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How to relearn the tradition of hunting

Laura Reeve

Media Credit: Garrick Lee | Daily Trojan

It is the prerogative of old people to be offended that younger generations aren't interested in the same things that they were as children. But until recently, old people have been helpless as they watched modern youth forget pastimes in favor of newfangled technology such as the Internet and mechanical pencils.

Thanks to America's famous legal system, though, old people have finally found a way to legislate that American youth be raised as if they were on "Little House on the Prairie."

West Virginia lawmakers recently approved a bill allowing hunting education to be taught in classes where at least 20 children express interest, the New York Times reported.

Finally, old people realized that not enough kids are shooting animals with guns, and gosh dang it if they didn't do something about it.

It all started with a report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that says there has been a 20 percent drop in hunting permits over the past year.

This tragic decrease has been attributed to many causes, including a decreased rural population, absent fathers who no longer pass down the tradition of killing deer and, of course, those twin scapegoats for all that is wrong with youth today: the Internet and video games.

The interesting twist on this is that for once video games are being blamed for a decrease, rather than an increase, in violence. Apparently, children are satisfying their need to kill things by blowing up imaginary aliens on their Xboxes instead of shooting deer.

Though it wasn't mentioned by any of the indignant hunters in The New York Times article, one other possible reason for the decrease in hunting is the ever-increasing popularity of movies and books featuring anthropomorphized forest animals - no one wants to kill one of the Berenstien Bears.

Whatever the cause, hunters, like cigarette companies, know the best time to convince children to do something is when they are young. The hope is that the classroom program will spark an interest in hunting as a way of life.

Meanwhile, 17 other states have passed legislation that makes it easier to acquire hunting licenses at a younger age, and some states are dropping the minimum age requirement all together.

Only time will tell if the old people's legislation will encourage young hunters to go out and shoot some deer. Maybe the allure of having a real carcass to carry home and stuff will prove seductive for youth too hypnotized by video games. Or maybe not.

What is more important is the way the grizzled old deer hunters are using our legal system to force their habits and traditions on young folks.

It's an ingenious solution to an age-old problem, and the precedent it sets could revolutionize the way children are educated.

Old people everywhere, who surely have more free time than anyone else, are going to realize that with the help of powerful lobbyists, legislation and the public education system, kids will be behaving like they should in no time.

Where the United States Sportsmen's Alliance and the National Rifle Association once helped teach hunting to youngsters, the National Association for the Advancement of Accordion Players will soon be teaching third-through-fifth graders how to play the hand-held musical keyboard that has long since fallen into unpopularity and neglect.

They will do this only after they have taken their requisite polka class, which they will have attended after walking 15 miles barefoot in the snow to school. Uphill.

Are these archaic conventions abandoned for good reason? Or are they cultural traditions that need to be preserved for historic purposes?

For Billy Wayne Bailey, the Democratic state senator sponsoring the hunting education bill, "this is a pastime we want to preserve."

Maybe for the best. Perhaps students from every other country around the world will beat our own students at math, science and basic geography, but at least our students will know how to shoot them.



- Laura Reeve is a sophomore majoring in communication. Her column, "Folk Laur," runs Wednesdays.

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