TABING
Member
January 9, 2004
Shooting for a New Generation
By TATIANA BONCOMPAGNI
SITTING in a mesh-covered pit in the middle of winter was never Christopher D'Annibale's idea of fun. That is until last January when he went on his first goose
hunt on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. "It's actually not so different from golf," said Mr. D'Annibale, 33, a hedge fund manager in New York City. "It takes
patience."
Long out of favor, hunting is fast becoming a hip way to spend the weekend for the young and upwardly mobile. According to the United States Fish and Wildlife
Service, the number of hunters with household incomes of $100,000 or more increased more than 25 percent, to 1.3 million, from 1991 to 2001 (taking into account
inflation and population increases). And over the last three years alone, upscale hunting clubs like the Mashomack Preserve Club in Pine Plains, N.Y., and Pintail
Point in Queenstown, Md., report that business has grown as much as 20 percent, while high-end gun manufacturers and specialty clothing retailers say that sales of
hunting jackets and other gear are up 10 percent or more.
Most of the growth, industry watchers say, comes from an unlikely group of newcomers: adults in their late-20's to mid-40's who did not grow up hunting — and who
may have friends and family who are appalled by it. That has not stopped the new hunters from spending thousands of dollars on Barbour hunting coats and Beretta
shotguns to use in the woods near their weekend homes or to take on guided trips to hunt upland game (pheasant, partridge and other birds) in places like South
Dakota.
"Traditionally, you'd be introduced to hunting by your father or an uncle, but what's happening far more these days is younger people are taking it up and getting their
friends to come along," said Daryl Greatrex, a New York-based director of Holland & Holland, a nearly 170-year-old British hunting outfitter.
Helen Nigg, a managing partner at an Internet services company in San Francisco, grew up in Irvine, Calif., and had never held a gun until last year. But on a recent
weekend excursion to a private ranch in Sun Valley, Idaho, she shocked her friends by bringing down a chukar (a bird similar to a partridge) with one shot. "I guess I
just had this stereotype of hunting as just a bunch of big, burly guys who wear plaid and N.R.A. caps and say, `Let's go out and kill some defenseless animals,' " said
Ms. Nigg, who is planning to go bird hunting next year in Northern California. Her friends still think it is a "rednecky thing to do," she said.
Of course, hunting has long been popular among upper-crust American families, but until recently the majority of hunters came from rural communities where fathers
and sons would go out each fall to shoot a deer. But over the last 40 years, that tradition has been waning. In New York State, for instance, slightly more than
750,000 hunting licenses were sold last year, compared with 1.27 million 20 years ago.
That has encouraged hunting-related companies to increasingly focus on a more upscale market, said Bob Ireland, a branding specialist in New York and an avid
hunter. The sport's popularity falls into the same "country" lifestyle category that has soccer moms buying Range Rovers and wearing Beretta jackets in suburbs like
Greenwich, Conn.
Dan O'Conner, the director of licensing and outdoor services at the Orvis Company, which sells bird-hunting gear and runs three shooting schools, said that bird
hunting is up 20 percent at Orvis's Sandanona game preserve in Millbrook, N.Y. "Bird hunting has always been done by an elite group of people, and young
successful people in the city are caught up in that whole thing," he said.
Indeed, gun makers and hunting outfitters are increasingly pushing high-end goods designed for the new hunters. Kimber, a New York-based manufacturer, and the
Remington Arms Company of Madison, N.C., are introducing new shotguns featuring checkered stocks for an enhanced grip and more aesthetic appeal (the priciest
are $6,000). And the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, of Morgan, Utah, maker of Winchester rifles and shotguns, recently reintroduced stack barrel shotguns, which
are frequently used by clay sports shooters and bird hunters, and which the company had not sold in the United States in more than a decade. The top model of the
new line sells for $2,227.
So many people want to look as if they spend the weekend flushing grouse that Barbour, the British-based retailer, opened its first United States store in December,
in New York, Barbour by Peter Elliot, to sell items like its classic waxed-cotton, corduroy-collared sage green jacket. "We built this store to cater to the urban
hunter," said Elliot Rabin, Barbour's American partner.
