OK, this one involves YOU, dear reader. We’ve been getting to know the community of thoughtful commenters here at To The Bone, but we’d love to learn more about all of you, and we figure y'all also might want to learn more about each other. If you have a few minutes, could you tell us who you are, where you live (state or province) and why you subscribed? GO!
It’s a pretty wide variety of reasons! My husband and I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. We met Hank many years on a MSSF foray, and we remain very interested in mushroom foraging. For several years I was the outreach coordinator for California Watchable Wildlife, and learned the role of hunters in wildlife conservation. Also, we love to cook, and love wild mushrooms and game. While we don’t hunt, our new next door neighbors are duck hunters and we have enjoyed their homemade duck sausage.
And, most of all, both of you are wonderful writers!!
Joel Westa, currently manage a deer farm in Fife Lake MI, but will be moving to Manhattan MT in two months. Love the outdoors, mainly hunting and living as self sustainably as possible. At this moment I am putting the finishing touches on our maple syrup season, finishing with about 30 gallons of syrup. I do really hunt to eat, and have to admit the most enjoyable part of that is the processing and cooking aspects of it. Love to learn, and have alot to learn!! (even at 64!)
Renegade historian (quit my tenured job in 2008, resigning before resigning was cool), write Non-Boring History on Substack. Brit who lived a long time in California, then even longer in Georgia, now in Madison WI. Here because I'm aware of your work, not a hunter but a keen locavore interested in sustainable good eats. Interested in having more perspective and knowledge of the philosophy of hunting in the age of lab-grown meat (ugh).
Hey! I remember someone turning me on to Hank's site like oh 10 years ago or so. I thought at the time Yay! someone like me, time to cook! Since then I have used dozens of his recipes to excellent effect, learned to make sausages & much else that is now fully integrated in to my hunting/cooking brain (it's basically the same brain). I've recently been shown the imperative health reasons to lose weight and manage blood pressure, and with my lifestyle now I'm kinda kinda thinking I can get off commercial meat entirely -so. like life changing in the best way. This past season saw my freezer creak at the hinges then overflow entirely, so I'm happy about that but now I have even more urgency to cook like a damn fool, eat much of it and share the rest. That of course leads to hunter ed, especially w/ urban peeps who can't even conceive of killing your food. They get a lot more interested when they taste something I've cooked up! Your writing provides really good perspectives on that to share! I live in San Francisco & met you & Hank many years ago at an excellent dinner event for the now completely erased Pacific Rod & Gun club on Lake Merced -RIP on that one :+( I am loving your writing lately- excellent insightful and compelling thinking about food, hunting, connection to the planet, etc. I pay for very few online news things but your blog was probably the best deal I've gotten in a long time. It ain't braggin if it's true!
I got interested in food in my 20's because not being tall, rich, or handsome, I needed an angle with the ladies....:)
But my foodie-ness went off the hook when I moved to the Bay Area 20-some years ago, where food & restaurants etc are the vibe of life. When I began to hunt at age 40, my first attempts at cooking wild game failed, for reasons that are now obvious to me (extra lean, cook time, etc) so I started googling, found Hank, and I've been a devoted follower ever since, including showing up at a couple of book signings.
I'm no pro, far from it, but I like to think I'm a fair hand in the kitchen. Hank & Holly are a major reason for that.
David (Davis, CA). I've been a huge fan of Hank's books for the last 10 years or so and went to one of the deer camps a few years back. Loving the posts from both of you, always enjoy thinking about hunting from different perspectives and always on the lookout for tips. I love to fish/hunt/gather/cook and am amazed at how many of my Google searches on those topics keep leading back to you guys.
I guess one obvious reason I'm here is to give Holly and Hank a hard time. Back in the days of active blogging, we kept each other busy that way. That's a semi-serious response. I do like to throw the occasional curveball just for fun (even if I'm sometimes the only one who thinks it's funny), but really... when you have thoughtful people writing and thoughtful people commenting on that writing, everybody gets a chance to think and to see the same things in different ways. How can you not love that? There's always an opportunity to learn, no matter how long you've been doing something... and I've been hunting and fishing essentially all of my life.
I still hunt quite a bit, but I don't shoot as often as I once did. A strange thing happens to some hunters as we get a little older. We become less eager to kill. But, it's generally considered poor etiquette (at least among polite human society) to eat your deer while it's still alive, so I'll pull the trigger from time to time. I far prefer wild game to store-bought meat, and I prefer to provide it for myself. It was a silly point of pride that for the better part of the 20 years I lived in CA (where I met Hank and Holly), I never bought meat or poultry from the grocery store. Surprisingly, since moving back to my home state of North Carolina in 2015, the variety of available game is far more constrained... especially when it comes to white meat. I think most folks who aren't from CA don't realize the bounty of wild game available to hunters there.
So, there, Holly... I think I managed, in my own rambling way, to answer your challenge.
Live in Northern Vermont. I am a cranberry farmer ( day job) , also commercial fish scallops and groundfish from Rye N.H. And squid off Rhode Island, Past engineer on Alaska seiner/ Tender.
We have a licensed seafood smokehouse and processing facility which we use for retail sales and run a seafood foodtruck. Love your stuff and your recipes! In my spare time ,I pick wild mushrooms
SoCal born and raised, lived in Santa Cruz during college and spent a bunch of time traveling/fishing the northern part of the state. Currently back home in the Mojave. I work for an independent distributor that sells coffee and tea directly to restaurants. I fish bass tournaments in my spare time and spend what little time is left cooking. Started chasing spiny lobster several years ago and found the site while searching for new recipes. Needless to say it's now my go-to for anything I manage to bring to the table!
I live just up the road from LA, in Oxnard. I did a duck hunting trip with you and Hank back in 2013 or so (?) up at the California Waterfowl lodge, but was a big fan of your writing for some time before that. I love this newsletter format - it is a good day when there is a new missive from you two in my inbox.
Shane, from Newfoundland, Canada. I’ve hunted and fished all my life and I was always looking for ways to improve my butchering and cooking skills. I was travelling from western Canada back east about 8 years ago, when I stopped into a book store in Saskatchewan and stumbled upon Hank’s book “Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast”. I have been hooked on all of the content you both provide since. The HGC social media platform is great for connecting with people that share the love of everything outdoors. I have become a better hunter, processor, and cook because of you, Hank, and everyone I’ve connected with through HGC.
Hi! I look forward to reach each and every post and thank you both for creating quality and entertaining content. I was born and raised in Scottsdale, AZ and grew up fishing using worms and bobbers with my dad (we have since graduated to fly fishing, but I am not one to shy away from a fun evening of "watch the bobber" from time to time. I never embraced the Scottsdale lifestyle and have always had a passion for animals. I moved to Flagstaff to study Zoology at NAU and remember distinctly the first time I went out with a group of friends to go hunting. I had never fired a gun before the age of 18, and there I was running like a fool to tree a squirrel (quite possibly my favorite small game to hunt). While my dad grew up hunting in NY, he'd much rather fish when he moved west for college, and only showed me that side of consumptive living. I learned how to hunt from my group of friends as I whole heartedly embraced the mountain living, plaid wearing lifestyle. I was 20 years old when I purchases my first gun, the trusty .20 gage 870 express. This has by far been my best investment to date (yes, moreso that my truck or house). That gun taught me who I wanted to be, how I wanted to live, and how I wanted to eat. I applied for my first big game hunt (mule deer) when I was 21 and was stunned to have been drawn. I scouted, and talked to our WMs (did I mention I was and still am a wildlife biologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department going on 16 years?!). Opening morning had me sitting at a water catchment to try my luck, and I didn't even get to finish half of my coffee when a 3x3 buck walked in, and subsequently dropped in my cross hairs not even 40 yards away. I was hooked. I have evolved from taking my game to the processors, to only taking the grind to the processors, to now completely processing and packaging each of my animals. I have not had to buy ground meat in 16 years! I have learned to forage for mushrooms (Hank, *cough cough* we are still due for a trip, and its looking like this might be the year), and thoroughly enjoy playing "blindly open Hank's books to cook the recipe that I land on". I love this community, and have Hank and Holly to thank for my love and pride of #eatwhatyoukill.
Robert Evans - retired wildlife biologist with US Forest Service, live with my wife in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Have been hunting, fishing, foraging, and gardening for basically my whole life (and we love to cook all these wild foods as well). Love to hunt deer with a crossbow (we eat a lot of venison), fish for bluegills/bass/walleyes/brook trout. Forage for mushrooms in the National Forest nearby (oysters, chanterelles, puffballs, comb-tooth). Love my big vegetable garden here in the U.P.......grow all sorts of stuff, and we eat from our garden daily during the warmer months. Spend winters along the Gulf Coast now, where we catch/gather our own fish (seatrout, redfish, snook, mangrove snapper, grouper), blue crabs, oysters. I've been following Hank for years, and have cooked many of his recipes (sometimes with a few of our own tweaks........we like to experiment a little). Lots of fun, and delicious/healthy eating as well!
My favorite childhood memories were hunting and fishing in Idaho and Oregon where I grew up. I had a career as a music professor in the southeast and went 20 years without having the opportunity to hunt. Got married, changed careers, and now call Nashville my home. A friend invited me to go deer hunting four years ago and I remembered how much I love it. I also remembered how delicious and healthy wild game is (and I don't feel guilty eating it like I do factory farmed stuff). Now I make sure hunting and fishing are part of my life. Cooking is a hobby of mine and somehow I found Hank's cookbooks.
Then I found your articles - I really appreciate Hank and your thoughtful philosophies behind and approach to hunting and fishing! And the recipes ... delicious.
I'm in Bloomington, Indiana. I'm a forager, angler, and hunter looking for good stories about good food and thoughtful discussions of ethics and sustainability. And maybe some tips on bagging a few more ducks.
I’m a first generation hunter (recent generations) from Pennsylvania, and a geologist by study and profession. I mention the first generation thing because having no one in my family that hunts means that I had to teach myself a good bit but also means I get to expose my family
To a world they were unfamiliar with, particularly with the food, (which is how I got here through hanks recipes). Those have allowed me to bring wild game to the table and surprise and please many non-hunters. But finding a place to interact and have a discussion is a lot of fun for me because I get to interact with many hunter/outdoorsmen and women that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to otherwise.
PhD Chemist who lives in Central Arkansas and works for a biotech/food safety company. I grew up in a small rural community where the only things to do for entertainment were to hunt and fish. My dad spent a lot of time teaching me skills in both areas. 64+ years later I'm an active fisherman who uses every possible technique: cane pole and bobber, bamboo flyrod (I built my own), bait caster, spin caster, trotlines and yo-yos. I also am hooked on duck hunting (I do live in Arkansas after all) and deer hunting. I ran across the "to the bone" blog on substack and just enjoyed the writing and topics so I subscribed. Thanks for the great and insightful articles.
Hello Holly, great idea to have this friendly conversation. My name is Steve. I grew up hunting and fishing in Minnesota. After my hitch in the Air Force I ended up in Santa Cruz California, met the lady I married and spent 20 years raising our kids in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. When they left home, moved to NW Montana. Really enjoy the bounty of wildlife and Morels as well. Nothing beats an Elk backstrap and a side of fresh picked mushrooms! The wife wanted warmer weather so we retired down here in north Georgia just last spring.
Hi Holly, Hey, I've managed to survive a few somewhat serious episodes, enough to all but stop my writing, working on the house and a good deal of my hunting. All that said, although I am now in my 70's the VA Docs did a good job and I can get back to the things that deliver life for the investment!
I am truly pleased to see what you are doing here, it is needed by the outdoor community.
I am a recently retired physician living in NC and have been hunting deer for the past 30 years or so. I also love to cook, and when I started reading Hank's many years ago stuff I was hooked. Most of the folks I hunt with send their deer off to the processor and relegate their venison to jerky, burgers, or chili. Nothing wrong with that, but there is so much more you can do with venison. I once had a butcher tell me if he could sell venison he could get $40 a pound for it. That's an expensive hamburger! I like to do all the butchering myself - there is something very satisfying about separating muscle groups into the particular cuts needed for different meals - maybe that's my old anatomy lessons coming back to haunt me 🤭. I'm interested in foraging, but haven't really given that a try yet (maybe now that I am retired...). I enjoy "To The Bone" because the topics discussed are ones that I find interesting - not your run of the mill hunting stories but stories and commentaries written from a new perspective, one that is geared not only toward the hunt itself, but also the culinary delights of eating the game you have killed. Anyway, keep up the good work - it is all thoroughly enjoyable, educational, and down right fun to read.
I'm Chris Tenpas. I live in Alaska. The biggest reason that I subscribed was to find new and interesting ways to eat the plethora of edible plants and animals in this incredible state. It has been an incredible bonus to find that there is much more than (really really great) recipes to this site. In fact, thanks to your site I am finding new edible plants and animals. Now I need more recipes. Is there no end to this???? Thanks for everything!
Retired mechanic. Hunted, fished, cooked, gardened all my live. Live in Panhandle Fl. Moved here for all of the above. Sailed all over the world and moved here for all of the above. Love all the info I get from Yall.
I enjoy fishing for wild trout in the High Sierra, when time allows (not very often these days!). I've never learned to hunt. I'm really concerned about continuing loss of habitats and the continuing suburbanization of California's best farmland. I'm been on High Sierra guided mule trips since the 1960s, and years ago I remember the guides noting that the elevation levels for certain species (mountain bluebirds, for example) seemed to be drifting upwards a smidgen each year... welcome to climate change.
We live in Palo Alto. We shop as much as possible from small family farms at the local farmer's market, and from our friends at Chileno Valley grass-fed beef & lamb in West Marin County. During the first part of the pandemic, I found Hank's recipe posts by Googling. I really enjoy trying some of the recipes. Both Hank's and Holly's posts are wonderful windows into the natural world and the hunting and fishing world.
I live in the Puget Sound area in Washington state. Holly is my sister. I believe in supporting something that seems very important to you Holly. I doubt I'll ever hunt or forage and your life is very different than mine but you make everything interesting and you have changed my opinion about hunters and hunting. Thanks for educating me!
Mike Baker: My son and I enjoy hunting and fishing, we have all of your cooks books. We live in Minnesota and have traveled to SD, ND WY, MT & AK. We have attended three of Hanks book signing events. Hank continues to make us look good in the Kitchen.
I raise my own meat (butcher ourselves), veggies, fruit, herbs, and i do this regeneratively (nature-mimicking). I don’t hunt as a rule, because I don’t need to, and, I prefer to watch wild animals...but, I love the perspectives from those who hunt ethically and I love food and recipes from ground to table. I love learning about every plant (especially things not in stores) and animal out there and how to eat them (or not)...
So interesting reading the comments! I feel a bit like the odd duck, a basically-vegetarian who married into the wild game life, but it's the sustainable locavore aspect that I relish. After nearly 20 years with my mate, his patience won out and I finally went hunting, shooting my first doe in the North Dakota badlands. It was an intense experience. I appreciate your essays as they help me process my own thoughts about hunting, Hank's recipes have never failed me as I continue to learn how to cook game and fish, and I have always admired your photography, Holly. Meat is not easy to photograph!
Hi Holly and All: fun to read about the other folks on the party line.
I’m a 51 year old dad, husband and falconer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Have hunted with my birds for almost 40 years now but have only been eating game for about 20 years. I’m sure I stumbled into the Hank n Holly Show by looking up game recipes online. I was hooked by one video in particular of them hunting and eating giant New Zealand rails. That resonates here in the bayou.
Later I got to meet Hank at a local game dinner. Still have yet to meet Holly but we have a mutual friend (R.O.) so maybe on a future trip west.
While I haven't read very many of the blog posts, I've been following honestfood.net, the Hunt Gather, Talk podcast and the huntgathercook facebook page for many years, and have multiple copies of all 4 books (I live between 2 houses for my work). I've learned stuff from the podcasts and books about so many aspects of preparing and cooking game, as well as things about the species we pursue that I never knew I needed to know. My enjoyment of hunting, fishing and cooking has grown exponentially since I originally found the website.
I live in Reno, but work in Elko and the rest of Nevada (as an Exploration Geologist).
I'm a lifelong hunter and angler (though my fishing has taken somewhat of a backseat the last 20 years). My wife and I are both "foodies", and greatly enjoy cooking the fruits of my hunting, as well as our frequent fishing expeditions to the Rio Costco.
I started writing the Basic Hunter because while I still enjoy the hunting content put out today, I saw a need to add a perspective that doesn’t just focus on hunting mature animals or traveling to exotic places. That’s entertaining, but not as relatable to me (and many people, or so my theory goes). The Basic Hunter takes a more honest, realistic look at life before talking strategy because my life situation rules out many of the strategies you see on YouTube.
Which brings me to your substack- I saw the same passion and knowledge I look for in any good hunting content, but from a different perspective. Your appreciation for the skill of your craft seeps through your writing. That’s a perspective I’ll always look for!
Jacque Hartwig from Minnesota. I subscribed to further understand my husband's love of hunting. He is an avid hunter of birds, deer, elk, turkey, waterfowl and likes to fish as well. I love to cook but had zero experience with wild game, gardening and foraging. I married into a rural farm lifestyle and had to learn to process and cook what the land and my husband provided. I do not hunt but plan on learning to shoot with a goal of hunting grouse and pheasant. I was a mediocre wild game cook (and still didn't really "love" wild game) until I happened upon Buck Buck Moose and the Honest Food website. We made a special point to meet Hank and attend his cooking demonstration at a Pheasant Forever convention. Our upcoming adventures include international hunts paired with tourism. We are active in a number of local conservation groups. I love reading the essays on To The Bone to have a more in-depth views and perspectives regarding hunting and foraging.
I’m T.J. Walker from around Poteet, Texas ( south of San Antonio) . I love to hunt and fish and cook. I have Hank’s books and thought To The Bone would be interesting.
I am a husband of 40+ years, Father to two adult children, grandfather to my first grandson. I am a Christian minister of over 40 years as well. I have hunted and fished since my youth growing up in Nebraska. I currently get to live in scenic Bozeman, MT. If it has fins, feathers or fur, I find time to pursue it! I have a young French Brittany who helps me chase Montana's abundant upland game. I also believe you can't own too many boats, so currently have a Hyde drift boat and a Crestliner fishing boat. I lived in North Idaho for over 25 years and enjoyed its beauty and abundance. I'm learning a new areas here in MT and find it challenging. I only recently connected with To The Bone via the Hunter/Gatherer, website where I was always looking for a new recipe. I love the idea of learning how to fix wild game in ways that are fun and new. There are some great wild game cooks that I've been around and am hoping to become one myself.
Writing in from a soggy spring in Minneapolis, Minnesota! Professor of New Testament, life-long fisherman and adult-reactivated hunter and forager. I've followed Hank for a number of years, including both his blog and podcast and had the opportunity to meet him through a mutual friend, Chris Niskanen. I fully support the goal of more long-form writing in an increasingly short-form world!
I came across Hank's books and subsequently website, and then your youtube videos 1/2 dozen years ago when I began teaching myself to hunt and fish. They've been instrumental in my education and I'm so grateful for finding them. When I heard about your substack I jumped onto support. Been turkey, waterfowl, and upland hunting - learning as I go - these past years in Ontario, Canada. Fingers crossed I'll connect with some big game this year so I can make use of the Buck, Buck, Moose book that's been sitting on my shelf forever.
I’m a long term hunter, angler and gardener. Lately I’ve taken interest in foraging. Now that I’m retired I enjoy cooking and have the time to do more. I really enjoy trying Hank’s recipes and making wild foods fine dining.
Recently retired and moved from Las Vegas to the Twin Falls area. Also spend a lot of time up in the Missoula area. Have followed Hank for years and own the majority of his cookbooks. I've also listened to a number of his podcasts and follow the both of you. A fisherman for all of my life and began hunting about 9 years ago (expecting to do a lot more of it now). Mainly a bird hunter, but have taken a deer the past few years and love the meat. I have utilized the cookbooks, website and emails more and more in recent years. I've enjoyed the articles/essays and can appreciate the areas you hunt in. I have several friends in the Chico area and have done a fair amount of hunting and fishing around there, so feel somewhat of a kinship with you both. Cheers.
Been following Hank for quite awhile on Twitter, have two of your cookbooks and just want to support what you do and represent. I met Hank at the Beretta store in Dallas a few years back at a book signing and I learned how to butcher a deer from the book.
Feel like we're missing something in today's world of disconnected reality and your writing brings me back to that connection. Plus I'm learning how to be a duck hunter from you awesome writeups.
Hello - we are in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which is a wonderful and dynamic city in the Canadian prairies, and so close to wild and open spaces.
I am a 'late onset hunter', having shifted from being an occasional fly fisher to rifle hunting in my late forties. I've benefited from some great mentorship, and from a small community of fellow hunters who eschew the toxic masculinity that seems to be associated with hunting … dig just below the surface and find so many great people, not just the loudmouth jerks.
I've lived in Saskatoon for 21 years now, after growing up in southern Ontario and a late-20's sojourn in North Carolina. Hunting - or should I mean mornings of dragging my tired ass out into the field before the sun brightens the sky - has connected me to this adopted prairie landscape. This fact hit me as I was driving to hunt duck last fall - as I watching the fog rise above the pothole lakes and I was scanning the edge of the scrub bush for deer - I realized that the landscape was no longer alien.
My spousal unit, Christine, has really taken to the various new proteins (deer, moose for the first time last year, and very recently snow goose) with great enthusiasm … although her biology education does not extend to butchering. We use Hank's books, the Facebook group and the web page extensively.
If there's anyone here from Saskatchewan or Manitoba who is interested in getting a local BHA chapter off the ground, please drop me a line!
Hi, I'm a transplanted Californian living in Australia since 1984. Grew up in Carpinteria, then to Seal Beach and Long Beach before immigrating. Lover of Labradors and my current dog an English Setter (Riley). We hunt duck and quail, he's best on quail of course. (Have a new Lab pup coming in July, but don't tell him just yet) The season is currently on now. Also salt water fishing and free diving for abalone and maybe a cray. I've followed Hank for years, got all the books. Learning so much but need more free time! All my children are Australian born with dual citizenship and two daughters now live in Calif.; LA and North Bay of San Francisco. Got a brother who lives in the hills out of Santa Cruz. My bucket list has a trip back to USA (when flights are more affordable!) that includes one of Hank's dinner nights, book signing etc. Oh, include a hunt in NZ on that list. I signed up for the "free" subscription as I wanted to try it out, but it didn't really give me anything, OK I'll subscribe proper like, don't want you two going hungry! Love your work.
