Thinning the herd

[Country Bumpkin]

Man, some of you guys about have me in tears, seriously. I sincerely appreciate these 9 pages of thoughts, emotions and plans. I'm only 38 and am very fortunate that I have two little venison eating and shooting kids (9 year old girl and 11 year old boy). I also have very good health. We spend our fair share of time in the mountains (I've posted several stories of my kids "firsts" and our adventures together). The only down side for us is that we have too many good options for good times (we also ski, dirt bike, backpack, mountain bike and both kids play competitive travel sports which take considerable time and budget), so sometimes we don't spend as much in shooting and guns as we'd all like (need more time and more fun money).

All of this got me thinking. For those of you with no interested heirs to receive your guns/supplies… I propose an idea to you. While I do agree that there are less and less kids each year that want to hunt, I think there are kids out there that want or need something more in their life. Some kids don't have dads, some don't have dads with an interest/knowledge, some kids are just lost and need mentorship and something hard to struggle through.

I grew up with a Dad that didn't hunt (he'd hunted a little in college but he didnt catch the bug). I knew from a very young age that I was meant to be a hunter, but I had nobody to teach me. My dad could tell that it wasn't just a passing interest and set out to find me some mentors (he is a great man and I'll forever be indebted to him for the way he raised me). He paired me up with a few unrelated gentlemen that showed me the ropes over the years. They taught me just enough to be safe and pointed me in the right direction for which magazines I should subscribe to. I read through each issue and nearly memorized them. Dad allowed me to buy whatever guns/ammo I could afford with my earnings and he drove me to the range and to the field whenever I wanted. He and my mentors fostered my love of the outdoors. Without that group of men I would have never stood a chance.

I propose that some of you guys set out to find some kids that need a lifelong passion, a new challenge and some mentorship. Ask the local HS football coach, ask the guidance counselor, ask around in your circle of friends. It won't be easy, you'll feel awkward at first and there will be some closed doors (new laws don't allow school officials to release much info). BUT, if you find some kids that need it, you stand to benefit from finding someone worthy of giving your guns to. It may take years, it may not work, but I believe it's a worthy endeavor.

In my opinion it's better to give your sentimental pieces to someone that you know and someone that will truly appreciate them.

Thanks to all for the heavy reading tonight.

 

[Nimrod]

Copy that. I was thinking of dipping my toes into gun shows and see what I need to do there. I'm thinking it would be best to take them out of CO if that were the case. CO has a stupid 3 day waiting period.

I didn't know about the waiting period but out of state could be an option, especially for long guns. Hand guns are a little different. Even living in a gun friendly state when I sell a handgun I get a bill of sale and a copy of a state issued ID along with a signed statement that the purchaser is not prevented from owning a firearm. I don't know how far you are from Wyoming but they are also a gun friendly state.

While I have sold a few guns on Gunbroker, I really prefer face to face cash transactions. I never use any form of electronic payment for guns and I don't use paypal at all as they are very anti gun and will lock your account and seize your funds.

 

[Mark37082]

°

Man, some of you guys about have me in tears, seriously. I sincerely appreciate these 9 pages of thoughts, emotions and plans. I'm only 38 and am very fortunate that I have two little venison eating and shooting kids (9 year old girl and 11 year old boy). I also have very good health. We spend our fair share of time in the mountains (I've posted several stories of my kids "firsts" and our adventures together). The only down side for us is that we have too many good options for good times (we also ski, dirt bike, backpack, mountain bike and both kids play competitive travel sports which take considerable time and budget), so sometimes we don't spend as much in shooting and guns as we'd all like (need more time and more fun money).

All of this got me thinking. For those of you with no interested heirs to receive your guns/supplies… I propose an idea to you. While I do agree that there are less and less kids each year that want to hunt, I think there are kids out there that want or need something more in their life. Some kids don't have dads, some don't have dads with an interest/knowledge, some kids are just lost and need mentorship and something hard to struggle through.

