Dr. Bob Norton is on sabbatical. It is, after all, hunting season, and in his native Wisconsin that means chasing ruffed grouse, ducks and white-tailed deer. “There’s no better time of year,” says Norton. Besides, Norton, a retired psychology instructor from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, has worked long enough. And his contribution to sportsmen could give state and federal wildlife managers a better idea on how to recruit—and retain—hunters in the future.
Norton may be soft spoken, but when it comes to the future of hunting, his passion runs deep. And some of his opinions, rooted in his own research, run contrary to contemporary thinking.
In 2007, Norton’s research—more than two decades worth studying the personal motivations, behavior and ethics of hunters—was published as a book: “The Hunter: Developmental Stages and Ethics,” a collaboration with his late friend and fellow psychologist Bob Jackson.
“The project was supposed to last four years, but it ended up taking 25,” said Norton.
Consider: The idea for the research came in 1975 when CBS broadcast the documentary “Guns of Autumn,” which, Norton says, was a biased, anti-hunting expose` that portrayed hunters as little more than knuckle-dragging thugs.
“After that, I wanted to really examine what made hunters tick,” he said. “I felt the documentary was extremely unfair to hunters.”
Norton conducted interviews with roughly 5,000 duck and bow-hunters, most from Wisconsin, and several had follow-up interviews. After analyzing the data, Norton and Jackson discovered that hunters seemingly pass through five “developmental” stages (shooter, limiting out, trophy hunting, method hunting and sportsman), which became the book’ foundation.
“What became abundantly clear with the research is that hunters evolve as they pass through these stages,” he said. “Their motivations for hunting were different at each stage.
For example, in the shooter-stage hunters want an opportunity to shoot game. In the sportsman stage, the final stage, hunters simply want to be in the field.
“That’s all the satisfaction they needed as hunters, to be out in the wild, hunting,” Norton said, in an article in Delta Waterfowl Magazine. “Ultimately, the thrill of the kill becomes less important.”
Based on his research, Norton believes today’s hunting-recruitment efforts at the state level should be reconsidered. He believes more emphasis should be placed on hunter education, which should target ethics and behavior. He’s worried about the national trend to allow kids as young as 10 years old to hunt with a mentor, especially without hunter education.
While he fully supports the mentor concept, he worries that some children may be too young to hunt.
“I completely understand why some groups are pushing to reduce hunting barriers for kids, but we have a difference of opinion on how kids should come into hunting,” he said. “I think when we take a 10-year-old kid, give him a gun and have him kill an animal, we are almost forcing the kill aspect of the hunt on him.”
Norton believes that many young children aren’t psychologically mature enough to handle the moral complexities of killing at such a tender age.
“When you look at the brain development of a 9- or 10-year-old and compare it to a 12- or 14-year-old, they are very different,” he said. “I really believe some of our wildlife managers have no understanding of child development and how the brain develops. I think their intentions are good, but I’m fearful we’re going down the wrong path with our kids.”
If we want lifelong hunters, Norton says more children need to be immersed in nature before hunting.
“Before we put kids in the duck marsh or the tree stand, we need to get them into the woods, teach them about nature,
let them explore and use their own imaginations,” he said. “We need to spend more time with them in the outdoors, one-on-one, answer their questions, and teach them to respect wild animals and their habitats. So instead of saying I want to take you hunting, the kid says, ‘Dad, I want go hunting with
you.’”
Without that well-rounded outdoors experience, Norton says he fears kids will ultimately give up hunting, because their expectations will only be satisfied if they kill an animal.
“I hope I’m wrong, but I think what’s going to happen is that we’re going to put all these youth hunting programs together, like we are now, and we’re going to get kids out shooting at such a young age, and I think by the time they’re 16 or 17 they’re going to lose interest, because they haven’t had that “experience,” he said. “Many of the hunters we interviewed felt that hunter education itself should be expanded over a period of time after a kid gets his/her hunter education certificate at age 12,” he said. “They wanted more opportunities to come back and get additional education. They believe it was needed.”
Since Norton’s book has been released, he’s been tapped to speak at a number of hunter education forums—large and small—across the country. He occasionally gets jeered for his opinions, but he believes the dialogue is constructive. “Dissent is good,” he said. “Hunters need to communicate more, not less.”
Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. —
