By Donny Adair, President
African American Hunting Association, LLC
Dre and I walked for 4 hours soaking in many of the exhibits at the annual sportsman’s exhibition this past February. One constant was that we didn’t see any other Black people among the thousands who were talking to outfitters from all over the world, attending workshops and seminars and visiting with vendors. Dre, a wonderful thirteen year old boy whom I was fortunate to get matched up with by the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program, asked me the question I have been asking for years. “Why don’t African Americans participate very much in outdoor sports, especially hunting?
According to the most recent U.S Census estimates on the distribution of the U.S. population by race/ethnicity (2007) there are 37 million African Americans or about 12 percent of the total population. According to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife data for the same year, only 1 percent of those who hunt are African Americans.
In the spring of 2008, in response to what I perceived as an opportunity and a need, I created the African American Hunting Association (AAHA) Website aahunt.com. The response from people all over the world has been exciting. The mission the African American Hunting Association LLC (AAHA) is to increase the number of African Americans and urban residents living in the United States involved in hunting, game management, shooting sports, and conservation. The values AAHA is founded on include the rights of all Americans to hunt for food and for sport, the rights of individuals to own and use firearms and other weapons in accordance with the Constitution of the United States and all applicable federal, state and local laws.
Also, last summer Greg Gordon owner of, NLE Media, who built the website, introduced the idea that we should co-produce an outdoor television show aimed at African Americans, who represent a vast untapped consumer market. Well, one thing led to another, and now we have completed the first season of 13 shows, which can be viewed on the website and DVD’s of the show can be purchased. The shows feature host Donny Adair, my 23-year old son Donnell, and other young African American hunters and fisherman. Donnell has been shooting since he was 6 years old and began hunting at age twelve .The hunts and fishing adventures were videotaped in Oregon (our home state), Idaho and Mississippi, which I call my adopted home state. The game harvested includes Chukar, Pheasants, Ducks, Geese, Blacktailed Deer, Whitetail Deer, Salmon, Sturgeon and other warm water fish. AAHA and NLE Media are now seeking sponsors to take their 30-minute show to the television airwaves.
The AAHA invites everyone who supports the mission, goals and objectives of our organization to participate with us regardless of their individual race, ethnicity, national origin, gender or sexual orientation. It is a multi-cultural organization. All are welcome to join AAHA. The goals and objectives are work to promote better understanding and acceptance of the sport of hunting at the local, regional and national level; and to increase involvement of African American individuals and families in hunting and associated outdoor sports such as camping, hiking, fishing biking, photography, etc. The AAHA will increase the opportunity for African American hunters to obtain state of the art or the best hunting equipment each hunter can afford. The AAHA will provide increased opportunities for African Americans to enjoy the great outdoors, regionally, nationally and internationally.
For more information contact Donny Adair at donnyadair@yahoo.com.
There was a big paradigm shift after the civil rights movement paved way to accessible jobs. Many of todays African Americans who are now in there 60′s and 70′s looked at hunting as a low class activity because that is what their fathers have done. Although their fathers did not have the opportunities and access to the employment opportunities hunting was considered a lower class sport. I’ve often asked these same men why not hunt now. The answer is pretty simple. They’re embarrased that they don’t know how to hunt and most of the sports celebrities and entertainers don’t hunt. If more people knew about people like Bo Jackson and a few others that hunted, I believe that this particular activity will pick up in the community.
I have been waiting for a long time for someone to get a real club for us!! It’s a great thing u have started
Go down south you will find the black hunter, alot of us.
Thank you T. You are so right and my friends in our adopted home state of Mississippi would agree. My guys in Fitler, Cary, Rollingfork, Anguilla and Louise are great to be with on a cold December morning. Please find a copy of the article in the November 2010 issue of Outside Magazine about us. While there are a lot of Black hunters in the south, we are only 1% of the 12.5 million hunters nationwide. That’s a fact! I want to change that!
I just want to congratulate and commend Mr. Adair on his efforts. This is something that is really needed on so many levels. In the South, this is our heritage.
I’m originally from the lowcountry of South Carolina. I’m a black man.
I grew up in a small town about 30 miles north of Charleston. In my old neighborhood, everybody hunted or fished or knew someone that did.
It wasn’t until I moved to North Carolina after college;that I realized that many of the people that I met were surprised that I hunted. Strange since NC is not exactly a bustling urban mega-state. Very happy to find this site. There is not a day that I don’t think about hunting and fishing. The food that it provides is better than most of what you will find in your local grocery store. The relaxation that comes from being away from the office and in the outdoors with family, friends or even solo cannot be measured.
I still have the Savage 20ga singleshot shotgun that I parents bought for me on my 12th birthday in 1980. That gun has a 3″ chamber, and will still flatten a gobbler at 30 yards! I have proved it several times.
Great site Mr. Adair. I will be a constant visitor.
-V. Rivers
Thank you for sharing your hunting heritage with us. I gave my now 24 year old son a 20 gauge single shot when he was 12 too. It kicked like a mule and he doesn’t like to hunt to this day, but he is a great fisherman and camera man videoing our adventures. It looks like i am going to have to take a trip back there to hunt and film you brothers and sisters in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida next year.
Thank you Mr. Rivers. I retire from public service with the City of Portland, Oregon at the end of December 2011. Then I’m going to grt this tv series on the air. If you know of any potrntial sponsors let me know.
H. Wilkins
I have been and avid hunter here in VA, NC since the age of 10 hunting with family members. The problem’s that I see now is that a lot of blacks that did hunt and don’t now is because of land. Back then when I was a kid, you could hunt on your family land as well as your “black neighbors land” without even asking. Now, a lot of the land that blacks worked so hard for are gone. Either taken because of taxes or family members who did not appreciate the outdoors and sold their land. I would like to thank Mr. Adair for his hard in help keeping the dream alive of getting african americans back to the outdoors. God Bless
Thank you Mr. Wilkins. You hit the nail o the head! Please send me your eamil and land address to my email donnyadair@yahoo.com. I am going to isse mebership cards soon and thet will be free to charter members of the African American Hunting Association.
Hello and like to say thanks for such a great blog ! the effort is apparent with such insight , I did not know such an association existed this is why i love blogs , real people real life. Thanks again.
Thanks for the hit and the comment. More to come in the future as I retire from my job as a public servant next week!
Great blog with a wealth of education information, hunting and fishing is for everyone………including women. Your blog has inspired my grandsons to now have an interest in hunting.
Arlene, thank you for sharing your comments with all of us. Good luck to your grandsons and kep checking our site for new information. We are currently setting up our membership system.
Donny Adair, President AAHA