Most people today, even hunters are more urban/suburban than they were even forty years ago. That means less opportunity. A kid running around the neighborhood with a BB gun means some Karen is calling the cops. That means less shooting. Forget .22s.
Far more deer and the like today than there used to be and much more generous seasons. That means instead of out roaming the woods for squirrels and rabbits, people are sitting in deer stands in September and October. Less shooting.
I was in my twenties before I ever saw an actual range, but by that time I had killed countless small animals. Not many deer…we didn’t have many then.
Anyway, like practically every other activity for todays suburban kids, shooting is a lot more structured than it used to be. That means for most kids it is less frequent and more expensive. Kids my age kind of figured it out on our own and tried ridiculous shots. Whether it was trying to hit a sycamore ball out of the top of a tree offhand or trying to pop a squirrel in the head with a .22 from 150 yards it’s stuff a lot of kids just don’t get the opportunity to do these days.
It’s just the way the world is changing. You know I played a lot of baseball when I was a kid, but nowadays a kid in travel baseball plays more baseball games in a season than I played my entire life and as a result is a lot more polished player than I ever was.
In some things kids have lot more practice than we did as kids and in some others I think they have less. Shooting is one of those things in which I think lots of kids have less opportunities than rural kids did forty years or so did.
