I'm a rather cynical old fart [is that term redundant?] and have been quite worried that as we old hunters leave the field there will be fewer young hunters to take our place. I was fortunate to be one of the volunteers at the JAKES event. Let me tell you, a lot of my cynicism is now gone. I was in the .22 rimfire section and we had more enthusiastic kids than I could imagine. And the parents? They were every bit as jazzed as their kids. Lots of kids around 7 or 8 and some were young teenagers. What really struck me is how many girls were there. The little ladies absolutely loved shooting! Many of the parents had never held a rifle, not even a BB gun, and they asked if they could shoot. Sure, why not. After shooting once they asked if they could come back and shoot some more. Everyone I met was completely respectful and polite and everyone obeyed all the rules of safety. One hell of an event.
And....Let me tell you, if you think the characters on TV's "Mountain Men" and "Life Below Zero" are something to behold, a lot of the volunteers, the black powder enthusiasts, for example, were REAL characters, totally knowledgeable on US History and the firearms that paved the way for the generations that followed. They were justifiably proud of their black powder rifles and pistols, most of which were custom made by hand. Talk to them for 10 minutes and look at the beards and long hair and all the black powder ornaments and you'd think you were talking to Daniel Boone or Jim Bridger in person.
Hats off and a salute to Steve [ilovesprig] for busting his ass to put the whole hootenanny on and to all the volunteers who gave their time and effort. The God Lord Willing and The Cricks Don't Rise, I will be back again next year and I hope some of you who couldn't make it this year will be there next year. It gives you hope that hunting and the shooting sports won't disappear.