I subscribed because you and Hank write about things no one else writes about. Dozens of "news" outlets write, broadcast or blog about the same old stuff; you talk about the kind of things I talk about with my friends and neighbors, the things that are important to us. I am a mixed animal veterinarian in southern California.
Mischa Hedges from Santa Rosa, California. I didn’t grow up hunting, but have always had an appreciation for good food, and worked as a cook for many years when I was younger. Today I make documentary films, and work with clients on marketing and communications.
Hunting for me began with fishing, crabbing and abalone diving in my hometown on the Mendocino Coast. Being on the ocean, in a kayak, or in the ocean in a wetsuit is humbling - and I love being humbled by the outdoors. During the pandemic my fishing evolved to pursuits on land - I bought my first gun and hunted my first waterfowl in 2020, got my first deer in 2021. It’s been a change from the passive enjoyment of nature I get through cycling and running and backpacking. Hunting puts me in direct relationship with the land and has deepened my understanding and appreciation for the life it sustains. Every time I reach into the freezer and pull out a paper-wrapped package of deer meat, I feel blessed to be connected to this land and the story of the animals that feed my friends and family.
Reading your writings, Hank and Holly, has been a tremendous part of my learning as a new hunter. Your recipes have helped me to present the meat I bring home in simple, honest ways that bring out the best in it - and ensure others have a good experience eating wild game, often for their first time. Thank you!
Jericha here, originally from the Bay Area, now living at the foot of Mt Shasta. I'm here because, in all honesty, I would be living a very different life right now if it wasn't for Hank (and you too, Holly, although I didn't know that at first!) So, buckle up for the wild fangirling that's about to follow:
My husband & I grew up in non-hunting, non-fishing households, but both our parents love the California landscape, so we spent a lot of time outdoors and ended up kind of wandered into foraging in our late twenties, mostly building on fond memories of blackberry picking. My husband was already curious about hunting, and once we started foraging I think it seemed somehow less daunting -- so he went and got his license, helped by a couple good high school buddies, and came home with his first duck. I love to cook, and I was SO excited, but I also had NO idea what to do with it. (I'd never even handled chicken guts...)
Cut past much frantic googling to me, on YouTube, learning pluck & gut a duck from Hank's tutorials. That led me to the blog, where I was so enchanted by the writing AND the recipes AND the generous way he shared his knowledge that we started buying the books. It seemed like everything you shared just empowered us to try so much more than we would have ever done otherwise. In addition to lots of duck stuff, we've since cured our own olives, pickled our own wild-caught herring, and enjoyed our own wild turkey -- all thanks to Hank's recipes and your inspiring photos, Holly. Our lifestyle has changed enormously since then. Hunting and foraging are now huge parts of our life and it's honestly thanks in no small part to the ways that you two have made this information accessible, inspiring, and personal. There's nothing else like it on the internet.
At the end of the day, the level of nuance in the writing is really why I'm here. The recipes are scandalously good, and I still can't believe that you take the time to actually answer every question people ask in the comments (including mine!), but it's the deep, thoughtful, reflective commentary I'm most hungry for. You've modeled ways of thinking & talking that just make so much SENSE, and we've since been able to bring other people into hunting who would never have felt either safe or interested before, just because we have the language to talk about it in ways that actually mean something to disenchanted bleeding-heart millennials like ourselves.
I'm gonna feel really embarrassed after I post this...but since we can't say thanks in person (my husband didn't manage to sign up for the deer hunt in time...) this'll have to do. (I did stammer out some thanks to Hank at a book signing in Sacramento last year, but he had a lot of people to talk to that day.)
Adam Berkelmans, I run a website/social media brand called the Intrepid Eater. I've been interested in food and the outdoors my entire life and have led many careers in pursuit of those passions, including butchery, farming, backcountry ranger, riparian restoration, park operations, trail building, arborist, etc., etc., etc. I've been a passionate cook and a casual angler, forager, and gardener for most of my life, but have started taking those things more seriously as well as taking up hunting in the last few years. Hank was one of a growing number of people who were there at the right place and time to influence me when I needed it most. Hank, and you Holly, and the community that came with you guys, proved that there were people out there who wanted more from their wild game than mushroom soup, pellet smokers, and bacon. I tend to try to only look at Hank's recipes in my periphery as I'm often developing my own recipes and don't want to be unduly or accidentally copying them, but the techniques and wisdom passed on have been absolutely invaluable. It's always amazing to find someone out there voicing the same things you've been prattling on about for years (plucking, nose to tail, searing duck breasts, proper field management of meat, handling fish...)!
Good day. I'm a retired high school teacher living in Central CA. Can't remember the specifics of how I found your blogs, but have followed them both for many years for the recipes and the lively thoughts on hunting, fishing and food. I went to college in Chico and have family in Siskiyou and Napa counties, so I enjoy knowing some of the NorCal places you describe. The little town my wife and I live in is at the base of the Sierras on the way to Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Our youngest son got me connected with a former student that is involved with a local non-profit and for five years I worked for the non-profit in the park giving cave tours and other "living history" in the parks. This time rekindled my fishing some as my son and I would fish on the way home occasionally. I have been intending years to start hunting to supplement our home grown meat and vegetables and fruits. We like to think we have a mini farm with the chickens, ducks and an occasional turkey that we harvest. So the hunting has taken a seat to the farming. On more than one instance I have considered coming to a book signing or take a hunting trip to help jumpstart my hunting. I enjoy both of your stories of how you got started and how you continue in California's current atmosphere. I wonder if some of my reluctance to hunting is the lack of places to hunt. I remember dove hunting with friends in the 70's as being, go to one friend's orchard and pond in the morning and another at night before the barbecue. Sadly not so any longer. That's just sentimental nostalgia I think and I need to move on to today. Thank you for what you and Hank are doing and I'll keep reading.
I first became acquainted with hunting 4 years ago at the age of 22 while listening to a Joe Rogan podcast. The way they talked about it shattered all my preconceived notions on hunting. Being in the Chicagoland area, I didn't know a single person who hunted, so I was forced to be entirely self taught. Those were challenging years. The only success I had with any animal was squirrel, while coming up short with turkey, rabbit, coyote, waterfowl, and deer. I remember bow hunting on public land for white-tail multiple times per week for months in the same location. Some days being below 0. On the last day of the season I shot and missed a doe at 10 yards, the arrow reflecting off a branch. I broke down crying and quit bowhunting.
Now at the age of 26, I have persevered and grown past that experience and have since moved to Tucson, Arizona this past year. Instead of hunting deer on small plots of public land filled to the brim with hunters surrounded by fields of corn and soybean, I hunt Coues on plots of pristine desert so large it's difficult to comprehend. You guys were a large part of my journey. Hank's small game podcast inspired me to look at hunting from a new perspective. I now spend time reading studies on antelope jackrabbit, desert cottontail, and Gambel's quail trying to understand the fascinating world they live in and be more effective and finding and hunting them.
I am in the .0001% of hunters that thinks their favorite animal to hunt is the antelope jackrabbit, inspired by Hank.
Thank you both for what you do! You truly make large impacts on people lives.
If you are ever in Tucson I would love to hunt with and show you all my secret spots for high densities of Gambel's quail, Couese deer, or antelope jackrabbit. Feel free to email me at danielkozlak@comcast.net if you ever want to take up the offer.
