we are a dying breed

[ultrarunner]

When I hired into my department at GM, in 79, I was the youngest guy there. 30 years later, I retired, still the youngest guy there. GM simply stopped hiring in the early 80's.

Went to an 80/85th birthday party for friends... I know them and their Grandchildren... not so much their children.

The Grandkids in the their 30's came from Florida, Ohio, Michigan and few other places to California with their families... all are doing well...

The common theme seems to be a willingness to relocate to wear the job takes you... I guess this is the new reality for those that are go-getters?

None of them left California because of costs... they all left because of job opportunities... even the one that is an automotive designer moving to Michigan from San Francisco.

 

[dave1949]

I was actually referring to the trapper's comment, but I know all too well what you mean. ;-)

My last lab taught herself to find lost grouse, and would often bring back live cripples or birds which I thought I had melissed. My current dog was great at crushing and eating them last year... hopefully this year he'll catch on.

I see, you were referring to the trapper's somewhat snarky comments on the "hunting" dog.

The Brittany would occasionally leap into the air as the birds flushed and bring down some tail feathers. :laughing: Sometimes, he just couldn't resist running rabbits. Of course then you couldn't take a shot, but always brought them back with just a broken neck. Didn't have to pick buckshot out of those at least.

 

[adventure bob]

Im sitting here reading this and wondering what the previous generation, yes that's us, are doing. Young kids will not hunt and fish on their own: some one has to teach them. I do know that a lot of people have big demands on time but you have to choose what's important to you, and what you want your kids to learn. My son can hunt. I'm not that great at fishin but I can pull food from a stream enough to not die in the wilderness, so can my kid. We've been deep see fishin. Its all what you want to teach your kid vs how much you want to abdicate to the local (insert sport here) club.

 

[sam5570]

Im sitting here reading this and wondering what the previous generation, yes that's us, are doing. Young kids will not hunt and fish on their own: some one has to teach them. I do know that a lot of people have big demands on time but you have to choose what's important to you, and what you want your kids to learn. My son can hunt. I'm not that great at fishin but I can pull food from a stream enough to not die in the wilderness, so can my kid. We've been deep see fishin. Its all what you want to teach your kid vs how much you want to abdicate to the local (insert sport here) club.

Bob i agree with some of what you say but, here is the biggest problem with not teaching the kids. they don't want to learn the real life way of hunting and fishing, there not going to get out of bed at 4 am and go anywhere. hear is a little story a scool teacher told me when we were discussing this. a 6th grader brought a picture of the buck he killed while hunting with his dad to school to show off, well he showed it to his teacher and he went and got some of the other teacher's and they looked at it and congradlated the kid on his kill. that day there were 3 boys in the class that said they were going home and tell there dad they wanted to go hunting the teacher ask them if they had ever been and 1 of them replied dad gets up to early for me. so the teacher ask then why do you want to go hunting now and you turned it down before? the kid replied and said if i kill me a big buck i will be talk of class. this is a trend with the kids noww and don't ask me why but if they are not getting notticed or getting a lot of attention they are not intrested.

 

[adventure bob]

I think were aging into rosy memories of the experience. The first couple of years I didnt want to get up, go out in the cold or anything else at 04:00 but "I dont want to" wasnt an acceptable response when my dad tapped on the door and said "lets go." Kids dont want to do math either but you know what? We make them. We are the parents by the way, and the way our children turn out is on us. My kid isnt perfect but he knows to look you inthe eye and shake your hand, he know to finish sentences with an adult with sir/ma'am, he knows how to safely handle a gun, he knows how to politely eat at the table. My job is to prep him for the rest of his life, how he truns out after he's 18 is on him, but Im gonna make sure he's prepped and that means knowing how to survive by hunting if the world goes to **** and handbasket.

 

[Redneck in training]

When our kids were young pre-teens and teens we used to go skiing every year. They complained and bitched for just being there (Especially about eating lunch on a chair lift. We paid the money so we would use it. We didn't come here to sit in the lodge I told them. We were and still are little nutty family I guess.) When they got older they all said thank you for exposing us to skiing, bicycling etc.
Another thing is time. Parents are too busy making living. I see that the skills are often passed on every other generation. What I mean by that is that now when we are retired we have the time to expose the grandchildren to skiing, hunting, fishing, making and fixing stuff or what have you. As few people said in some of the responses they learned stuff from grandpa. So guys if you are retired and have grandchildren here is your chance to make a change.

 

[jonnyc1999]

I've been meaning to write in this thread for a few days, and being a non-native transplant to the OP's state of Virginia, and a non-hunter with hunting ambitions, my commentary might be relevant.

