’s been teaching kids to hunt for almost a decade, but says people are getting turned off by guns. Sandy Hook Elementary School is only about an hour south from here, and it was a scene of one of the nation’s worst mass shootings.
CAMPBELL: Because of what happened at Sandy Hook – which was a terrible thing – and people, a lot of people, have preconceived ideas, whereas this is a very safe environment, and you’re actually, you know, you’re practicing safety and you’re learning a lot about people and nature.
PENNELLO: In Connecticut, there are about 400 kids, ages 12 to 15, with a license to hunt. Zagurski is one of them, but he doesn’t know any kids his own age who do it, and he doesn’t really talk to his friends about it, either.
GARRETT: To be honest, I usually don’t tell them, and if they – if I do, they either really don’t understand what I’m saying about it or they don’t care. It’s kind of weird, yeah.
PENNELLO: Zagurski meets a team of trainers and Penny the hunting dog. They guide him through a field where the two birds he’s hunting will soon be released.
(SOUNDBITE OF WALKING THROUGH GRASS)
PENNELLO: After a couple of yards of bramble and grass, Penny finds bird No. 1. Zagurski gets into position. A trainer releases the bird remotely, and it flies up.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT)
PENNELLO: Tiny tufts of feathers fly through the air, while Penny runs to get the bird.
UNIDENTIFIED DOG HANDLER: Good girl. Good girl.
PENNELLO: Zagurski also bags bird No. 2, and the trainers are impressed.
UNIDENTIFIED HUNTING TRAINER: Good job, Garrett.
GARRETT: Thank you, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED HUNTING TRAINER: Great bird. Woo.
PENNELLO: At the end of the course, Chris Campbell waits for each kid and takes photos of them next to a sign that says Pheasant Lane.
CAMPBELL: You’re going to hold your birds, maybe hold your gun.
PENNELLO: The kids struggle to pull the birds from out of their vest pockets. Twelve-year-old Evan McMaster grins, and the kids hold up their birds, one in each hand.
EVAN MCMASTER: This was actually a lot of fun.
CAMPBELL: Good. Are you going to come back and see me next year?
EVAN: Yeah, yeah, totally.
CAMPBELL: All right, man. Good deal.
PENNELLO: There might not be enough kids to replace the older hunters aging out of the sport, but the kids here on Pheasant Lane are a start. For NPR News, I’m Aine Pennello in Colebrook, Connecticut.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAZZY STAR SONG, “FADE INTO YOU”)
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