Once I realized that western big game hunting was an opportunity to have an epic backpacking trip in the wilderness that potentially could yield a yearlong supply of the most organic, local, grass-fed protein there is, I committed myself to learning to hunt. I learned quickly that getting started as an adult-onset hunter is no easy task. First there are all the necessary and important regulatory hoops one must jump through first to make sure you can hunt safely and ethically. This often ...

  By Gabriela Zaldumbide   One of the reasons why I became a hunter was so I could source my own food. In the last two and a half years, I’ve had the pleasure of hosting many wild game dinners, adoring the opportunities to share my elk, venison or small game with friends. Unsurprisingly, after attending some of these “family dinners,” my friend Anna became interested in harvesting an animal herself. She had harvested a whitetail doe with her dad before in Alabama, but that was long ago. She ...

"Make no mistake, you cannot do nothing. Hunting participation rates are falling, and hunters are a long way from representing the changing demographics of the U.S. population." The southern Wisconsin air was bitter and cold. Turkey season began, but winter refused to end. As I sat perched on the ground, shotgun in one hand and hot black coffee in the other, my turkey hunting instructor and I could hear gobbles as the turkeys left their roost before sunrise. We set up in tall grass on the ...