Page 35 - Mar/Apr 2022 Outdoor Okahoma Magazine

When I was growing up, my mother would
often see me struggling with something. tODD CrAIGHEAD/ODWC
Maybe it was trying to climb the ladder on
the slide at the playground, trying to zip up
my coat or brush my teeth. Just when I was
getting frustrated and about to give up, she
would say, “Todd, don’t forget – attitude is
everything!”
Now as an adult, I hear myself repeating that
nearly every day. Attitude IS everything! Sure,
we’re comfortably coasting along right now,
but a lackadaisical, selfish attitude will end up
being the demise of hunting in America.
Matt Dunfee, a professor, hunter, and
trained social scientist with the Wildlife
Management Institute, has done most of
the leading research on a subject that we all
should find very interesting: What does it
take to make a hunter?
First, he identified who is a hunter in
North America. Think of yourself and where
you fall in line here:
• 13.7 million out of 580 million people.
• Nearly nine in 10 hunters is male.
• 94 percent of hunters are Caucasian.
• A hunter’s average age is 42.
• About half of all hunters are college
graduates.
• A majority of hunters’ households
earn $50,000 or more annually.
Then, Dunfee and the Wildlife Management
Institute dug further and desperately want-
ed to know when and how hunters got started:
• 70 percent of hunters started at age 20 or younger. The truth is it takes a hunter to make a hunter. And
• More than 50 percent had hunted at least once by it’s not a flash-in-the-pan, one-time experience that pro-
age 12. duces results. Your first time hunting no doubt sparked
• Nearly 100 percent of hunters said a mentor and a an interest. But what made the difference for most was
social support system were involved. the one-on-one, long-term investment someone made in
Most hunters are hunters today largely due to one per- your life.
son in their past that took them under their wing. Many I’ll be the first to admit that there are always excep-
were related to that one person. tions, but should we rest the fate of hunting’s future on
isolated exceptions?
tODD CrAIGHEAD/ODWC will continue to do what it does well – man-
I guarantee you the Wildlife Department
age resources, increase access and oppor-
tunity, fine-tune conservation through
regulations, and carry a torch for education.
But what this all boils down to is you. Your
individual attitude toward mentoring some-
one is where the lion’s share of the differ-
ence will be made.
Are you willing to at least replace yourself
with another hunter? If you’re not willing, that
means I or another hunter will have to pick
up your slack to ensure the future of hunting.
The sooner we admit that hunting’s great-
est adversity is our own attitude, the stronger

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