Even retailers that haven't traditionally produced hunt-friendly gear are getting into the act. The high-end men's store Paul Stuart, for instance, added a $1,000 field
jacket to its men's collection three seasons ago and is now selling heavy boot socks and $130 sport shirts in traditional hunt-style checks and plaids. Sales of the
jackets have almost quadrupled since their introduction, said Jack Freedman, the brand manager for Paul Stuart.
Elizabeth Van De Bogart, 32, an account manager for a marketing company, understands the appeal of hunt fashion. She went on her first armed hunt in October,
after completing her 10-hour hunter safety course (a requirement in New York State). For her weekend hunting jaunts in the Adirondacks, at a family second home,
she bought a fitted camouflage jumpsuit and gloves. "I look really good in it," she said of the outfit, which she wears with pearl earrings.
But hunting, as many neophytes find out, is not only about fashion. On his first hunt, Mr. D'Annibale hit a goose on the wing but then had to finish the job at close
range. "I had to put it out of its misery," he said. "It kind of bummed us out." Nevertheless, he said he found himself enamored of the sport.
Others have drawn the line at killing. Gregory Barnard, 48, a senior vice president with Bank of America in Washington, has loaded up on hunting gear, like a
shooting vest with a padded shoulder (it helps with kickback), special walking boots and electronic ear protectors. But the only thing he has shot in the two years
since he took it up are clay disks, which are ejected into the air at different angles to mimic the flight of birds. "I don't feel much desire to go out and shoot animals," he
said.
Then there's Bryan D'Orazio, 35, a senior vice president at a printing services company in Somers, N.Y., who took up hunting last year near his family's second home
in the Catskills. Since then, he said, his sisters have been giving him a hard time. "They kind of yelled at me, " `How can you shoot animals?,' " Mr. D'Orazio said. His
answer: "I still haven't hit anything."
Shooting for a New Generation
By TATIANA BONCOMPAGNI
SITTING in a mesh-covered pit in the middle of winter was never Christopher D'Annibale's idea of fun. That is until last January when he went on his first goose
hunt on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. "It's actually not so different from golf," said Mr. D'Annibale, 33, a hedge fund manager in New York City. "It takes
patience."
Long out of favor, hunting is fast becoming a hip way to spend the weekend for the young and upwardly mobile. According to the United States Fish and Wildlife
Service, the number of hunters with household incomes of $100,000 or more increased more than 25 percent, to 1.3 million, from 1991 to 2001 (taking into account
inflation and population increases). And over the last three years alone, upscale hunting clubs like the Mashomack Preserve Club in Pine Plains, N.Y., and Pintail
Point in Queenstown, Md., report that business has grown as much as 20 percent, while high-end gun manufacturers and specialty clothing retailers say that sales of
hunting jackets and other gear are up 10 percent or more.
Most of the growth, industry watchers say, comes from an unlikely group of newcomers: adults in their late-20's to mid-40's who did not grow up hunting — and who
may have friends and family who are appalled by it. That has not stopped the new hunters from spending thousands of dollars on Barbour hunting coats and Beretta
shotguns to use in the woods near their weekend homes or to take on guided trips to hunt upland game (pheasant, partridge and other birds) in places like South
Dakota.
"Traditionally, you'd be introduced to hunting by your father or an uncle, but what's happening far more these days is younger people are taking it up and getting their
friends to come along," said Daryl Greatrex, a New York-based director of Holland & Holland, a nearly 170-year-old British hunting outfitter.
Helen Nigg, a managing partner at an Internet services company in San Francisco, grew up in Irvine, Calif., and had never held a gun until last year. But on a recent
weekend excursion to a private ranch in Sun Valley, Idaho, she shocked her friends by bringing down a chukar (a bird similar to a partridge) with one shot. "I guess I
just had this stereotype of hunting as just a bunch of big, burly guys who wear plaid and N.R.A. caps and say, `Let's go out and kill some defenseless animals,' " said
Ms. Nigg, who is planning to go bird hunting next year in Northern California. Her friends still think it is a "rednecky thing to do," she said.