Holly, As you know, I am here for many reasons, but mainly so I can stalk you and Hank and steal all your duck hunting spots!!!! All kidding aside, I am a life long California resident. I am a forestry and wildlife biologist and spend a considerable amount of time trying to fill my freezers and panty with food from the land. Right now, I'm doing pretty good with two elk and a deer on ice! After getting to spend time with Hank in the field, it has made my search broaden for different resources that we have available in the great state. I am here to continue to broaden my horizons and also stay in touch with the community of fellow hunter/gatherers. Also, since I am a forester and spend time in Sacramento dealing with politicians, I love hearing what others in the state and the greater land say about public policy and rules and regulations and how they may affect us all.
Hi everyone! I’m here because I grew up with a passion for hunting and fishing and eventually developed a love for cooking. I have loved every recipe I’ve made so far from your website, and am eager to learn more so I can start creating my own. I’m also building a brand called CHIEF Provisions where I’m designing gear for everyday adventures but I have plans to have cooks/chefs become a large target audience for our business!
I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the heart of hunting, angling, gardening, and cooking country. I'm not a hunter, and have only caught a handful of fish, but I'm a gardener and cook. I may not hunt in the field, but I'm an avid supporter of sustainable food and our local farmers' market. I let them hunt, and I cook.
It’s a pretty wide variety of reasons! My husband and I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. We met Hank many years on a MSSF foray, and we remain very interested in mushroom foraging. For several years I was the outreach coordinator for California Watchable Wildlife, and learned the role of hunters in wildlife conservation. Also, we love to cook, and love wild mushrooms and game. While we don’t hunt, our new next door neighbors are duck hunters and we have enjoyed their homemade duck sausage.
And, most of all, both of you are wonderful writers!!
Joel Westa, currently manage a deer farm in Fife Lake MI, but will be moving to Manhattan MT in two months. Love the outdoors, mainly hunting and living as self sustainably as possible. At this moment I am putting the finishing touches on our maple syrup season, finishing with about 30 gallons of syrup. I do really hunt to eat, and have to admit the most enjoyable part of that is the processing and cooking aspects of it. Love to learn, and have alot to learn!! (even at 64!)
Renegade historian (quit my tenured job in 2008, resigning before resigning was cool), write Non-Boring History on Substack. Brit who lived a long time in California, then even longer in Georgia, now in Madison WI. Here because I'm aware of your work, not a hunter but a keen locavore interested in sustainable good eats. Interested in having more perspective and knowledge of the philosophy of hunting in the age of lab-grown meat (ugh).
Hey! I remember someone turning me on to Hank's site like oh 10 years ago or so. I thought at the time Yay! someone like me, time to cook! Since then I have used dozens of his recipes to excellent effect, learned to make sausages & much else that is now fully integrated in to my hunting/cooking brain (it's basically the same brain). I've recently been shown the imperative health reasons to lose weight and manage blood pressure, and with my lifestyle now I'm kinda kinda thinking I can get off commercial meat entirely -so. like life changing in the best way. This past season saw my freezer creak at the hinges then overflow entirely, so I'm happy about that but now I have even more urgency to cook like a damn fool, eat much of it and share the rest. That of course leads to hunter ed, especially w/ urban peeps who can't even conceive of killing your food. They get a lot more interested when they taste something I've cooked up! Your writing provides really good perspectives on that to share! I live in San Francisco & met you & Hank many years ago at an excellent dinner event for the now completely erased Pacific Rod & Gun club on Lake Merced -RIP on that one :+( I am loving your writing lately- excellent insightful and compelling thinking about food, hunting, connection to the planet, etc. I pay for very few online news things but your blog was probably the best deal I've gotten in a long time. It ain't braggin if it's true!
Dave, I live in the Bay Area
I got interested in food in my 20's because not being tall, rich, or handsome, I needed an angle with the ladies....:)
But my foodie-ness went off the hook when I moved to the Bay Area 20-some years ago, where food & restaurants etc are the vibe of life. When I began to hunt at age 40, my first attempts at cooking wild game failed, for reasons that are now obvious to me (extra lean, cook time, etc) so I started googling, found Hank, and I've been a devoted follower ever since, including showing up at a couple of book signings.
I'm no pro, far from it, but I like to think I'm a fair hand in the kitchen. Hank & Holly are a major reason for that.
David (Davis, CA). I've been a huge fan of Hank's books for the last 10 years or so and went to one of the deer camps a few years back. Loving the posts from both of you, always enjoy thinking about hunting from different perspectives and always on the lookout for tips. I love to fish/hunt/gather/cook and am amazed at how many of my Google searches on those topics keep leading back to you guys.
Good one, Holly! Guaranteed engagement!
I guess one obvious reason I'm here is to give Holly and Hank a hard time. Back in the days of active blogging, we kept each other busy that way. That's a semi-serious response. I do like to throw the occasional curveball just for fun (even if I'm sometimes the only one who thinks it's funny), but really... when you have thoughtful people writing and thoughtful people commenting on that writing, everybody gets a chance to think and to see the same things in different ways. How can you not love that? There's always an opportunity to learn, no matter how long you've been doing something... and I've been hunting and fishing essentially all of my life.
I still hunt quite a bit, but I don't shoot as often as I once did. A strange thing happens to some hunters as we get a little older. We become less eager to kill. But, it's generally considered poor etiquette (at least among polite human society) to eat your deer while it's still alive, so I'll pull the trigger from time to time. I far prefer wild game to store-bought meat, and I prefer to provide it for myself. It was a silly point of pride that for the better part of the 20 years I lived in CA (where I met Hank and Holly), I never bought meat or poultry from the grocery store. Surprisingly, since moving back to my home state of North Carolina in 2015, the variety of available game is far more constrained... especially when it comes to white meat. I think most folks who aren't from CA don't realize the bounty of wild game available to hunters there.
So, there, Holly... I think I managed, in my own rambling way, to answer your challenge.
Live in Northern Vermont. I am a cranberry farmer ( day job) , also commercial fish scallops and groundfish from Rye N.H. And squid off Rhode Island, Past engineer on Alaska seiner/ Tender.
We have a licensed seafood smokehouse and processing facility which we use for retail sales and run a seafood foodtruck. Love your stuff and your recipes! In my spare time ,I pick wild mushrooms
SoCal born and raised, lived in Santa Cruz during college and spent a bunch of time traveling/fishing the northern part of the state. Currently back home in the Mojave. I work for an independent distributor that sells coffee and tea directly to restaurants. I fish bass tournaments in my spare time and spend what little time is left cooking. Started chasing spiny lobster several years ago and found the site while searching for new recipes. Needless to say it's now my go-to for anything I manage to bring to the table!
I live just up the road from LA, in Oxnard. I did a duck hunting trip with you and Hank back in 2013 or so (?) up at the California Waterfowl lodge, but was a big fan of your writing for some time before that. I love this newsletter format - it is a good day when there is a new missive from you two in my inbox.
Shane, from Newfoundland, Canada. I’ve hunted and fished all my life and I was always looking for ways to improve my butchering and cooking skills. I was travelling from western Canada back east about 8 years ago, when I stopped into a book store in Saskatchewan and stumbled upon Hank’s book “Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast”. I have been hooked on all of the content you both provide since. The HGC social media platform is great for connecting with people that share the love of everything outdoors. I have become a better hunter, processor, and cook because of you, Hank, and everyone I’ve connected with through HGC.
