MONTPELIER, Vt. – A decades-long national decline in the number of hunters has prompted states to tap into a new group of hunters – people who demand locally produced food, but don’t know the first thing about bagging a deer. Books and blogs on the topic are numerous, and state wildlife departments are offering introductory deer hunting classes in urban areas to recruit newbies who want to kill their own local, sustainable and wild meat in what some say is an ecologically friendly way. “It’s not easy and it’s not a surefire way to fill a freezer every year but it’s certainly more rewarding than even raising a cow behind your house and butchering it,” said Chris Saunders, hunter education coordinator for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife.