There are plenty people who hunt in Massachusetts and the areas we've
lived in are probably more heavily wooded than your experience in
Maryland. The last house I lived in with my parents as a kid was
surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of woods and undeveloped land.
I still don't know of any parent I know who would allow a minor child to
have his/her very own gun. BB guns, yes. Firearms ... no.
Different place, different culture I guess. Kids from the south and
the west grew up with guns. My dad grew up in Oklahoma.
As I mentioned to Wayne, two of the differences are that we didn't grow
up with AR-15s and a Rambo mindset.