Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Millennial males........is it just me?

A lot of it is due to what a culture or society values. To paraphrase Ruark, "if you go to do away with the old ways and traditions, you better have something of value to replace them with,".

There are a lot of people here who I don't know...I don't know what they do for a living, but yet I recognize. All my life I've heard mid-management guys who were brainwashed by corporate types into thinking that manual labor jobs aren't worth anything. Thus, all these [bleep] you guys are griping about, men with flannel shirts and civil war beards who are utterly useless at changing a tire, can all work computers like there's no tomorrow. Computer skills and the like are worth lots of money. OTOH a guy I know worked for an Implement company that sold out to a bigger one. The owners came in and told him he was making too much money as a mechanic. This guy had been sent to all the schools and knew what he was doing, yet they'd rather do it all over again with somebody else. You see stuff like this time and again. Another guy I went to school with is a talented mechanic. He works on stuff for old guys who won't pay up. He had to go to work on the railroad to support his family because mechanic work just wouldn't pay. Yet doing it part time, he's always full up. He always was full-time too. Nobody would pay him decent money though. The old guys I'm talking about aren't even boomers. They're whatever you call the generation before that.

My kids know how to work. I can't speak for other kids. Daughter's boyfriend knows how to turn a wrench too.

Jim- So is it considered bad form to ask about the size of ones ranch?

I guess so, at least up here. Might be different in other areas.

It doesnt come up much at coffee, you might like to know, but you dont come out and ask.

That commercial really burns me. It's all in the owner's manual, with pictures, but I guess you need an app for that these days.

Never knew that. Is asking about head of cattle or acres planted the same? Or just total acreage? Does that also hold true for leases and BLM permits?

I guess it's public record so easy enough if you're curious.

I grew up in the southeast and never had heard that before. Granted most parcels there are minuscule compared to many western counterparts.

And the type of guys that you want her to be attracted to will consider that a bonus catch.

My youngest son {22 yrs.} is an auto mechanic. He just bought his first house last fall and got married in April. The quickest learning, most talented students I've trained to build 1911's at work are in their early 20's. Both can now turn out a pretty good pistol. The worst I've attempted to train were in their late 50's and early 60's and are no longer with us..

+1

If you were to come right out and ask, you would make sure that they have less than you so you can rub it in their face!

Yeah, you would not ask another rancher how many cattle he runs, or a farmer how many acres he plants, not in passing anyway. Good friends would be different.

He will probably offer the information anyway......if he is having a wreck that year or if he topped the market!

You might ask him how many head he runs on a lease or how the farming is on that lease. He wont tell you that though, or tell you its really crappy.

Big competition for leases. Kinda like keeping your favorite fishing hole secret.

My son's 24, and he just mentioned this afternoon he'd done a break job on his truck because he didn't like the quote from the shop.... Saved himself nearly 700 buck in an afternoon's work.

My daughter, 23, doesn't know there are brakes on her car......

Hey, I tried...

Being a farmer/rancher type, and being broke and cheap all the time, I save a lot of money doing my own mechanic work. Figure it comes out to 50,000 a year in labor costs saved.


700 bucks for a break job is absurd. Good for him.

Would some town kid need to be as handy as me? I dont see why he would need to be.

He better not be hiring the lawn mowed though or the plumbing fixed for that matter.

90% of Millennials are females and gays.

Haha! Who knew it was so high a percentage?

Guess I am gonna have to break the news to my wife.

I believe there is hope as there are plenty of young men and women with mechanical talent. There are some that don't have it or will never attempt to develop any. Many have not found that they are capable yet as they haven't been forced into it. When there is a need many will step up and begin to build their confidence trying to do easy tasks, building upon their successes. Having the internet with videos on how to do stuff sure makes it easier.


I taught industrial arts/vocational from 1973 to 2015. I taught machine tool technology, woodworking and automotives. After retiring I still would visit one of my friends that taught vocational classes so I think I am aware of what is going on to some extent. So many kids I have encountered had absolutely no mechanical skills. They took more time to build up confidence in their abilities. It was a rare kid that couldn't improve upon his skill set if he or she wanted to do it. The lucky ones enrolled in one of the high school vocational classes and began to discover they were capable of doing things.

Sure there are plenty of "men" that can't or perhaps won't but there are plenty of others that are willing to try. . I think it has always been that way to some extent.

Just the other day my recently deceased friend's son talked to me about his evaporative cooler not working properly. His father always took care of it. He wanted me to show him how it worked so he could keep it working.....yep there is lots of that going on...when there is a need things often happen.

There are exceptions, of course, but societal movers and shakers have been trying to feminize men for quite a while now. Seems to be working. They are about like 1960's women.

I will have to agree with giving them a pass on repairing the car. Sure I've changed out brake pads, radiators, water pumps etc but it's been 30 years. With all of the computerized sensors etc on cars today , I find myself wondering what that little box does.

It is frowned upon but often comes up with people not involved in farm/ranch. It's kinda like asking how much money do you make...

A lot of it has to do with work ethics. I work for a well service company, and it seems that lately it is next to impossible to find young males that will do what the job requires, it seems like a revolving door as they go out the back as fast as they come in the front. I have seen some that didn't know what a grease gun was or didn't know how to size up a creasent wrench. A lot of the problem I think is they were allowed to do nothing but play video games and not made to go outside and use their imaginations. Children shouldn't have everything handed to them.

don't get me started. i work with a bunch of them in IT. most can program the fugg out of a computer but have no clue for the manlier pursuits. when i talk about building decks, and cutting down trees, etc, they look at me like i am a caveman. (which i am). prime example, we have two schitters at work and one was clogged. there was a plunger right beside the throne. somebody put an out of order sign on the door and called the landlord who is an unresponsive SOB. i went in there and plunged the fugg out of it and flushed it right down. i think i was a hero for about an hour.