The father-son chain was broken decades ago. Most new hunters today are not family-initiated. Most are either peer-initiated or self-starters. You could consider the peer- initiated to be mentored. However, both the self-starters and the peer-initiated are under the influence of the hunting industry. In fact, the older this trend gets, even father to son initiation follows the industry, not local or personal traditions. The state (and federal) wildlife agencies charged in part with hunting programs and hunting opportunity is increasingly comprised of DEI hires, nonhunters, and the paradigm of these departments has changed to more and more nongame and ecological priorities (despite being funded mostly by hunters). In fact, the DEI starts in college, with favoritism not merit are given the grades, the references, the internships and later the research grants, then the jobs. Thus, those government offices without staff personally well-versed in hunting, get their information from questionnaires, other social data, and the hunting industry. Such compounds the trend.
Indeed, more girlfriends and wives are hunting with their spouses these days, something that could not be more natural. But that too is more akin to peer init than family init and the male likely was raised on the diet the industry feeds...
But, if you are in your twenties or thirties, the kids today that hunt ducks and geese are not at all on conserving their hunts for a season's worth. If they find birds, they send out party invitations. I am not at all condoning this, but the point is, in that age bracket, if you want someone to take you , its there like never before. Also, a lot of guys don't like hunting alone but have none to go with them and are interested in taking others. The level of interest the comradery aspect of hunting is a spectrum and it varies from individual to individual. To some, it is the only reason they hunt. So, finding a mentor and/or people to hunt could be easy.
I was careless when I read this post. Now I see the author lives in NJ and also is a landowner himself. That somewhat requires a different answer. But I still say if you get bored with eating squirrels, soon you get bored with hunting them. NJ also does have a pheasant stocking program, as well as stocking quail on two properties and before the season, stocks chukar on 13 sites for dog training. I have also known many people that, like the comradery -driven hunters, will not hunt if it is not on land they own. For them, that is the main attraction. So, all I can offer is go after something tastier than squirrels. They are great to feed picky eaters that don't like meat, because they have little flavor, except any spices you add... But I will take grouse, Unfortunately, NJ closed its grouse hunting and, except for two properties, also closed quail hunting. There's always deer and turkey, the industry favorites... Author mentioned deer, so... Not the hardest animal to figure out. Might take a few seasons, but thats the fun of the journey...
