I learned to hunt and fish when I was a kid 12 or 13 I think, started with a single shot Stevens 12 gauge and an old Zebco push button reel and rod.
There was a time when we didn't have a pot to p*** in, and you could get a combo license for $7 a buck or doe tag for another $5, and an extra doe tag for $2. I had an old 30-30, and a (hand me down) spinning rod to help keep my family in protein. I used to prefer going out after a light snow, helped me see the tracks better, would find some fresh tracks and follow them. Last deer I shot was about 15-20 yards away, I had tracked him for about an hour and he jumped up from his bed from beside some scrub in the bottom of a bowl, I think he spooked me as much as I spooked him. He turned and looked at me, and I dropped him there. Had to drag him a mile and a half to get back to the truck The one before that I saw a bunch of guys running a tree line about 500 yards to my right, and a herd come out at a 90 degree angle to where there were hunting. I took the 10 pt buck off a shelf road about 150 yards away. At that time I was about 50 yards from my truck, and my intent when i parked was to work the same woods they were until I saw and heard them. I drug him down hill, and slid him into my k5 blazer and headed home. The other hunters never even saw that dozen or so deer they spooked out of the trees.
I don't have any trophies on my wall, I gave those to relatives who wanted them, and for fish, I take a picture or I don't, but I put them back in the water except for one or two smaller ones for dinner on the campfire - monsters go back in the water so they can breed or someone else can have the joy of catching them.
That was 30 years ago, since then, I have gotten a little more successful in my "day job" and have not had to feed my family by what I can hunt or fish for and put on the table. I still shoot, quite a bit, and can still put 5 in a 1 moa group at 100 yards, but I don't hunt anymore, maybe I will again when I retire, and I still keep the skills up in case the world goes to heck in a handbasket and I need to. There are lots of reasons why I don't hunt anymore, one is because I don't have to, one is I got tired of stalking an animal only to have some guys in a quad come blazing by me as they head to their deer stand scaring everything for miles around, another is I focused on my day job and picked up other hobbies. I still fly fish, but practice catch and release these days.
I know some guys just like me, those that hunted because they needed to, or because they wanted to put venison or Elk on the table, or that just like to fish to get in the outdoors and take a break from the rat race.
Now I don't know if any of that makes me average or not, I would say I am an average hunter/fisherman. I enjoy (or enjoyed) getting out in the woods, the tracking, and the moment of truth and I still enjoy taking a fly rod to the river or lake. I have been successful hunting, and I can still catch a fish or two (yeah I have been skunked a few times also).
For better or worse, time and mileage have changed me a bit, and I don't do some of the things I used to do or as well as I used to do them. Truth is I am not in terrible shape and I can pretty much still do what I want to within reason, but I don't really feel the "want" to hunt anymore and thank the lord, I don't have to in order to feed my family.
I guess it is somebody else's turn to hunt and I will just shoot at the range and fish the river or lakes for now, if that changes, then, maybe I will have a success or skunk story to share.
circling back, to me, the average hunter is (or should be) the guy who follows the laws, is respectful of others in the woods, hunts or fishes for the meat (the trophy if it comes is a bonus), enjoy the surroundings and challenges of the hunt, has the skills it takes to track and hit their prey, and is above all else safe to be around.
What they really are these days I don't know, it has been a few years since I have been among them in the trees
Dave