Young Blood: Erika Larsen Photographs the Future of Hunting
Contributing photographer Erika Larsen has been documenting the landscape of hunting and fishing since her first Field & Stream assignment...
Interviews by Thomas McCafferty and Brian McClintock If hunters are a dying breed, no one told these kids. That was the message Erika Larsen returned with after more than a year of photographing young hunters all over the country. In the face of studies that cite fading interest among youth in traditional outdoor sports, Field & Stream dispatched Larsen during last year's hunting season to get beyond the numbers. Her goal, she says, was to capture the intense connection that kids have with the natural world, to tap into their raw enthusiasm, and to get at the pure, unfettered joy of the hunt. "These kids were all hunting for the experience of it," says Larsen. "To them, anything they shoot is a trophy. They weren't looking to make it into the record books; they were just excited to be out there." If you read the latest U.S. Fish and Wildlife study, you might think there soon won't be an American child left who wants to spend time in the woods. But on the following pages are 20 future sportsmen and -women who don't care about statistics yet. They want to go hunting, and from the look in their eyes, they'll be doing it for a long time. -The Editors. Erika Larsen
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Santa Fe, N.M. “Enrique is the eighth generation of our family to hunt this land,” says David Cordova, Enrique’s father. “We call it la mesa de las viejas-“the plains of the old women. When Enrique was a year old, I put him in my backpack and hiked in and shot a bull.”
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Denton, Md. “I usually don’t have any problems waking up early to go hunting. I just jump out of bed,” says Nick Yost, who bagged around a dozen squirrels in his first season hunting last year. “I’m a pretty good shot. We shoot clays a lot for practice.” Nick’s marksmanship also led him to a successful year of whitetail hunting. “The day I got my 6-pointer was probably the most exciting day ever. I just wanted to run out of my stand as soon as I shot it.” Nick hunts with his father and younger sister on land owned by his family and friends. “She goes out goose hunting with us, which is fun, but she can be sort of loud in the blind.”
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Tower City, Pa. “I love being anywhere with Casey,” says Corey Bond (above left). “We have competitions to see who can shoot the biggest deer or which one of us gets something first. It’s better than having just a friend-“he’s there all the time.” Between football and basketball seasons, the 6-foot 7-inch twins find time to squeeze in as much hunting as they can. “If it was my choice, I’d be out in the woods every day.”
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Williamson, N.Y. “Hunting is in my blood, there’s no way around it,” says Jason Reid, 15 (above, third from left). Jason has been hunting with his father, Peter (left), since he was 2 and now is joined by his two younger brothers, Andrew, 13 (second from left), and Benjamin, 10 (right and holding flag). “I’m bowhunting now, but my brothers are always pushing for us to do more waterfowl hunting,” says Jason.
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
LaGrange, Ga. “It’s just so fun-“to spend time in nature, to enjoy God’s creation,” says Cody Doughman (above). He and his older brother Justin (next slide) have grown up close to the land, plowing and tending food plots on their family’s 3,000 acres after school, and hunting whenever they get a chance. So far no turkey has come in range of either brother, but with 17 years of hunting experience between them already, they’ve had great success with ducks and deer.
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
LaGrange, Ga. “I hunt to relax and to think about how good the woods look,” Justin says. “I bring the handheld Yahtzee with me to stay awake, stay quiet. But I see a bird and I get to jiggling.”
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Freeport, Ill. The United Sportsmen’s Youth Foundation (usyf.com), based in Freeport, Ill., provides children with hunting opportunities and aims to get them excited about the outdoors. The USYF youth hunts start with the kids gathering around the fire (above), and then they divide into groups and head into the field.
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Wonder Lake, Ill. Its success is apparent in P.J. Senn (above) of Wonder Lake, Ill., who travels two hours to participate in the hunts. “I was hyped up from shooting that pheasant,” he says. “When I go pheasant hunting I can get really wild and do crazy things because it’s so fun.”
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Freeport, Ill. “It’s great to have a dad who helps other kids,” says Nicole Walsh (below right, with her sister, Katie). Her dad, Brendan Walsh, heads up USYF. “I get to pass some of the tricks he taught me to other kids and my little sister.” Nicole and Katie have both been hunting pheasants with their dad since they were 3.
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Pecatonica, Ill. “The first time I really went hunting was at Rock Hollow with Brendan, and I just had a fantastic time,” says Will Freiburger. “I think I might have started hunting eventually, but Rock Hollow gave me a boost.” Since his first trip there two years ago, Will has started hunting whenever he can. “We just got back from a fishing and grouse hunting trip to Canada, and I’m going to North Dakota to hunt ducks this fall. Hunting makes me closer to my dad, and it gives me some time to relax and have fun.”
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Jesup, Ga. “Your adrenaline gets pumping when you have to throw that big boar hog,” says Josh David Keith (right), shown straddling a live boar on Boyle’s Island, across the river from his property. He’s caught and released nearly 200 hogs for sport and hunts old bar hogs to eat. “A bar hog’s one we’ve cut the testicles off,” he explains. “He just tastes better-“doesn’t have all that testosterone running through his body.” Josh and his father neuter some shoats to check the population, but when the river floods they rescue hundreds of hogs from the island, ferrying them back to mainland pens until the waters drop.
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Newnan, Ga. “A hog’s scary,” says Ruth Dennis (above). She went hog catching with the Keiths this July, and later hunted hogs for the first time with her .22. “You have to be careful to hit the right spot and make sure it doesn’t stay alive and charge you.” At 7, Ruth started hunting with her father and older brother, taking her first whitetail two years later. “My dad actually made me find the blood droplets that lead you to it. And I found it.”
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Newnan, Ga. Ruth’s younger sister, Mary (above, with her father), is anxious now for her first deer. “I think about what we’d do if we got one, how we’d eat it. I like using them for barbecue steaks.” Mary has been hunting for three years and knows how to judge a buck’s size at a distance, how to identify tracks, and how to recognize food sources such as acorns. She shot a gray squirrel once with a .410. “Now I want to kill a buck,” she says. “When I see one, I get kind of nervous because I want to take it home.”
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
kids with guns and the animals they killed with those rifles and shotguns and pistols are the young hunters who make up the futu
Contributing photographer Erika Larsen has been documenting the landscape of hunting and fishing since her first Field & Stream assignment in 2004. For the past year, Larsen has been traveling the country capturing the hunting experiences of children on camera. Her first photo essay for F&S, “How We Hunt” (December 2005-January 2006), garnered her a National Magazine Award nomination. Larsen’s work has appeared worldwide in over 30 publications, including Time, Fortune, Golf, and Best Life.