There is nothing like the great outdoors to provide a respite from day-to-day stresses and global chaos. Especially while hunting, the focus and attention required in the pursuit really give the mind a reprieve because you can’t be thinking about what’s going on at home and expect to bag a bird or take a buck. And bringing something home prolongs the reverie as one cleans, butchers and cooks one’s take…even if it's just mushrooms (what a find!).
I am a female hunter in my early 50s living in California and sometimes I think I am the only female hunter in the state (aside from my daughter who I raised to hunt with me). Thank you for sharing your stories and for making me feel a little less alone in my passion for all things hunting.
Know the area well - I used to work for the Peninsula Times-Tribune (and SJ Merc). If you're on Facebook, search for the Outdoorswomen of California FB group - GREAT community of over 200 outdoorswomen, most in NorCal!
This piece really resonates with me. I find it quite easy to shake all of that stuff off when I'm in the woods hunting (whether it be for mushrooms or game) and I wish others could do the same. I'm not one to run and hide away from everything, but short spells of purposeful removal from it all are necessary to retain my sanity and there's no better place to do that than in nature. Also... October morels!!!!!?
Being a hunter that lives in a big city I feel these extremes very intensely! It’s shocking the differences in my mental state between being in the woods and being in “civilization”.
Holly Thanks for this. I will share it with my family. You captured the intangible ROI we get out there and steeled my commitment to more hunting and less working (I am blessed with some choice there). Your comments about the ills of the world are perfectly said without fanning the flames of contentious debate; and that’s not easy! Well done and much appreciated
I resonate so strongly with this, and with the peace and pleasure that comes from being out in the nonhuman world -- in part because it's so restful to be away from the screaming dystopia, and in part because I need reminders of all the beautiful satisfying things that still exist and remain worth fighting for amidst all the noise and greed and exhaustion.
Strangely enough, we just came back from two completely blissful weeks in Buenos Aires, where I had one of the most intensely magical city experiences of my life -- it gave me a wonderfully refreshed sense of all the *human* things that I love (bookstores, exquisite architecture, staying out dancing all night, 2am philosophy in a crowded coffeeshop). Sometimes I forget that humans can create incredibly cool spaces and experiences as well as wretched ones, and I was really grateful for that taste. But boy, it would be HARD to feel that way if I was in it all the time and not just passing dreamily through once in a while, and I am so thrilled to be home in the woods and heading into the autumnal splendor of ducks, mushrooms, and baynuts-acorns-nettles-wild onions-olives-etc that flush the California landscape in fall...
All the amens for this comment! I think as a species, we are at our best in the realms of art/craft and philosophy, and at our worst when we fail to restrain lust for power and money.
I'm not anti-capitalist - I like the notion that it's possible to make a living from offering a product or service that people need or want, and there are many businesses that do that without doing harm. But the people who have the creativity and reckless disregard for others that leads to harm MUST be contained. Some societies do better than others, but money and power always seems to find a way to corrupt. Short of blowing us back to a stone-age environment, I'm just not sure how we fix it.
Well written Holly. We hunt for meat as a bonus…the real thrill is being out in the bush with your senses alive. I love the thrill of hearing grouse clucking and scratching in the underbrush. Following moose or elk tracks and listening for the snap of a twig as they glide through the bush. Some years we get only a few birds other years we fill our freezers but the experience is what counts. We are geriatrics who can still put on a few miles in the bush but this year we were thrilled to have our great grandson help with our hunt. It was easier to have him help pull a moose out of the bush! It is a privilege to pass on knowledge of the outdoors. You have to hone all your senses to find not just game but mushrooms, berries,edible plants and fish. We are fortunate to hunt in northern BC where it is rare to even see signs of other hunters. Keep writing and hunting. It’s a base of sanity in a crazy world…
Oh, your experience sounds wonderful! And to rarely see other hunters! I never see other mountain quail hunters, but once deer season started, I run into deer hunters every time. And my duck hunting is in such crowded places that I can usually see 3-4 parties close enough to me to hear their conversations. I love ducks and duck hunting so much, though, that it's worth it.
Holly, hunting is a drug you either get it or not.we are over 70 and cannot feel more alive than when out in the bush. It keeps us going and we share the rewards with our family . But holy shit 1200 lb of meat is a lot of nematodes this year!!!
I'm reading this before my first sip of coffee and I was trying to figure out if nematodes are edible, or what autocorrect was trying to "help" with!
Very happy to hear you're hunting over 70. That's my goal, which is why I work so hard to keep my body from falling apart (I inherited arthritis and a really janky spine from my mom).
I work out daily and have sessions with a personal trainer. Too many of our friends do nothing and it shows. We hope to be able to hunt until we take a dirt nap! We both have had hip replacements and were back on our feet within a week. At 85 my husband can still hike in the bush for 3-4 miles. We just do it slower…lol. Keep writing you and Hank give us great pleasure.
