Tactical is what sells and it seems like in the old days, many shooters got their start hunting but that's not necessarily true any more.
Had a conversation with an employee of a gun store recently, he was asking about a firearm to take along for small game on a big game backpack hunt. I asked him what kind of small game and he really had no idea. Where he'd be hunting, grouse was going to be about it for edible small game so I recommended a good .22 pistol with a red dot sight. No go, he wanted a rifle (was gonna carry two) and already had his sights set on one. He wanted a specific gun, with a lot of cool features rather than a small packable gun that was better suited to what he was going to be using it for. Seems pretty common these days.
