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Youth Hunting: Our Kids Deserve Nothing Less Our quarry was Canada geese, and I could tell this was serious business from the tone in my dad's voice when he cautioned, "don't move". Back then, honkers weren't as abundant as they are today. I remember my dad's eyes getting very big as the birds approached. He was "calling the shot" for the group and was looking out over the field. I saw his hands grip tighter on his pump shotgun, and even though this was my first dance, I new what the song promised next. With the shots, my small feet were spinning as I rambled down the pile of straw towards a fallen bird that looked bigger than any critter I had ever seen. I remember the men laughing as I tried to drag the huge goose to where we were hiding. I was so proud, I never wanted to let to let go of that bird. I'll never forget the way the feathers smelled and how soft they were in my little fingers. I was hooked. As waterfowlers, we all have stories of the beginnings of our own personal hunting tradition. It's clear and strong and is a big part of what makes us who we are. The bottom line: waterfowling is serious business to us, and its future is in question in Canada. It is with this feeling in our hearts and souls that we all hope so strongly that our hunting tradition will continue in North America. In Canada, where I live, hunting has been in decline for many years. In the 1970s, Canada had more than half a million resident duck hunters. Today there are only about 140,000 of us left. I started working for Delta Waterfowl in 1998 at a time when Canadian hunters, myself included, were losing hope for their beloved traditions. Canadians were facing new, more restrictive firearms regulations. An increasingly urbanized society seemed less tolerant of hunting and firearms. Moreover, there was no clear, nationally coordinated effort to defend hunting and gun ownership. Then came a ray of light. The Canadian Wildlife Service, in conjunction with several provincial wildlife management departments, developed a proposal to allow a special youth waterfowling season as a way of encouraging recruitment of new duck hunters. Our small staff at Delta Waterfowl was overjoyed by this bit of good news. Our joy was short-lived, however. The proposed youth season required a public comment period in August of 2000, and our good news became the brunt of a concerted public attack by the Canadian Coalition for Gun Control. No national hunting voice spoke up in the mainstream media. The business of defending the youth season was left to provincial hunter/angler groups and an understaffed Delta Waterfowl. With the non-participation of several large conservation organizations, we realized for the first time that the urbanized Canadian landscape had left us orphaned. Thanks to some last-second lobbying, the youth season was barely saved with its preservation borne as much by good luck as good planning. In September of 2000, in partnership with the Manitoba Wildlife Federation and Manitoba Conservation (provincial agency), Delta Waterfowl hosted the first organized Canadian youth duck hunt at historic Delta Marsh. Sixteen eager young hunters and a dozen mentors took part. From this first hunt, the youth waterfowling program has now spread to five other provinces and 12 states in only a few years. Delta Waterfowl has emerged from its struggles to defend hunting in Canada a little bruised, but wiser, with a clear strategy to secure the future of waterfowling in Canada and the U.S. Future generations of Canadian and American kids deserve the opportunity to hide in a haystack with their dad on a cool fall morning, hearing the distant calls of the birds getting closer and closer, and Delta is committed to making sure our hunting heritage continues. ‘No national hunting voice spoke up. The business of defending the youth season was left to provincial hunter/angler groups and an understaffed Delta Waterfowl.' |
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