Is Hunting Good for Bad Kids? 


     Is hunting good for bad kids? Does it teach violence or does it teach empathy and

compassion? Would it be a more peaceful world if more kids grew up hunting?

These are some of the questions addressed in a recent book entitled From Boys to

Men of Heart: Hunting as Rite of Passage. 

     The book’s award-winning author is Randall L. Eaton, Ph.D., a behavioral

scientist with an international reputation in wildlife conservation who has been

studying hunting for 35 years. While producing “The Sacred Hunt” in the mid-1990s,

a documentary that received 11 awards, Eaton interviewed scores of recreational

and Native American hunters all of whom used the word “respect” to describe how

they feel about animals they hunt. 

     That prompted Eaton to conduct questionnaire surveys on 2,500 mature hunters

who described their attitude toward animals they hunt as, “respect, admiration and

reverence.” Over 80% of these recreational hunters claimed they prayed for the animals

they killed or gave thanks to God. 

     Eaton’s survey also asked hunters what life event most opened their hearts and

engendered compassion in them. Choices included death of a loved one, death of a

beloved pet, becoming a parent, teaching young people and taking the life of an animal.

Women hunters overwhelmingly chose “becoming a parent,” but most of the men

chose “taking the life of an animal.” Eaton said, “These results indicate the basic

polarity of human life: woman are adapted to bring life into the world, but men are

adapted to take life to support life.” 

     The same survey asked respondents to choose those universal virtues they learned from

from hunting. The top three choices were, “inner peace, patience and humility.” Eaton

believes that inner peace and humility are the foundation of religious and spiritual

traditions across time and space. 

     Eaton insists that hunting is instinctive at least in boys who around the world start

throwing rocks between the age of 4 and 5.   His survey indicated over 90% of the men

spontaneously had killed a small animal before the age of 10, compared to less than

20% of the female hunters. 

     “These are the same men who claimed that hunting had done more to open their hearts

than any other life experience. Typically the boy cries as 8-year old Jimmy Carter did

when he threw a rock and killed a robin. I consider it no mere coincidence that Jimmy

Carter and Nelson Mandela both won the Nobel Peace Prize and both are avid hunters,”

Eaton said. 

     The book interviews Dr. Wade Brackenbury, who for 13 years led groups of

delinquent boys into the wilderness for two weeks where they had to survive off what

they could forage. Brackenbury is convinced that it was hunting small animals for food

that had the greatest transformative influence. Surveys conducted a year later indicated

that 85% of the boys had not got into trouble after their survival experience. 

     A best-selling authority on how to raise boys, Michael Gurian, also is interviewed

in Eaton’s book. He agrees that hunting does teach males compassion, and that it would

be a more peaceful world if more boys hunted. 

     The book presents compelling evidence from several disciplines that adolescent males

need rites of passage to become responsible adults. Eaton says that the original rite of

passage was hunting because it proved a young adult male could provide and qualify for

manhood and marriage. 

     “Without transformative rites of passage that open their hearts and connect them to

nature and society males may become destructive and dangerous. Untempered

masculinity is a major factor behind juvenile crime and gangs,” he said.

Inspired by Eaton’s book, Dr. Karl Milner launched H.E.F.T.Y, Hunter Education for

Troubled Youth, in Wyoming where the courts are sending juveniles to his program.

The kids are engaged in conservation work on private lands where eventually they will be

able to hunt. 

     Endorsed by the Wyoming Fish and Game Department, Eaton and Milner expect

H.E.F.T.Y. to grow across the continent. “Dr. Eaton and I see the program helping

thousands of wayward youth. It also will encourage more parents to get their kids

outdoors,” Milner said. 

     “Hunting and fishing are good for bad kids because they are good for all kids,” Eaton

added. 

                              ***********************

     To get Eaton’s newest production, “Why Hunting Is Good for Bad Kids,” visit

his website at www.randalleaton.com. To learn more about H.E.F.T.Y. visit:

www.hefty4kids.org.




For more information contact Dr. Randall Eaton at 513-244-2826 or email reaton@eoni.

com. Contact Dr. Karl Milner at 307-299-2084 or email karl@hefty4kids.org.