I never grew up in a hunting family, but we've always been outdoors people. It wasn't until I moved to VA and had a small amount of property that I really started thinking about harvesting my own meat. The first obstacle that I came on was that my rifle wasn't legal. I needed a shotgun to hunt in VA. Boom, $300. Secondly, I planned on hunting on my own property, but looking around the area found my with little to no public options for hunting. Enter the "hunt club". In my county (King Wiliam), the landscape is completely rural, but a hunt club is pretty much the only place that one can legally hunt without tracking down and gaining the permission of the landowner. EVERYTHING is private land. Hunt clubs are traditional men's hangouts, with sometimes 4 generations of hunters as members. In addition to not feeling invited ("not from around here"), you sometimes have to be put on a waiting list or vouched for to gain membership.

Then, there's all of the "gear" that I had no idea whether I needed or not.I think what others said about mentorship being important couldn't be more accurate. I've only been hunting a few times since I first started, but I couldn't tell you 100% that what I did was correct or even 100% legal! The laws are very complicated. I mean seriously, do you really need A BOOK to tell me the rights and wrongs of hunting?

There are a few other barriers to entry that I can think of, but the main ones for me were the cost, lack of accessability, and lack of confidence in what I was doing. I would like to go hunting more often, but until I find someone to take me under their wing I'll probably just scavenge some venison from coworkers.

 

[dave1949]

I've been meaning to write in this thread for a few days, and being a non-native transplant to the OP's state of Virginia, and a non-hunter with hunting ambitions, my commentary might be relevant.

I never grew up in a hunting family, but we've always been outdoors people. It wasn't until I moved to VA and had a small amount of property that I really started thinking about harvesting my own meat. The first obstacle that I came on was that my rifle wasn't legal. I needed a shotgun to hunt in VA. Boom, $300. Secondly, I planned on hunting on my own property, but looking around the area found my with little to no public options for hunting. Enter the "hunt club". In my county (King Wiliam), the landscape is completely rural, but a hunt club is pretty much the only place that one can legally hunt without tracking down and gaining the permission of the landowner. EVERYTHING is private land. Hunt clubs are traditional men's hangouts, with sometimes 4 generations of hunters as members. In addition to not feeling invited ("not from around here"), you sometimes have to be put on a waiting list or vouched for to gain membership.

Then, there's all of the "gear" that I had no idea whether I needed or not.I think what others said about mentorship being important couldn't be more accurate. I've only been hunting a few times since I first started, but I couldn't tell you 100% that what I did was correct or even 100% legal! The laws are very complicated. I mean seriously, do you really need A BOOK to tell me the rights and wrongs of hunting?

There are a few other barriers to entry that I can think of, but the main ones for me were the cost, lack of accessability, and lack of confidence in what I was doing. I would like to go hunting more often, but until I find someone to take me under their wing I'll probably just scavenge some venison from coworkers.

Virginia has some high season bag limits, plus you can buy more it seems. That's good news to deer hunters. I can see the complications with the various counties, east/west of the Blue Ridge, etc. Regulations are not usually easy to read, especially when they are peppered with exceptions and options.

Maybe you could hook up with someone who farms and has a deer nuisance problem to solve the land access issue?

 

[TripleR]

Then, there's all of the "gear" that I had no idea whether I needed or not.I think what others said about mentorship being important couldn't be more accurate. I've only been hunting a few times since I first started, but I couldn't tell you 100% that what I did was correct or even 100% legal! The laws are very complicated. I mean seriously, do you really need A BOOK to tell me the rights and wrongs of hunting?

There are a few other barriers to entry that I can think of, but the main ones for me were the cost, lack of accessibility, and lack of confidence in what I was doing. I would like to go hunting more often, but until I find someone to take me under their wing I'll probably just scavenge some venison from coworkers.

Many over do the gear thing and I am no exception. Being from a non-hunting family I relied on the various hunting magazines whose main goal it seems is to promote buying more and more gear. I can't tell you how many specialized knives, hatchets, binoculars etc. I've bought over the years. On my first deer, my wife and I used three different knives and used a printout on how to field dress it; what a mess then we lost the danged knives on the way out of the woods.:laughing:

My father in law used a darned Barlow pocket knife to field dress his till the day he died.

Check with your neighbors and you might get better advice from some old farmer than a member of a hunt club.

 

[300UGUY]

Went to an 80/85th birthday party for friends... I know them and their Grandchildren... not so much their children.

The Grandkids in the their 30's came from Florida, Ohio, Michigan and few other places to California with their families... all are doing well...

The common theme seems to be a willingness to relocate to wear the job takes you... I guess this is the new reality for those that are go-getters?

None of them left California because of costs... they all left because of job opportunities... even the one that is an automotive designer moving to Michigan from San Francisco.

Veey few people have moved to Michigan in the last 30 years. The state was the only one to lose population in the last census. GM has roughly 10% of the employee's that it did in the early 80's, building the same number of cars.