Yes, most of today's kids have been gypped and don't even know it.

Even where I grew up in deserty southern California there were kinda-sorta 'wild' places within our reach, mainly the flood control channel (unpaved in those days) and overgrown vacant lots.

The very few kids that I know that have real fun outdoors are the ones whose parents aren't trying to protect them from everything, all the time.

Sue

I grew up in 'the forgotten borough' of NYC....hence...no guns. Stores didn't even have BB guns....but where I lived did have some 'wild' areas to it.....woods that I spent more than my fair share of time in....knife (and sometimes an ax too) many a fort was built. Pretty decent ones too. They would end up getting demolished by the stupid HS kids who thought they were tough.....they're probably now in jail or have been. No hunting for me though....no one in my family did it and I never had any exposure to it.....closest I came was taking a woodchuck (one shot) at 33 feet with a S&W 38 snub nose (Chief's Special) with a 2 inch barrel(yes I had a great instructor who taught me well)....after it had been buried for 14 hours, my 'friend' had said that she didn't know how I would have felt if she made it for dinner....she said she had a nice recipe for woodchuck....I'd have like to try it....I think....I do miss those days.....when my wife and I left the area over 10 years ago...most had been paved over for 'developments'....'improvements' is what we think they called it......still don't know what they thought needed improving.....it was great as it was...........

Well, I got my day hike pack down to 8 lbs without water...so that's something.

Teacher

Late 60's, early 70's, my "boy Scout" canteen, mess kit, Scout knapsack, SA matches, a old c-cell flashlight, fishing pole and a small tin box of tackle, boy scout whittlers knife, and a Crossman "760" BB/Pellet gun, old army blanket and tarp were my usual summer gear items.

I'd be out in the Pines and hardwoods behind my grandmothers house having a blast. It was a grand day when I got a 6" barreled Crossman .22 6 shot CO2 Pellet Pistol. My pistol and 760 brought down many a small critter, and helped provide a number of nice camping meals. The small creek had a few brook trout that fell victim to the old bamboo pole.

We set up a permanent camp with a leaky tarp lean to, but we felt we were living in a castle.


Oh, to be young again.

Grew up in the burbs of a very small UK town. 5mile hike east I'm in the centre of said town. 5miles west I'd in the middle of rural farmland. We had woods and streams or the canal. As a kid I felt I'd got the best of all worlds. Ok we didn't have guns or slingslots of any kind. Thought when we throw stones my "gang" and I generally hit what we were aiming at.

We had our bikes and the freedom to take them were we wished. If I had a pound for every time my mother would say "be back before the street lights come on" I'd be quiet content right now. I can't imagine saying anything like that to my kids now.

We did some crazy stunts on those bikes, one of the saner stunts was trying to leap across a 12ft wide canal on a Grifter. Forerunner to a BMX by about ten years. As long as we came home, it was alright, if you came home in one piece even better.

Same for me...
Lead to a lifetime addition with Science Fiction.
But I must be younger... For me it was Tom Swift Jr.
I only got to read part of on Tom Swift(Tom Swift and his Giant Spotlight{Searchlight?}), but I have ALL of the Tom Swift Jr. books to this day.

Sadly, I was not 'into' camping when I was young... I would love to be able to talk to my grandfather and uncles now...
I would also like to talk to my other grandfather, but for other reasons... From what I understand, he was heavily involved in the Manhattan Project!