I grew up with a Dad that didn't hunt (he'd hunted a little in college but he didnt catch the bug). I knew from a very young age that I was meant to be a hunter, but I had nobody to teach me. My dad could tell that it wasn't just a passing interest and set out to find me some mentors (he is a great man and I'll forever be indebted to him for the way he raised me). He paired me up with a few unrelated gentlemen that showed me the ropes over the years. They taught me just enough to be safe and pointed me in the right direction for which magazines I should subscribe to. I read through each issue and nearly memorized them. Dad allowed me to buy whatever guns/ammo I could afford with my earnings and he drove me to the range and to the field whenever I wanted. He and my mentors fostered my love of the outdoors. Without that group of men I would have never stood a chance.

I propose that some of you guys set out to find some kids that need a lifelong passion, a new challenge and some mentorship. Ask the local HS football coach, ask the guidance counselor, ask around in your circle of friends. It won't be easy, you'll feel awkward at first and there will be some closed doors (new laws don't allow school officials to release much info). BUT, if you find some kids that need it, you stand to benefit from finding someone worthy of giving your guns to. It may take years, it may not work, but I believe it's a worthy endeavor.

In my opinion it's better to give your sentimental pieces to someone that you know and someone that will truly appreciate them.

Thanks to all for the heavy reading tonight.

This is a great idea. My brain is struggling with the "how to go about finding kids needing a mentor". My first thought would be to ask a good friend who is very active in the Boy Scouts. Sadly, the Boy Scouts have been demonized with scandals in recent years. Getting kids out fishing and hunting IMO is one of the best methods to set a great trajectory for their life.

 

[crazymonkey]

I currently do a giveaway here in Arizona to promote youth hunting . It's my 3rd year and each year the guns and gear get better and the entries get more and more .

 

[crazymonkey]

Quick link to the giveaway. https://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/121646-2024-youth-giveaway/?do=getNewComment

 

[Country Bumpkin]

Quick link to the giveaway. https://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/121646-2024-youth-giveaway/?do=getNewComment

This is awesome!!!

 

[crazymonkey]

Thanks . It's really come together in the last year or two . Last year's winners were two young ladies first and second and one young man for 3rd . The first place was a savage 7-08 package and it was promptly put to work with the young lady taking a nice deer. I can't post the pictures as dad hasn't made it public yet but the ear to ear smile is definitely worth the cost.

 

[tysonmax]

I've really enjoyed reading the posts in this thread. Seems like it's a topic that really should be thought about and discussed with those close to you and some kind of plan be put in place ahead of time. I started reading the thread the other day and it made me start thinking about the future. Mainly, will my little guy still be interested in the outdoors and shooting sports as he gets older and want the my gun collection? For now, he always asks to come with me to the range, but he's still a little young... just turned 5 years old in November and I don't think he's quite ready yet. But boy does he love watching the hunting shows on Sportsman's and Outdoor channels. I even walked into my home office this morning only to find him looking through some of my hunting magazines

 

[comfisherman]

°

This is a great idea. My brain is struggling with the "how to go about finding kids needing a mentor". My first thought would be to ask a good friend who is very active in the Boy Scouts. Sadly, the Boy Scouts have been demonized with scandals in recent years. Getting kids out fishing and hunting IMO is one of the best methods to set a great trajectory for their life.

As out of style as it may have come, local church is where my mentors came from and where several of the young guys I hunt with came from. Even the conservative denominations have the same concentration of single mother predominance.

 

[crazymonkey]

Thanks . It's really come together in the last year or two . Last year's winners were two young ladies first and second and one young man for 3rd . The first place was a savage 7-08 package and it was promptly put to work with the young lady taking a nice deer. I can't post the pictures as dad hasn't made it public yet but the ear to ear smile is definitely worth the cost.

Alright I can finally add pictures to the story! This is Lacy last year's giveaway 1st place winner and her deer taken with the rifle/ scope,and ammo package.

