"Kids today spend half as much time outside as kids 20 years ago," Rab Cummings, Youth Education Director of Ducks Unlimited.
Yes, fellow hunters, it's once again time for the outdoor philanthropists to dig deep and contribute to America's most trusted conservation organization — Ducks Unlimited.
For the outdoor-minded businessman or corporate group, I'm making a special effort this year to get the word out because Ducks Unlimited has seen the problem I have been talking about ever since I became an outdoors writer and they see it clearly.
The next generation of American sportsmen will make or break the spirit of the original idea of Aldo Leopold.
Conservation-minded children are now few and far between as the challenge of the great outdoors seems to lessen for the more quickened paces of a generation motivated by instant gratification.
Sadly, they say our children are under fathered and over mothered, somehow missing out on that special right of passage brought about when a knowledgeable father or other mentor passes on the great gift of an upbringing in the great outdoors. The key words are respect and responsibility.
Ducks Unlimited now recognizes this fact and supports the No Child Left Outside program. To get this underway, it will need funding from the world of hunters that we all belong.
Some will contribute with direct contributions, while others, like me, will devote their time to the mentoring program. Let me make this very clear, we need both the donations and the time with the next generation as the dilemma is worsening into epic proportions.
It is unthinkable to visualize the result of a sky full of mallards with no one to hunt them, due to malaise and the lack of interest. With no hunters to support the conservation programs, the waterfowl and other species will, in fact, radically disappear, not from the hunter's gun or natural disasters, but lack of funding by hunters.
Anti-hunters, who contribute little to the effort, will stand in amazement, expecting the wildlife to increase with the decline of hunters. Not so, as we the hunters, have been paying for the conservation programs all along.
With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world's largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl organization with more than 12 million acres conserved.
Due to human expansion, the United States alone has lost more than half of its wetlands, nature's most productive ecosystem, and we continue to lose more than 80,000 wetland acres important to waterfowl each year.
The other problem is even worse. We are losing thousands of potential new hunters as they are pulled away from the outdoors as they are fattened in front of television sets, computers and video games, never to see the reality of a true life adventure.
This can easily be reversed at the excitement of a circling flock of mallards as you hear the rush of air against their wings as they commit to the decoys.
The sights and sounds of this stirs the primeval instincts of the hunter, leaving the participant invigorated with a great lesson learned.
There is pride and honor in waterfowl hunting, owning the well-trained retriever dog, mastering the skill of the wingshot and the camaraderie of hunting partners.
But most of all, it is the lasting respect we develop for nature, while we watch that new generation grow, respecting the same things that we the American sportsmen love.
So each year, we are gathered to the call of contributing our time and money to the great cause of Ducks Unlimited.
Pass it on.
John Simeone is an outdoors writer for Louisiana Road Trips Magazine, along with being a member of the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association. He can be reached by e-mail at fptopgun@bellsouth.net.
Leesville, La. —
