Attitudes About Children Learning to Hunt: Implications for Game Management

摘要

We analyzed 25,553 responses to a flash poll conducted in November 2005 on the ESPN Outdoors website, asking respondents to indicate at what age children should be taken on their first hunt. Response categories were: 8-10, 11-13, 14-16, and never. The data were aggregated at the state level and reported as percentages by age category. There was considerable variation across states with respect to the percentage of respondents who indicated that children should never be taken hunting. At least 40% of the respondents in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island indicated that children should never be taken hunting. By contrast, in South Dakota and Wyoming only 7% of the respondents indicated that children should never be taken hunting. We identify several factors that influenced the percentage of respondents in each state who indicated that children should never be taken hunting, including: the percentage of the 16-and-over population that hunts or fishes, the percentage 2004 vote for President Bush, the percent rural population, median family income, and hunting/fishing expenditures per sportsman.