The rationale behind recruiting new hunters is sound : hunters drive conservation . And pay for it . And each year there are fewer and fewer of us . When the sport-hunting population dwindles , conservation money dwindles , habitat dwindles and wildlife dwindles .

For years fish and game agencies and conservation groups have been urging hunters to “ take a kid hunting .” Fine .

Do that . But then take a 20- to 40-yearold hunting because that ’ s the potential hunter who can afford to become a real hunter . A serious hunter . A fanatical hunter who spends hundreds and thousands of dollars annually on licenses , tags , applications , guns , ammunition , bows , arrows and conservation conventions .

This is no tra-la-la , whooptee-doo , feel-good talking point . This is down and dirty , blood and guts , survival of the fittest necessity . An unceasing increase in the human population with its demands for housing , energy , appliances , roads

and water fuels a steady destruction of open lands and wildlife . If North America loses the sport hunters who work to protect and rebuild wildlife habitat , it loses much of its wildlife .

If you don ’ t believe this , consider what happened to two iconic , all- American birds . In the early decades of the 20th century , the ivory-billed woodpecker and wild turkey were nearing extinction . Denizens of the deep woods and formerly abundant , both had been harassed , pushed and squeezed into remnant populations in a handful of states .

ADOBE STOCK