I don't remember not having a love for the Outdoors. It seems like I've always had an interest in wildlife, the woods and how I can get more involved-- aka, do my part.
Growing up, my dad took me fishing every chance he got. It could be that he intentionally wanted to foster that relationship between the outdoors and myself, or that he wanted to fish and I was exposed by the obligation of parenthood. Either way, I'm thankful.
My earliest memory of fishing with my dad was being 3 or 4 years old and literally JUMPING into the fast moving Walla Walla River after a hog of a Brown Trout he was trying to land. I imagine I thought I was helping but he then had to wrangle the trophy fish on the end of his line (and hopefully not lose it) and his toddler child from getting swept away downstream with the river (and hopefully not lose me) I image he did not. Consider Papa Diddy a superhero cause somehow he came home with both.
I consider myself lucky (maybe blessed is a better word?) when it comes to the exposure of the outdoors, the circle of life, and real world facts about how we get our food. My Aunt and Uncle owned and operated a custom butcher shop and for whatever reason it was my favorite place to visit growing up. It wasn't news to me that our hamburgers we were having for dinner came from the cow that lived in the pasture across the street. Because of the nature of my families business, watching them butcher and process an animal from start to finish (pasture to plastic wrap, if you will) was something I witnessed multiple times. I never have realized the importance of those experiences until recently.
It was in middle school when I remember going on my first real deer hunt. Little did I know, it was more of a survival lesson than a hunt. We went hiking around looking for deer sign, glassing around after awhile we started our way back, dad says "well, take us to the truck!" ...apparently I was supposed to be paying attention. Lesson learned (I've never lived that down). The idea that I could have gotten lost in the woods so easily was sobering. I felt so humbled and small in those woods. At a young age, the outdoors had taught me my first lesson: You can't cheat the mountain.
(My dad let me struggle and eventually I got us back to the truck.)
As I got into high school, sports became more of a priority and my allotted time in the wilderness became almost nonexistent. Sports took me a lot of places and eventually lead me to a scholarship and the ability to play softball at 2 different colleges. I am so thankful for that experience.
After college I was living in a large city (well, large for this country girl) and that is when I realized my need to get back into the outdoors. I started carrying my fishing rod in my car and would hit some local holes (I had a few friends who were on my same wave length) on my home from work. As much as that settled my soul, I was still wanting more.
The anticipation of that first hunting season when I moved back to Eastern Oregon was almost overwhelming. I was so excited to get into the outdoors. It was then I had time to REALLY think about my "why." Why was I so drawn to the woods, to the harvesting of an animal. But it is so much more than that. It turned into the chase, the ability to provide for my family, to connect with nature, to spend time with my family, to knowing EXACTLY where my food came from, being challenged by the mountain and outsmarted by wildlife. In no way do I see myself as a feminist, but there is something empowering about doing the stereotypical thing that a man is "supposed" to do.
I consider hunting a privilege. An opportunity to outsmart an animal in its element (but I'm usually the one getting outsmarted). I don't ever consider myself deserving of said animal, but lucky. So extremely lucky. The respect I have for an animal as I walk upon it is abundantly flowing. I have prayed over every animal I have harvested and thanked it for the opportunity to fulfill my family and friends. Its an emotional experience and it is the circle of life (cliche, i know). With the nutritional value of our commercial meat market in question and all over the media it brings me peace of mind to know where my food comes from (rewind back to those childhood memories in the butcher shop).
With 102 Million hunters in the US, only 1.3 Million of those, are women. Like I said, I'm not a feminist, but being successful in a male dominated activity is pretty damn cool. Alhough, its more than that, its about conservation and sustaining the wildlife population of all species. Think of hunting like managing the population. It might sound backwards, but when hunters harvest the most mature animal in a habitat (how I try to hunt, but not always successful that way) they are allowing younger, less mature deer to grow older and spread their genes. This reduces the opportunity for inbreeding and overpopulation in an area. With the ever growing population of humans and their need to expand their habitat, it is encroaching on wildlife habitat and amount of area they have to survive (the human factor is only a SMALL factor). With less habitat for wildlife to live in, overpopulation is a legitimate problem, thats where hunters come in and thats how conservation works. Conservation also comes in the form of excise taxes on purchase of all firearms and ammunition and also the sales of licenses and tags of said state; AKA, The Pittman-Robertson act, established in 1937, is the largest contributor to wildlife conservation. In short, the PR act uses the imposed excise taxes on these purchase and donates a certain percentage to basic and enhanced hunter education and land management for each state. A hunter, outdoorsman, or shooting enthusiast buying their supplies and legal obligated tags and licenses is in turn participating in conservation.
It seems complicated and messy when I try to convey it, but I am passionate and want people to understand the amount of respect and pride I feel when I am hunting. My why resides in pride, respect, conservation, family values, tradition, ethics, and forging a new path.
