I recall tremendous good times hunting with my dad, grandfathers, and a host of other friends and relatives, many of whom are dead now. SOme times we added meat to the larder, some times we didn't, but the companionship, the mentoring, the opportunities to understand nature, (not just see it on TV!) were worth far more than the meat in all but the leanest of times.
When times got tough, and we were all dirt poor, we had a rifle we nicknamed "food stamps"--that rifle fed four families through the hardest winter I have ever seen, and I'm grandfather to 12...
You do what you feel is right, but I'd reccommend 'Hunter' safety classes, for the practical safe firearm handling know-how if nothing else.
Food is one thing. Definately understand that. You have my eternal respect as a man grandfather to 12. Wow.