Hi! I look forward to reach each and every post and thank you both for creating quality and entertaining content. I was born and raised in Scottsdale, AZ and grew up fishing using worms and bobbers with my dad (we have since graduated to fly fishing, but I am not one to shy away from a fun evening of "watch the bobber" from time to time. I never embraced the Scottsdale lifestyle and have always had a passion for animals. I moved to Flagstaff to study Zoology at NAU and remember distinctly the first time I went out with a group of friends to go hunting. I had never fired a gun before the age of 18, and there I was running like a fool to tree a squirrel (quite possibly my favorite small game to hunt). While my dad grew up hunting in NY, he'd much rather fish when he moved west for college, and only showed me that side of consumptive living. I learned how to hunt from my group of friends as I whole heartedly embraced the mountain living, plaid wearing lifestyle. I was 20 years old when I purchases my first gun, the trusty .20 gage 870 express. This has by far been my best investment to date (yes, moreso that my truck or house). That gun taught me who I wanted to be, how I wanted to live, and how I wanted to eat. I applied for my first big game hunt (mule deer) when I was 21 and was stunned to have been drawn. I scouted, and talked to our WMs (did I mention I was and still am a wildlife biologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department going on 16 years?!). Opening morning had me sitting at a water catchment to try my luck, and I didn't even get to finish half of my coffee when a 3x3 buck walked in, and subsequently dropped in my cross hairs not even 40 yards away. I was hooked. I have evolved from taking my game to the processors, to only taking the grind to the processors, to now completely processing and packaging each of my animals. I have not had to buy ground meat in 16 years! I have learned to forage for mushrooms (Hank, *cough cough* we are still due for a trip, and its looking like this might be the year), and thoroughly enjoy playing "blindly open Hank's books to cook the recipe that I land on". I love this community, and have Hank and Holly to thank for my love and pride of #eatwhatyoukill.
Robert Evans - retired wildlife biologist with US Forest Service, live with my wife in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Have been hunting, fishing, foraging, and gardening for basically my whole life (and we love to cook all these wild foods as well). Love to hunt deer with a crossbow (we eat a lot of venison), fish for bluegills/bass/walleyes/brook trout. Forage for mushrooms in the National Forest nearby (oysters, chanterelles, puffballs, comb-tooth). Love my big vegetable garden here in the U.P.......grow all sorts of stuff, and we eat from our garden daily during the warmer months. Spend winters along the Gulf Coast now, where we catch/gather our own fish (seatrout, redfish, snook, mangrove snapper, grouper), blue crabs, oysters. I've been following Hank for years, and have cooked many of his recipes (sometimes with a few of our own tweaks........we like to experiment a little). Lots of fun, and delicious/healthy eating as well!
My favorite childhood memories were hunting and fishing in Idaho and Oregon where I grew up. I had a career as a music professor in the southeast and went 20 years without having the opportunity to hunt. Got married, changed careers, and now call Nashville my home. A friend invited me to go deer hunting four years ago and I remembered how much I love it. I also remembered how delicious and healthy wild game is (and I don't feel guilty eating it like I do factory farmed stuff). Now I make sure hunting and fishing are part of my life. Cooking is a hobby of mine and somehow I found Hank's cookbooks.
Then I found your articles - I really appreciate Hank and your thoughtful philosophies behind and approach to hunting and fishing! And the recipes ... delicious.
I'm in Bloomington, Indiana. I'm a forager, angler, and hunter looking for good stories about good food and thoughtful discussions of ethics and sustainability. And maybe some tips on bagging a few more ducks.
I’m a first generation hunter (recent generations) from Pennsylvania, and a geologist by study and profession. I mention the first generation thing because having no one in my family that hunts means that I had to teach myself a good bit but also means I get to expose my family
To a world they were unfamiliar with, particularly with the food, (which is how I got here through hanks recipes). Those have allowed me to bring wild game to the table and surprise and please many non-hunters. But finding a place to interact and have a discussion is a lot of fun for me because I get to interact with many hunter/outdoorsmen and women that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to otherwise.
PhD Chemist who lives in Central Arkansas and works for a biotech/food safety company. I grew up in a small rural community where the only things to do for entertainment were to hunt and fish. My dad spent a lot of time teaching me skills in both areas. 64+ years later I'm an active fisherman who uses every possible technique: cane pole and bobber, bamboo flyrod (I built my own), bait caster, spin caster, trotlines and yo-yos. I also am hooked on duck hunting (I do live in Arkansas after all) and deer hunting. I ran across the "to the bone" blog on substack and just enjoyed the writing and topics so I subscribed. Thanks for the great and insightful articles.
Hello Holly, great idea to have this friendly conversation. My name is Steve. I grew up hunting and fishing in Minnesota. After my hitch in the Air Force I ended up in Santa Cruz California, met the lady I married and spent 20 years raising our kids in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. When they left home, moved to NW Montana. Really enjoy the bounty of wildlife and Morels as well. Nothing beats an Elk backstrap and a side of fresh picked mushrooms! The wife wanted warmer weather so we retired down here in north Georgia just last spring.
I really enjoy Hank’s stories recipes. Thanks!
Hi Holly, Hey, I've managed to survive a few somewhat serious episodes, enough to all but stop my writing, working on the house and a good deal of my hunting. All that said, although I am now in my 70's the VA Docs did a good job and I can get back to the things that deliver life for the investment!
I am truly pleased to see what you are doing here, it is needed by the outdoor community.
I am a recently retired physician living in NC and have been hunting deer for the past 30 years or so. I also love to cook, and when I started reading Hank's many years ago stuff I was hooked. Most of the folks I hunt with send their deer off to the processor and relegate their venison to jerky, burgers, or chili. Nothing wrong with that, but there is so much more you can do with venison. I once had a butcher tell me if he could sell venison he could get $40 a pound for it. That's an expensive hamburger! I like to do all the butchering myself - there is something very satisfying about separating muscle groups into the particular cuts needed for different meals - maybe that's my old anatomy lessons coming back to haunt me 🤭. I'm interested in foraging, but haven't really given that a try yet (maybe now that I am retired...). I enjoy "To The Bone" because the topics discussed are ones that I find interesting - not your run of the mill hunting stories but stories and commentaries written from a new perspective, one that is geared not only toward the hunt itself, but also the culinary delights of eating the game you have killed. Anyway, keep up the good work - it is all thoroughly enjoyable, educational, and down right fun to read.
I'm Chris Tenpas. I live in Alaska. The biggest reason that I subscribed was to find new and interesting ways to eat the plethora of edible plants and animals in this incredible state. It has been an incredible bonus to find that there is much more than (really really great) recipes to this site. In fact, thanks to your site I am finding new edible plants and animals. Now I need more recipes. Is there no end to this???? Thanks for everything!
Retired mechanic. Hunted, fished, cooked, gardened all my live. Live in Panhandle Fl. Moved here for all of the above. Sailed all over the world and moved here for all of the above. Love all the info I get from Yall.
I enjoy fishing for wild trout in the High Sierra, when time allows (not very often these days!). I've never learned to hunt. I'm really concerned about continuing loss of habitats and the continuing suburbanization of California's best farmland. I'm been on High Sierra guided mule trips since the 1960s, and years ago I remember the guides noting that the elevation levels for certain species (mountain bluebirds, for example) seemed to be drifting upwards a smidgen each year... welcome to climate change.
We live in Palo Alto. We shop as much as possible from small family farms at the local farmer's market, and from our friends at Chileno Valley grass-fed beef & lamb in West Marin County. During the first part of the pandemic, I found Hank's recipe posts by Googling. I really enjoy trying some of the recipes. Both Hank's and Holly's posts are wonderful windows into the natural world and the hunting and fishing world.
