For Hunting, America Earns An Average Grade A new report compares the strength of each state’s hunting culture and offers a glimpse at how sustainable those cultures may be in the future. The report indicates that hunting will be most relevant—environmentally, economically, socially and politically—in states where parents have freedom to introduce the sport to their sons and daughters at an early age. "America gets a C grade in sustaining hunting participation for the future. About half of the states are performing better and half are performing worse. We can and should do a lot better,” said Doug Painter, president of NSSF. Titled “Families Afield,” the report is available on the Web site of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), at http://www.nssf.org/programs/FamiliesAfield.cfm. NSSF, National Wild Turkey Federation and U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance commissioned research and are currently distributing the reports to lawmakers and policy leaders. The goal is to help restrictive states understand that supervised youth hunting is not only statistically safe, but also vitally important if outdoor traditions and values are to endure.