 

[Murtfree]

Reading everyone's posts in this thread made me realize I am not the only one making some hard decisions about what I have accumulated over the years. I have 3 kids who I thought would be where my collection would go, but times have definitely changed on how the younger generations think. I still have my fathers and grandfathers guns and would never sell them. My kids have no interest in shooting or hunting although I tried to get them interested. Their only interest if I were to leave things to them would be "how much do you think I could sell them for?". The younger generation seems to have any interest in sentimental or "old" things. And I realize I'm not the only one. I've watched it happen to friends who had other items that they had their entire lives and wanted to leave to their kids only to find out the kids wanted to dump the cherished "old" things for a pile o' cash to spend on something new. So, as I got older I decided I was going to sell some items off and enjoy myself in retirement, although that plan hasn't worked out quite as I anticipated. I retired 2 years ago at age 60 and have been hit with one limiting heath factor after another since then. My plan was to go on at least one major hunting trip a year. I did make it on a Dall Sheep hunt last year but it wasn't easy and had to cut out early but I did get my sheep. This years hunt is up in the air for Sheep, Grizzly and Moose but the outfitter is a great guy and working with me on my limitations.

Anyway, back to thinning. Last year I took about 20 hunting rifles to my LGS who was going to help me sell them on commission; we had talked about it for years but it was time to get off my *ss. When he looked at them he shot me a price for the lot instead of waiting for them to sell individually. After a few minutes of thought, I decided it was a lot easier to walk out the door with a check in hand then maybe wait a year or more for them all to sell. At this point would an extra few hundred or thousand dollars change the outcome of my life; probably not? It's funny how we view things differently as we get older. In my younger days I would have tried to squeeze every last dollar out of each gun. But at this point in life "easy" was much more important than a few bucks.

The selling bug sort of set in and I auctioned off a few Class III's with one of the auction houses this fall. I thought I would never sell these but with age and physical problems setting in would I really ever take them out and shoot them anymore. After they were gone it was much easier than I thought and now I am considering selling everything except a few select guns that I hunt or shoot on a somewhat regular basis.

Reloading equipment and components are a completely different ball of wax and have no clue where to start since there is a room filled to the ceiling. Everyone that I know that knows how to use what I have, are older or in worse condition than myself and in the last few years I have acquired some of their items.

Aging and the physical problems that have begun to set in as a part of it, have really gotten my attention.

 

[Rosebud]

One of my best friends has been committed to a facility that can handle aggressive dementia patients. He went downhill very fast, but there was a family history for this. But about 18 years ago I gave him a CZ 550 in .270 win. One of the most accurate factory rifles I've seen. His son was going through his guns trying to figure out what to do so I let him know that I had given him the rifle and if no family member wanted it I'd buy it from him. As it turned out they were planning to give it back to me as a remembrance of him. Then a female cousin that had hunted with him sense she was a little girl said she wanted Uncle #$@&s .270.. It wasn't the same.270 he had used when they had hunted together then, but I said let me have it and I'll fix things up for her. He had let his guns get in poor condition over the last couple of years, but the CZ had weathered it well. 0000 steel wool removed any slight rust, and there wasn't much of it. New 30 mm rings and a leupold VXR 3-9x50 firedot reticle, Replacing the very old Burris that had been on it. She sat at my kitchen table and cried when she was given his rifle and the 50 rounds of ammo I'd loaded up for it. Which brought some moisture to my eyes also. I'd told a story about my scariest outdoor events, where something was following me back to my truck after dark in lower Alabama woods. Then jumped onto the bumper of my Tahoe as I was getting in. He was the guy. He doesn't remember who I am now. Very sad !

 

[Korhil78]

I have hunted all of my life. I have never been a gun collector though. I have 3 rifles and two shotguns that fill every niche that I hunt in. I have one AR and one pistol for personal defense. My son loves to hunt as well and I have taught him the same practice.

And I'm not saying there is anything wrong with gun collecting. To each their own.

 

[Mark37082]

I have been on an upgrade path for several years. Several of my old rifles and handguns have either been sold or traded in for something different. I have talked myself out of buying another safe many times. I believe the temptation to fill it up would exacerbate my problem. Realistically I have more than I need at this point.

My father was not into hunting or shooting. He had several handguns that were never shot and a couple received from my Grandfather. He gave them to my sister's boys as he believed I had too many. I really don't attach sentimental value to firearms, but would have loved to have received the German Luger from WWII from my Grandfather. My nephews sold it at a gun show.