Twenty minutes from the highway, off an old dirt road in Colebrook, Connecticut, dozens of people are milling about, wearing bright orange hats and vests, getting ready to hunt pheasants.
There’s bacon on the grill, a place to practice target shooting, and plenty of birds to hunt.
But the hunters are not the big, burly guys you might be picturing.
“As a kid, I would say I'm decently experienced,” said 14-year-old Garrett Zagurski.
“But like, if we're talking about hunters who've been around 20, 30 years. I know nothing compared to them,” Zagurski said.
Today’s hunters are all children.
Every year, the state of Connecticut puts on a series of training days for kids ages 12-15 where they learn to hunt different animals. The goal is to promote gun safety and to get more kids excited about hunting.
Like many states across the country, Connecticut’s hunters are greying. Over half the state’s deer hunters are aged 50 or older, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and few young people are taking up the sport. Last year, 468 licenses were sold to junior hunters, down from 489 in 2023.
“There's a much smaller percentage of kids who are participating in it and that's due, in large part, because families aren't hunting like they used to,” said Tom Donlon, who coordinates hunter education programs for DEEP.
What was once a common scene in hunting circles, of kids going out on weekends to shoot with their dads, is happening less often.
“All my buddies, we all went out,” said Chris Campbell, a member of the Harwinton Rod and Gun Club, who’s been teaching kids to hunt for almost a decade.
He attributes the decline in young hunters to the growing ways kids have to entertain themselves.
“They've got soccer, they've got sports, they've got video games,” Campbell said.
And, he said, more people are getting turned off by guns.
“Because of what happened at Sandy Hook, which [was] a terrible thing," he said.
“A lot of people have preconceived ideas, whereas this is a very safe environment. You're practicing safety and you're learning a lot about people and nature.”
Zagurski doesn’t know any kids his own age who hunt and doesn’t talk to his friends about his hunting trips.
“To be honest, I usually don't tell them, and if I do, they either really don't understand what I'm saying about it or they don't care. It's kind of weird,” Zagurski said.
Hunting the pheasants
After a couple of practice shots, Zagurski makes his way up a hill to a cage full of pheasants.
The birds are not native to Connecticut and are stocked by DEEP from October to December, bringing in a total of approximately 15,000 to 20,000 birds a year.
A team of trainers, and a hunting dog named Penny, guide Zagurski through a field where the birds are hidden. Each kid gets two pheasants to hunt. After a couple of yards of bramble and grass, Penny finds the first bird.
Zagurski gets into position. A trainer opens the launcher remotely and the bird flies up.
Zagurski fires and tiny tufts of feathers fly through the air while Penny runs to get the bird.
“Good girl! Good girl!” yells Matt Funchion, Penny’s handler.
Then it’s on to the second bird. This time Penny stays next to the bird. It’s closer to real-life hunting and the stakes are higher. Zagurski needs to be careful where the bird goes so he doesn't accidentally hit Penny.
“If it stays low, you do not shoot,” said Rob Kalita, one of the trainers. “We want a good height. Above head height, alright? Plenty of room to work with.”
Zagurski pauses and takes aim. He hits the bird in the wing and Penny retrieves it.
“Perfect, you did perfect,” Kalita said.
Back at the bottom of the hill, Campbell waits for each kid and takes photos of them next to a sign that reads “Pheasant Lane.”
“This was actually a lot of fun,” said 12-year-old Evan McMaster, who promises to come back next year.
There might not be enough kids to replace the older hunters aging out of the sport, but for the kids here today on Pheasant Lane, it’s a start.
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member who covers the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public.
