Starting with the hunters and gatherers, who used spears and arrows to kill their prey, each subsequent generation has learned the tricks of the trade from the generations before them. Tricks like using worms on hooks, disguising oneself with camouflage or using decoys all have come about as a result of years and years of trial and error. In other words, hunting and fishing have evolved.
The reason that sportspeople nowadays are able to enjoy the thrills of the outdoors are because the hunters and anglers before them perfected the art and have passed that information on to the next generation. As the years passed, the bulk of the information stayed the same with new information occasionally being added. Thus, evolution.
The most important thing for the current generation of hunters and anglers to remember is that if you don't pass on this information to your children, it dies with you. Even if you're teaching other people's kids how to hunt and fish, you're still ensuring that a new generation of hunters and anglers will pick up the tradition and carry it on.