Remembrance Through Hunting

We love it when community members from all over write in to share their story on how they connect with the outdoors, primarily, through hunting. Hunters of Color received this story a few months ago from Ashley who is a friend of Dylan Eyers from Eat Wild.

Here’s Ash’s story:

“When Dad died, he left me with a few words of advice. “Life is too short to put things on the back burner and say you’ll do it eventually” and “Do what makes you happy and skip the rest”. Since then, I’ve been trying to do just that.

99% of my time hunting consists of me walking or sitting in the woods alone criticizing the crunching of my own footsteps, watching animals run away from me, and most importantly - thinking about Dad’s last words.

This time, I experienced that other 1%. A beautiful buck walked in front of me, as if someone had placed him there….and just like that - it was over.

Ashley with her buck

Luckily for me, @jasonheine wasn’t too far away from me and helped me haul this beauty of a buck out of the bowl and down to the truck. Though it was a tough pull, he had a grin from ear to ear the entire time. I think he might have been happier than I was.

It wasn’t until we finally got back to the truck that I began to cry. Tears of happiness and sadness all the same. I haven’t felt this close to Dad since he left me 5 years ago. It’s moments like this that I wish Dad and I had the chance to experience together. I think he would be pretty dang proud of his little girl bringing home the biggest buck in camp. In fact, I know he’s smiling down on me today because of it.

However, I am thankful to be fortunate enough to have experienced this important moment in my life with a stellar gentleman, hunting mentor, and adventure partner at my side, @jasonheine. I think Dad would be pretty dang impressed with you too. I know Dad’s best bud, @jwkelly0903 said he sure would be. Thanks for teaching me new things and taking me places I never thought I’d get to go. I can’t wait to see the day you get a bigger whitetail than me… if that ever happens. 😜

And a shoutout to @eatwild for helping me along the way. You’ve been nothing but encouraging and helpful with my journey, but most of all you and @_mi.kee have become great friends. Thank you.”