We are out here: Becoming a hunter and finding my outdoor community

It’s midsummer in Wisconsin. My weather app says the temperature is in the high 80s, but it feels like it’s in the upper 90s. However, as the summer heat pools around me, all I feel is fall fever. 

Us hunters are so close to our favorite season. My scouting efforts are getting serious, I’m prioritizing target practice at the range, and I’ve gone over my gear a million times. I’ve even bought some new gear to add to my collection; don’t be like me, though, and almost max out a credit card!

Maybe you haven’t felt the draw of hunting season yet, but you know it’s out there. Your interest is piqued, but something keeps you from trying it. This is exactly how I felt until recently. Although my grandfather occasionally chased pheasants, I didn’t grow up in a hunting family. Fishing, however, is a different story; the fishing game was strong on both sides of my family.

Hunting came onto my radar while I was engaged to a vegan. A few of my friends who hunted took issue with my newfound vegetarianism, a result of that courtship. I pushed back. However, something they said got through to me; that was just the beginning. At the time, I was an undergraduate studying both Pre-Law and Conservation. Not long post-graduation, my engagement dissolved. I found myself in graduate school. 

My thesis? Hunting and Conservation. 

Learning to Hunt

My graduate studies led me to a “Learn to Hunt” program. In fact, one of the engagement dissenters in my friend group became my hunting mentor. With their help, I dove right in. 

I loved it. I even decked out my car in camo. Unfortunately, I missed two turkeys those few days we hunted together. Actually, I hit a jake. As we went to retrieve it, it flew off into the pines. My mentor was shocked. 

“You hit it. Dead on. I’ve never seen anything like that!” he exclaimed.

That hunt took place in the spring of 2009. You’d think I’m an old salt at playing this hunting game by now, but I’m not. I didn’t hunt again until this past February. Multiple times, I tried to go back out. I applied for a few turkey tags and got them, but imposter syndrome crept in. I had also lost touch with my mentor friend. The political climate had shifted, many of my hunting friends following suit. As a result,I no longer felt safe in the hunting space. Sure, my pup and I still went into the woods. However, we stayed on the state park’s trails or our private land. 

A New Start

A door felt closed. But, on September 11, 2018, I started a new job (an auspicious day to start a new job to say the least). Coincidentally, I made a few new friends who loved all things outdoors. We started hiking together, then foraging for mushrooms. One day, one of these friends asked if I wanted to go rabbit hunting. In February. I hate being cold, period, but I still went. 

Finally, I had a new mentor. I didn’t feel the cold. In the snowy woods I toted my mentor’s gun through what felt like a different world. We weren’t having much luck, though; on our way back to the car, we decided to check one last hill. 

Pop! He got one! We ended the day on a high note, hopping back into his truck and heading back home to clean it. Cleaning and butchering still makes me squeamish. My mentor didn’t mind if I turned away, but I stayed on, learning the entire time. I took the rabbit’s back feet home. With the help of a YouTube video and some folks on Reddit, I preserved the feet myself.

Finally Self-Identifying As a Hunter & Finding My Outdoor Community

The hunting hook was in past the barb. Ever since that day, hunting is all I can think about. Thanks to the good people at the IRS, I got a large enough tax return to buy a decent bow. A few months later, I treated myself to a decent shotgun. That enabled me to go turkey hunting again for the first time since that Learn to Hunt. It was also my first hunt alone. Although I didn’t get a turkey, I drove several people nuts practicing my calls, and I learned so much during the hunt. 

The moral of the story? My imposter syndrome is gone. One of my new work friends, like me, is Mexican. Since becoming friends, we started a foraging group together that includes people of all colors. Then, we started teaching other people of color how to forage. Shortly after, we heard about the BIPOC birding group here in Wisconsin. After that, I found Hunters of Color. Through a friend in the Wisconsin Naturalist class, I was told about Color the Outdoors. The list just keeps on going!

If the woods are calling you, we are out here. Get some camo and bug spray and let’s go hunting!