Of course, hunting has long been popular among upper-crust American families, but until recently the majority of hunters came from rural communities where fathers
and sons would go out each fall to shoot a deer. But over the last 40 years, that tradition has been waning. In New York State, for instance, slightly more than
750,000 hunting licenses were sold last year, compared with 1.27 million 20 years ago.
That has encouraged hunting-related companies to increasingly focus on a more upscale market, said Bob Ireland, a branding specialist in New York and an avid
hunter. The sport's popularity falls into the same "country" lifestyle category that has soccer moms buying Range Rovers and wearing Beretta jackets in suburbs like
Greenwich, Conn.
Dan O'Conner, the director of licensing and outdoor services at the Orvis Company, which sells bird-hunting gear and runs three shooting schools, said that bird
hunting is up 20 percent at Orvis's Sandanona game preserve in Millbrook, N.Y. "Bird hunting has always been done by an elite group of people, and young
successful people in the city are caught up in that whole thing," he said.
Indeed, gun makers and hunting outfitters are increasingly pushing high-end goods designed for the new hunters. Kimber, a New York-based manufacturer, and the
Remington Arms Company of Madison, N.C., are introducing new shotguns featuring checkered stocks for an enhanced grip and more aesthetic appeal (the priciest
are $6,000). And the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, of Morgan, Utah, maker of Winchester rifles and shotguns, recently reintroduced stack barrel shotguns, which
are frequently used by clay sports shooters and bird hunters, and which the company had not sold in the United States in more than a decade. The top model of the
new line sells for $2,227.
So many people want to look as if they spend the weekend flushing grouse that Barbour, the British-based retailer, opened its first United States store in December,
in New York, Barbour by Peter Elliot, to sell items like its classic waxed-cotton, corduroy-collared sage green jacket. "We built this store to cater to the urban
hunter," said Elliot Rabin, Barbour's American partner.
Even retailers that haven't traditionally produced hunt-friendly gear are getting into the act. The high-end men's store Paul Stuart, for instance, added a $1,000 field
jacket to its men's collection three seasons ago and is now selling heavy boot socks and $130 sport shirts in traditional hunt-style checks and plaids. Sales of the
jackets have almost quadrupled since their introduction, said Jack Freedman, the brand manager for Paul Stuart.
Elizabeth Van De Bogart, 32, an account manager for a marketing company, understands the appeal of hunt fashion. She went on her first armed hunt in October,
after completing her 10-hour hunter safety course (a requirement in New York State). For her weekend hunting jaunts in the Adirondacks, at a family second home,
she bought a fitted camouflage jumpsuit and gloves. "I look really good in it," she said of the outfit, which she wears with pearl earrings.
But hunting, as many neophytes find out, is not only about fashion. On his first hunt, Mr. D'Annibale hit a goose on the wing but then had to finish the job at close
range. "I had to put it out of its misery," he said. "It kind of bummed us out." Nevertheless, he said he found himself enamored of the sport.
Others have drawn the line at killing. Gregory Barnard, 48, a senior vice president with Bank of America in Washington, has loaded up on hunting gear, like a
shooting vest with a padded shoulder (it helps with kickback), special walking boots and electronic ear protectors. But the only thing he has shot in the two years
since he took it up are clay disks, which are ejected into the air at different angles to mimic the flight of birds. "I don't feel much desire to go out and shoot animals," he
said.
Then there's Bryan D'Orazio, 35, a senior vice president at a printing services company in Somers, N.Y., who took up hunting last year near his family's second home
in the Catskills. Since then, he said, his sisters have been giving him a hard time. "They kind of yelled at me, " `How can you shoot animals?,' " Mr. D'Orazio said. His
answer: "I still haven't hit anything."