Growing up, my dad took me fishing every chance he got. It could be that he intentionally wanted to foster that relationship between the outdoors and myself, or that he wanted to fish and I was exposed by the obligation of parenthood. Either way, I'm thankful.
My earliest memory of fishing with my dad was being 3 or 4 years old and literally JUMPING into the fast moving Walla Walla River after a hog of a Brown Trout he was trying to land. I imagine I thought I was helping but he then had to wrangle the trophy fish on the end of his line (and hopefully not lose it) and his toddler child from getting swept away downstream with the river (and hopefully not lose me) I image he did not. Consider Papa Diddy a superhero cause somehow he came home with both.
I consider myself lucky (maybe blessed is a better word?) when it comes to the exposure of the outdoors, the circle of life, and real world facts about how we get our food. My Aunt and Uncle owned and operated a custom butcher shop and for whatever reason it was my favorite place to visit growing up. It wasn't news to me that our hamburgers we were having for dinner came from the cow that lived in the pasture across the street. Because of the nature of my families business, watching them butcher and process an animal from start to finish (pasture to plastic wrap, if you will) was something I witnessed multiple times. I never have realized the importance of those experiences until recently.
It was in middle school when I remember going on my first real deer hunt. Little did I know, it was more of a survival lesson than a hunt. We went hiking around looking for deer sign, glassing around after awhile we started our way back, dad says "well, take us to the truck!" ...apparently I was supposed to be paying attention. Lesson learned (I've never lived that down). The idea that I could have gotten lost in the woods so easily was sobering. I felt so humbled and small in those woods. At a young age, the outdoors had taught me my first lesson: You can't cheat the mountain.
(My dad let me struggle and eventually I got us back to the truck.)
As I got into high school, sports became more of a priority and my allotted time in the wilderness became almost nonexistent. Sports took me a lot of places and eventually lead me to a scholarship and the ability to play softball at 2 different colleges. I am so thankful for that experience.
After college I was living in a large city (well, large for this country girl) and that is when I realized my need to get back into the outdoors. I started carrying my fishing rod in my car and would hit some local holes (I had a few friends who were on my same wave length) on my home from work. As much as that settled my soul, I was still wanting more.
The anticipation of that first hunting season when I moved back to Eastern Oregon was almost overwhelming. I was so excited to get into the outdoors. It was then I had time to REALLY think about my "why." Why was I so drawn to the woods, to the harvesting of an animal. But it is so much more than that. It turned into the chase, the ability to provide for my family, to connect with nature, to spend time with my family, to knowing EXACTLY where my food came from, being challenged by the mountain and outsmarted by wildlife. In no way do I see myself as a feminist, but there is something empowering about doing the stereotypical thing that a man is "supposed" to do.
I consider hunting a privilege. An opportunity to outsmart an animal in its element (but I'm usually the one getting outsmarted). I don't ever consider myself deserving of said animal, but lucky. So extremely lucky. The respect I have for an animal as I walk upon it is abundantly flowing. I have prayed over every animal I have harvested and thanked it for the opportunity to fulfill my family and friends. Its an emotional experience and it is the circle of life (cliche, i know). With the nutritional value of our commercial meat market in question and all over the media it brings me peace of mind to know where my food comes from (rewind back to those childhood memories in the butcher shop).
With 102 Million hunters in the US, only 1.3 Million of those, are women. Like I said, I'm not a feminist, but being successful in a male dominated activity is pretty damn cool. Alhough, its more than that, its about conservation and sustaining the wildlife population of all species. Think of hunting like managing the population. It might sound backwards, but when hunters harvest the most mature animal in a habitat (how I try to hunt, but not always successful that way) they are allowing younger, less mature deer to grow older and spread their genes. This reduces the opportunity for inbreeding and overpopulation in an area. With the ever growing population of humans and their need to expand their habitat, it is encroaching on wildlife habitat and amount of area they have to survive (the human factor is only a SMALL factor). With less habitat for wildlife to live in, overpopulation is a legitimate problem, thats where hunters come in and thats how conservation works. Conservation also comes in the form of excise taxes on purchase of all firearms and ammunition and also the sales of licenses and tags of said state; AKA, The Pittman-Robertson act, established in 1937, is the largest contributor to wildlife conservation. In short, the PR act uses the imposed excise taxes on these purchase and donates a certain percentage to basic and enhanced hunter education and land management for each state. A hunter, outdoorsman, or shooting enthusiast buying their supplies and legal obligated tags and licenses is in turn participating in conservation.
It seems complicated and messy when I try to convey it, but I am passionate and want people to understand the amount of respect and pride I feel when I am hunting. My why resides in pride, respect, conservation, family values, tradition, ethics, and forging a new path.
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