I live in the Puget Sound area in Washington state. Holly is my sister. I believe in supporting something that seems very important to you Holly. I doubt I'll ever hunt or forage and your life is very different than mine but you make everything interesting and you have changed my opinion about hunters and hunting. Thanks for educating me!
Mike Baker: My son and I enjoy hunting and fishing, we have all of your cooks books. We live in Minnesota and have traveled to SD, ND WY, MT & AK. We have attended three of Hanks book signing events. Hank continues to make us look good in the Kitchen.
I live in the north west Bay Area.
I love all nature and it is my solace.
I raise my own meat (butcher ourselves), veggies, fruit, herbs, and i do this regeneratively (nature-mimicking). I don’t hunt as a rule, because I don’t need to, and, I prefer to watch wild animals...but, I love the perspectives from those who hunt ethically and I love food and recipes from ground to table. I love learning about every plant (especially things not in stores) and animal out there and how to eat them (or not)...
So interesting reading the comments! I feel a bit like the odd duck, a basically-vegetarian who married into the wild game life, but it's the sustainable locavore aspect that I relish. After nearly 20 years with my mate, his patience won out and I finally went hunting, shooting my first doe in the North Dakota badlands. It was an intense experience. I appreciate your essays as they help me process my own thoughts about hunting, Hank's recipes have never failed me as I continue to learn how to cook game and fish, and I have always admired your photography, Holly. Meat is not easy to photograph!
Hi Holly and All: fun to read about the other folks on the party line.
I’m a 51 year old dad, husband and falconer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Have hunted with my birds for almost 40 years now but have only been eating game for about 20 years. I’m sure I stumbled into the Hank n Holly Show by looking up game recipes online. I was hooked by one video in particular of them hunting and eating giant New Zealand rails. That resonates here in the bayou.
Later I got to meet Hank at a local game dinner. Still have yet to meet Holly but we have a mutual friend (R.O.) so maybe on a future trip west.
My best to all y’all!
While I haven't read very many of the blog posts, I've been following honestfood.net, the Hunt Gather, Talk podcast and the huntgathercook facebook page for many years, and have multiple copies of all 4 books (I live between 2 houses for my work). I've learned stuff from the podcasts and books about so many aspects of preparing and cooking game, as well as things about the species we pursue that I never knew I needed to know. My enjoyment of hunting, fishing and cooking has grown exponentially since I originally found the website.
I live in Reno, but work in Elko and the rest of Nevada (as an Exploration Geologist).
I'm a lifelong hunter and angler (though my fishing has taken somewhat of a backseat the last 20 years). My wife and I are both "foodies", and greatly enjoy cooking the fruits of my hunting, as well as our frequent fishing expeditions to the Rio Costco.
Dan from Pennsylvania. I started writing The Basic Hunter substack recently
https://thebasichunter.substack.com
I started writing the Basic Hunter because while I still enjoy the hunting content put out today, I saw a need to add a perspective that doesn’t just focus on hunting mature animals or traveling to exotic places. That’s entertaining, but not as relatable to me (and many people, or so my theory goes). The Basic Hunter takes a more honest, realistic look at life before talking strategy because my life situation rules out many of the strategies you see on YouTube.
Which brings me to your substack- I saw the same passion and knowledge I look for in any good hunting content, but from a different perspective. Your appreciation for the skill of your craft seeps through your writing. That’s a perspective I’ll always look for!
Hello there. I'm from Germany. I signed up because I'm interested in your topics.
I like to cook with game and fish.
Jacque Hartwig from Minnesota. I subscribed to further understand my husband's love of hunting. He is an avid hunter of birds, deer, elk, turkey, waterfowl and likes to fish as well. I love to cook but had zero experience with wild game, gardening and foraging. I married into a rural farm lifestyle and had to learn to process and cook what the land and my husband provided. I do not hunt but plan on learning to shoot with a goal of hunting grouse and pheasant. I was a mediocre wild game cook (and still didn't really "love" wild game) until I happened upon Buck Buck Moose and the Honest Food website. We made a special point to meet Hank and attend his cooking demonstration at a Pheasant Forever convention. Our upcoming adventures include international hunts paired with tourism. We are active in a number of local conservation groups. I love reading the essays on To The Bone to have a more in-depth views and perspectives regarding hunting and foraging.
I’m T.J. Walker from around Poteet, Texas ( south of San Antonio) . I love to hunt and fish and cook. I have Hank’s books and thought To The Bone would be interesting.
I am a husband of 40+ years, Father to two adult children, grandfather to my first grandson. I am a Christian minister of over 40 years as well. I have hunted and fished since my youth growing up in Nebraska. I currently get to live in scenic Bozeman, MT. If it has fins, feathers or fur, I find time to pursue it! I have a young French Brittany who helps me chase Montana's abundant upland game. I also believe you can't own too many boats, so currently have a Hyde drift boat and a Crestliner fishing boat. I lived in North Idaho for over 25 years and enjoyed its beauty and abundance. I'm learning a new areas here in MT and find it challenging. I only recently connected with To The Bone via the Hunter/Gatherer, website where I was always looking for a new recipe. I love the idea of learning how to fix wild game in ways that are fun and new. There are some great wild game cooks that I've been around and am hoping to become one myself.
Writing in from a soggy spring in Minneapolis, Minnesota! Professor of New Testament, life-long fisherman and adult-reactivated hunter and forager. I've followed Hank for a number of years, including both his blog and podcast and had the opportunity to meet him through a mutual friend, Chris Niskanen. I fully support the goal of more long-form writing in an increasingly short-form world!
I came across Hank's books and subsequently website, and then your youtube videos 1/2 dozen years ago when I began teaching myself to hunt and fish. They've been instrumental in my education and I'm so grateful for finding them. When I heard about your substack I jumped onto support. Been turkey, waterfowl, and upland hunting - learning as I go - these past years in Ontario, Canada. Fingers crossed I'll connect with some big game this year so I can make use of the Buck, Buck, Moose book that's been sitting on my shelf forever.
I’m a long term hunter, angler and gardener. Lately I’ve taken interest in foraging. Now that I’m retired I enjoy cooking and have the time to do more. I really enjoy trying Hank’s recipes and making wild foods fine dining.
Recently retired and moved from Las Vegas to the Twin Falls area. Also spend a lot of time up in the Missoula area. Have followed Hank for years and own the majority of his cookbooks. I've also listened to a number of his podcasts and follow the both of you. A fisherman for all of my life and began hunting about 9 years ago (expecting to do a lot more of it now). Mainly a bird hunter, but have taken a deer the past few years and love the meat. I have utilized the cookbooks, website and emails more and more in recent years. I've enjoyed the articles/essays and can appreciate the areas you hunt in. I have several friends in the Chico area and have done a fair amount of hunting and fishing around there, so feel somewhat of a kinship with you both. Cheers.
Been following Hank for quite awhile on Twitter, have two of your cookbooks and just want to support what you do and represent. I met Hank at the Beretta store in Dallas a few years back at a book signing and I learned how to butcher a deer from the book.
Feel like we're missing something in today's world of disconnected reality and your writing brings me back to that connection. Plus I'm learning how to be a duck hunter from you awesome writeups.
Hello - we are in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which is a wonderful and dynamic city in the Canadian prairies, and so close to wild and open spaces.
I am a 'late onset hunter', having shifted from being an occasional fly fisher to rifle hunting in my late forties. I've benefited from some great mentorship, and from a small community of fellow hunters who eschew the toxic masculinity that seems to be associated with hunting … dig just below the surface and find so many great people, not just the loudmouth jerks.
