As with many aspects of our society, in this case it's more about the audience than the "content providers," as they're now called by some.
I have no doubt there are writers/hunters who could be as poetical as any of the older writers, but the sad fact is that today there's almost no market for such stories. This wasn't true as recently as 25-30 years ago, but not now.
Part of the problem isn't just ADD, but the fact that the world is increasingly urban. There's less land open to hunting, especially public hunting, so hunters don't get to spend as much time in the field. This is exacerbated by the simple fact that most hunters live in cities surrounded by suburbs, so it takes even longer to get to hunting country. As a result, hunters have become more dependent on their gear than hunting skill, so tend to obsess over technology, hoping it will make everything come together in the relatively little time they have to hunt.
Which is exactly why so many of today's "hunting" magazines are more about gear than hunting techniques. During the off-season we can fool around in our man-caves with reloading, changing scopes, and tinkering with triggers. It also explains why do many rifle loonies sell one custom rifle about as soon as it's sighted-in, or even sell the parts before they're put together. They're searching for the rifle that will change their lives, when if they could actually hunt more they might even be happy with one rifle, chambered for an antique cartridge instead of the chambering of the month.
John that's as good an explanation of what I was thinking as I have read. Well said.I have no doubts about the writer's abilities today....it's the market they play to...
Pal Rick told me that a scope company rep at Shot Show or Safari this year, told him less than half of scope sales today go to hunters...their marketing tells them the majority of scopes are sold to shooters.
Based on a lot of what I see,there are fewer hunters out there.Besides, who knows grouse hunting like Burton Spiller had....unless it's Battue.