I, too, refuse to let my health go without a fight. I can accept that my physical capacities have diminished; I just can't be an accomplice to that loss.
I've also struck out on mountain quail so far this year! And New Mexico grouse. But it's still fun as hell and I have a 2 year old GSP that is even more eager than I am to get out.
Beautifully written. Thanks for sharing. I am a retired superintendent and your remarks of the addictive, and destructive, aspects of our technological world upon our youth I have witnessed too often. Grateful my children were raised loving to hunt, fish , and cook. When life gets challenging they go to the woods, they go to the lake, they go to their recipe books and live happier lives. Thanks for a great start to my day!!!
I worry about today's kids - they just don't get to roam the way we did. When I hunt, it takes me back to childhood roaming. But for today's kids, there may be nothing familiar about hunting - just a recognition that they have more natural instinct than they realized.
Your perspective is refreshing…Nature is my sanctuary & one reason I live in the country (I’m a retired nature artist). Once I left city living, I came to realize going back would be a slow death for me. I admire your inner drive to check out the bird hunting solo. You’re an inspiration. I have a frustratingly poor sense of direction, even with gps, which I find slows me down a bit, but your experiences are very inspiring for me to push my own envelope. Thank you.
Oh, also: I once would gotten really lost without my GPS because I was following a covey. Since then, I've tried to pay more attention to the direction I came from, because sometimes my GPS fails. Generally, I have a good sense now of where I am. Point being I think it's a skill you can hone, even if it's not your particular gift.
There's stuff I like about cities, but less and less so as the years go by. Costco and Nordstrom used to be important to me, but not so much anymore. Now it's down to broadband, good grocery stores, good restaurants and a good airport.
My family fled SoCal sprawl when I was 9, but we moved to farm country, where it's easy for city folk to confuse farmland with country. It is not; it's just industry with dirt.
Better to be completely in nature's operating system. I like nature's rules better than civilization's rules.
There is nothing like the great outdoors to provide a respite from day-to-day stresses and global chaos. Especially while hunting, the focus and attention required in the pursuit really give the mind a reprieve because you can’t be thinking about what’s going on at home and expect to bag a bird or take a buck. And bringing something home prolongs the reverie as one cleans, butchers and cooks one’s take…even if it's just mushrooms (what a find!).
I am a female hunter in my early 50s living in California and sometimes I think I am the only female hunter in the state (aside from my daughter who I raised to hunt with me). Thank you for sharing your stories and for making me feel a little less alone in my passion for all things hunting.
Oh, you are SO not alone! Where do you live?
I live on the SF Peninsula half way between SF and San Jose, right near Stanford University.
Know the area well - I used to work for the Peninsula Times-Tribune (and SJ Merc). If you're on Facebook, search for the Outdoorswomen of California FB group - GREAT community of over 200 outdoorswomen, most in NorCal!
This piece really resonates with me. I find it quite easy to shake all of that stuff off when I'm in the woods hunting (whether it be for mushrooms or game) and I wish others could do the same. I'm not one to run and hide away from everything, but short spells of purposeful removal from it all are necessary to retain my sanity and there's no better place to do that than in nature. Also... October morels!!!!!?
Being a hunter that lives in a big city I feel these extremes very intensely! It’s shocking the differences in my mental state between being in the woods and being in “civilization”.
Right? I feel so FREE when I hunt.
Holly Thanks for this. I will share it with my family. You captured the intangible ROI we get out there and steeled my commitment to more hunting and less working (I am blessed with some choice there). Your comments about the ills of the world are perfectly said without fanning the flames of contentious debate; and that’s not easy! Well done and much appreciated
Thank you on all counts! I think the hardest part this year is how expensive gas has gotten, but I'm not going to let that stop me!
I resonate so strongly with this, and with the peace and pleasure that comes from being out in the nonhuman world -- in part because it's so restful to be away from the screaming dystopia, and in part because I need reminders of all the beautiful satisfying things that still exist and remain worth fighting for amidst all the noise and greed and exhaustion.
Strangely enough, we just came back from two completely blissful weeks in Buenos Aires, where I had one of the most intensely magical city experiences of my life -- it gave me a wonderfully refreshed sense of all the *human* things that I love (bookstores, exquisite architecture, staying out dancing all night, 2am philosophy in a crowded coffeeshop). Sometimes I forget that humans can create incredibly cool spaces and experiences as well as wretched ones, and I was really grateful for that taste. But boy, it would be HARD to feel that way if I was in it all the time and not just passing dreamily through once in a while, and I am so thrilled to be home in the woods and heading into the autumnal splendor of ducks, mushrooms, and baynuts-acorns-nettles-wild onions-olives-etc that flush the California landscape in fall...
