By Jim Heffelfinger
The importance of family to the future of our hunting heritage cannot be overstated. Studies confirm that having a personal mentor and a supportive social environment is the most important factor in becoming a hunter and staying a hunter. Since our earliest days in the caves, each generation of human hunters—that used to be all of us—passed on the tradition of hunting to future generations. That tradition was lost in more than 90% of the members of those future generations and so it is important for the rest of us to make sure we do all we can to retain hunters who will continue the be leaders in the field of wildlife conservation.
My dad grew up in the big city and so hunting was never mentioned in our house. We moved to a small rural community when I was 14 and when I heard my friends spent their weekends walking around in the woods with real shotguns shooting rabbits and squirrels I just had to learn more. After a hunter education class, a shotgun purchase at my dad’s hardware store, and a few trips to the local woods, the course of my life was irreversibly altered.
A shared interest
My interest in hunting spread to my older brother and my dad. We hunted together for a few years, not really knowing what we were doing, before college and jobs scattered us. My discovery of the outdoors led me to pursue a degree in wildlife management. That college degree fed my hunger for wildlife that grew into a passion. At the time, I liked hunting alone because I could call all the shots and go where and when I wanted. Then something magical happened, my parents retired in the Midwest and moved two blocks away. Dad, then 66 years old, said he was tired of hearing about all my hunting stories and wanted to experience them. It is unusual that a son introduces his dad to hunting. Human dimensions researchers will tell you it almost never happens, but his retirement opened the gate to so many amazing adventures.
Team Heffelfinger
My dad and I started hunting javelina the first year and he scored with a long, two-hour stalk down into a deep canyon. A deer hunt a few months later ended in similar success with a young mule deer buck. With some luck, we also had elk tags, and he ended his first year of real hunting with three big game animals under his belt and a freezer full of game meat.
Suddenly a whole new world was opened to him, and we started hunting just about everything we could. The time we have spent together is unique and very special. It was an amazing experience to hunt not only with another person, but with your dad.
My oldest son Levi completed hunter education at the age of 10 and was chomping at the bit to get into big game hunting. His first successful hunt was an ancient Corsican ram from the Hill Country. The ram may have been older than him. That hunt began a long string of deer, elk, pronghorn, and javelina hunts with three generations of Heffelfingers working together to outwit and out-sit the animals we pursued in the forests, brushlands, and grasslands.
Plugging the generation gap
Baby boomers returned from World War II with new marksmanship and outdoor skills and a strong feeling of self-reliance. The desire to get outdoors was natural for this generation that mostly grew up on a farm or in a rural setting. The generations that followed saw social changes that took them farther and farther from nature and direct contact with the land. More of the American population lives in the city and fewer people knew how meat got to the table. Even though I was raised in the city, I spent some weekends at my uncle’s meat processing plant watching steers go from feedlot to freezer. Show me a kid who raised a 4-H steer and sold it to the highest bidding slaughterhouse, and I’ll show you a well-adjusted kid who understands the world.
Communicating with your children
Anthropologists tell us that the incredible development of the complex human brain was the result of the increasing need to communicate and coordinate abstract plans associated with hunting animals. Communication can be a powerful thing in the development of a human brain, especially a teenage one. There is no better way to open up communication with your children than to be participants in the physical and mental challenges that hunting provides. Having three generations of Heffelfingers hunting together has done remarkable things for our family and I don’t think we are unique in that regard. I could write thousands of words about the benefits of hunting to wildlife conservation in North America. I know because I’ve done it, but closer to home are the real benefits it provides me and my family.
Bonding between family members across generations is something that is hard to purposely orchestrate, but hunting provides the opportunity because you are separated from the distractions of everyday life while you work together to achieve a common goal. Passing on your knowledge of the outdoors to the next generation of hunter-conservationists gives you a great sense of heritage being passed on to the future. This started thousands of generations before Team Heffelfinger was assembled and, with our help and vigilance, will continue for thousands more generations.
Read the full story in the May/June issue of The Journal, on newsstands now. Become a member today and have The Journal delivered to your home.