All the amens for this comment! I think as a species, we are at our best in the realms of art/craft and philosophy, and at our worst when we fail to restrain lust for power and money.
I'm not anti-capitalist - I like the notion that it's possible to make a living from offering a product or service that people need or want, and there are many businesses that do that without doing harm. But the people who have the creativity and reckless disregard for others that leads to harm MUST be contained. Some societies do better than others, but money and power always seems to find a way to corrupt. Short of blowing us back to a stone-age environment, I'm just not sure how we fix it.
Well written Holly. We hunt for meat as a bonus…the real thrill is being out in the bush with your senses alive. I love the thrill of hearing grouse clucking and scratching in the underbrush. Following moose or elk tracks and listening for the snap of a twig as they glide through the bush. Some years we get only a few birds other years we fill our freezers but the experience is what counts. We are geriatrics who can still put on a few miles in the bush but this year we were thrilled to have our great grandson help with our hunt. It was easier to have him help pull a moose out of the bush! It is a privilege to pass on knowledge of the outdoors. You have to hone all your senses to find not just game but mushrooms, berries,edible plants and fish. We are fortunate to hunt in northern BC where it is rare to even see signs of other hunters. Keep writing and hunting. It’s a base of sanity in a crazy world…
Oh, your experience sounds wonderful! And to rarely see other hunters! I never see other mountain quail hunters, but once deer season started, I run into deer hunters every time. And my duck hunting is in such crowded places that I can usually see 3-4 parties close enough to me to hear their conversations. I love ducks and duck hunting so much, though, that it's worth it.
And thank you!
Holly, hunting is a drug you either get it or not.we are over 70 and cannot feel more alive than when out in the bush. It keeps us going and we share the rewards with our family . But holy shit 1200 lb of meat is a lot of nematodes this year!!!
Oops were did nematodes slip in ?
I'm reading this before my first sip of coffee and I was trying to figure out if nematodes are edible, or what autocorrect was trying to "help" with!
Very happy to hear you're hunting over 70. That's my goal, which is why I work so hard to keep my body from falling apart (I inherited arthritis and a really janky spine from my mom).
I work out daily and have sessions with a personal trainer. Too many of our friends do nothing and it shows. We hope to be able to hunt until we take a dirt nap! We both have had hip replacements and were back on our feet within a week. At 85 my husband can still hike in the bush for 3-4 miles. We just do it slower…lol. Keep writing you and Hank give us great pleasure.
LOVE IT!
I, too, refuse to let my health go without a fight. I can accept that my physical capacities have diminished; I just can't be an accomplice to that loss.
I've also struck out on mountain quail so far this year! And New Mexico grouse. But it's still fun as hell and I have a 2 year old GSP that is even more eager than I am to get out.
Keep chasin' 'em!
Beautifully written. Thanks for sharing. I am a retired superintendent and your remarks of the addictive, and destructive, aspects of our technological world upon our youth I have witnessed too often. Grateful my children were raised loving to hunt, fish , and cook. When life gets challenging they go to the woods, they go to the lake, they go to their recipe books and live happier lives. Thanks for a great start to my day!!!
I love everything about this comment!
I worry about today's kids - they just don't get to roam the way we did. When I hunt, it takes me back to childhood roaming. But for today's kids, there may be nothing familiar about hunting - just a recognition that they have more natural instinct than they realized.
Your perspective is refreshing…Nature is my sanctuary & one reason I live in the country (I’m a retired nature artist). Once I left city living, I came to realize going back would be a slow death for me. I admire your inner drive to check out the bird hunting solo. You’re an inspiration. I have a frustratingly poor sense of direction, even with gps, which I find slows me down a bit, but your experiences are very inspiring for me to push my own envelope. Thank you.
Oh, also: I once would gotten really lost without my GPS because I was following a covey. Since then, I've tried to pay more attention to the direction I came from, because sometimes my GPS fails. Generally, I have a good sense now of where I am. Point being I think it's a skill you can hone, even if it's not your particular gift.
There's stuff I like about cities, but less and less so as the years go by. Costco and Nordstrom used to be important to me, but not so much anymore. Now it's down to broadband, good grocery stores, good restaurants and a good airport.
My family fled SoCal sprawl when I was 9, but we moved to farm country, where it's easy for city folk to confuse farmland with country. It is not; it's just industry with dirt.
Better to be completely in nature's operating system. I like nature's rules better than civilization's rules.
Yep, on the same page
Nicely written, Holly - nature as refuge from our chaotic, manufactured dystopia - if only temporarily.
And yet, the dystopia will also be temporary (albeit on a geologic scale - I don't expect it to improve in my lifetime).
Thank you!