I've lived in Saskatoon for 21 years now, after growing up in southern Ontario and a late-20's sojourn in North Carolina. Hunting - or should I mean mornings of dragging my tired ass out into the field before the sun brightens the sky - has connected me to this adopted prairie landscape. This fact hit me as I was driving to hunt duck last fall - as I watching the fog rise above the pothole lakes and I was scanning the edge of the scrub bush for deer - I realized that the landscape was no longer alien.
My spousal unit, Christine, has really taken to the various new proteins (deer, moose for the first time last year, and very recently snow goose) with great enthusiasm … although her biology education does not extend to butchering. We use Hank's books, the Facebook group and the web page extensively.
If there's anyone here from Saskatchewan or Manitoba who is interested in getting a local BHA chapter off the ground, please drop me a line!
Hi, I'm a transplanted Californian living in Australia since 1984. Grew up in Carpinteria, then to Seal Beach and Long Beach before immigrating. Lover of Labradors and my current dog an English Setter (Riley). We hunt duck and quail, he's best on quail of course. (Have a new Lab pup coming in July, but don't tell him just yet) The season is currently on now. Also salt water fishing and free diving for abalone and maybe a cray. I've followed Hank for years, got all the books. Learning so much but need more free time! All my children are Australian born with dual citizenship and two daughters now live in Calif.; LA and North Bay of San Francisco. Got a brother who lives in the hills out of Santa Cruz. My bucket list has a trip back to USA (when flights are more affordable!) that includes one of Hank's dinner nights, book signing etc. Oh, include a hunt in NZ on that list. I signed up for the "free" subscription as I wanted to try it out, but it didn't really give me anything, OK I'll subscribe proper like, don't want you two going hungry! Love your work.
I subscribed because you and Hank write about things no one else writes about. Dozens of "news" outlets write, broadcast or blog about the same old stuff; you talk about the kind of things I talk about with my friends and neighbors, the things that are important to us. I am a mixed animal veterinarian in southern California.
Mischa Hedges from Santa Rosa, California. I didn’t grow up hunting, but have always had an appreciation for good food, and worked as a cook for many years when I was younger. Today I make documentary films, and work with clients on marketing and communications.
Hunting for me began with fishing, crabbing and abalone diving in my hometown on the Mendocino Coast. Being on the ocean, in a kayak, or in the ocean in a wetsuit is humbling - and I love being humbled by the outdoors. During the pandemic my fishing evolved to pursuits on land - I bought my first gun and hunted my first waterfowl in 2020, got my first deer in 2021. It’s been a change from the passive enjoyment of nature I get through cycling and running and backpacking. Hunting puts me in direct relationship with the land and has deepened my understanding and appreciation for the life it sustains. Every time I reach into the freezer and pull out a paper-wrapped package of deer meat, I feel blessed to be connected to this land and the story of the animals that feed my friends and family.
Reading your writings, Hank and Holly, has been a tremendous part of my learning as a new hunter. Your recipes have helped me to present the meat I bring home in simple, honest ways that bring out the best in it - and ensure others have a good experience eating wild game, often for their first time. Thank you!
Jericha here, originally from the Bay Area, now living at the foot of Mt Shasta. I'm here because, in all honesty, I would be living a very different life right now if it wasn't for Hank (and you too, Holly, although I didn't know that at first!) So, buckle up for the wild fangirling that's about to follow:
My husband & I grew up in non-hunting, non-fishing households, but both our parents love the California landscape, so we spent a lot of time outdoors and ended up kind of wandered into foraging in our late twenties, mostly building on fond memories of blackberry picking. My husband was already curious about hunting, and once we started foraging I think it seemed somehow less daunting -- so he went and got his license, helped by a couple good high school buddies, and came home with his first duck. I love to cook, and I was SO excited, but I also had NO idea what to do with it. (I'd never even handled chicken guts...)
Cut past much frantic googling to me, on YouTube, learning pluck & gut a duck from Hank's tutorials. That led me to the blog, where I was so enchanted by the writing AND the recipes AND the generous way he shared his knowledge that we started buying the books. It seemed like everything you shared just empowered us to try so much more than we would have ever done otherwise. In addition to lots of duck stuff, we've since cured our own olives, pickled our own wild-caught herring, and enjoyed our own wild turkey -- all thanks to Hank's recipes and your inspiring photos, Holly. Our lifestyle has changed enormously since then. Hunting and foraging are now huge parts of our life and it's honestly thanks in no small part to the ways that you two have made this information accessible, inspiring, and personal. There's nothing else like it on the internet.
At the end of the day, the level of nuance in the writing is really why I'm here. The recipes are scandalously good, and I still can't believe that you take the time to actually answer every question people ask in the comments (including mine!), but it's the deep, thoughtful, reflective commentary I'm most hungry for. You've modeled ways of thinking & talking that just make so much SENSE, and we've since been able to bring other people into hunting who would never have felt either safe or interested before, just because we have the language to talk about it in ways that actually mean something to disenchanted bleeding-heart millennials like ourselves.
I'm gonna feel really embarrassed after I post this...but since we can't say thanks in person (my husband didn't manage to sign up for the deer hunt in time...) this'll have to do. (I did stammer out some thanks to Hank at a book signing in Sacramento last year, but he had a lot of people to talk to that day.)
Adam Berkelmans, I run a website/social media brand called the Intrepid Eater. I've been interested in food and the outdoors my entire life and have led many careers in pursuit of those passions, including butchery, farming, backcountry ranger, riparian restoration, park operations, trail building, arborist, etc., etc., etc. I've been a passionate cook and a casual angler, forager, and gardener for most of my life, but have started taking those things more seriously as well as taking up hunting in the last few years. Hank was one of a growing number of people who were there at the right place and time to influence me when I needed it most. Hank, and you Holly, and the community that came with you guys, proved that there were people out there who wanted more from their wild game than mushroom soup, pellet smokers, and bacon. I tend to try to only look at Hank's recipes in my periphery as I'm often developing my own recipes and don't want to be unduly or accidentally copying them, but the techniques and wisdom passed on have been absolutely invaluable. It's always amazing to find someone out there voicing the same things you've been prattling on about for years (plucking, nose to tail, searing duck breasts, proper field management of meat, handling fish...)!
Good day. I'm a retired high school teacher living in Central CA. Can't remember the specifics of how I found your blogs, but have followed them both for many years for the recipes and the lively thoughts on hunting, fishing and food. I went to college in Chico and have family in Siskiyou and Napa counties, so I enjoy knowing some of the NorCal places you describe. The little town my wife and I live in is at the base of the Sierras on the way to Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Our youngest son got me connected with a former student that is involved with a local non-profit and for five years I worked for the non-profit in the park giving cave tours and other "living history" in the parks. This time rekindled my fishing some as my son and I would fish on the way home occasionally. I have been intending years to start hunting to supplement our home grown meat and vegetables and fruits. We like to think we have a mini farm with the chickens, ducks and an occasional turkey that we harvest. So the hunting has taken a seat to the farming. On more than one instance I have considered coming to a book signing or take a hunting trip to help jumpstart my hunting. I enjoy both of your stories of how you got started and how you continue in California's current atmosphere. I wonder if some of my reluctance to hunting is the lack of places to hunt. I remember dove hunting with friends in the 70's as being, go to one friend's orchard and pond in the morning and another at night before the barbecue. Sadly not so any longer. That's just sentimental nostalgia I think and I need to move on to today. Thank you for what you and Hank are doing and I'll keep reading.
I first became acquainted with hunting 4 years ago at the age of 22 while listening to a Joe Rogan podcast. The way they talked about it shattered all my preconceived notions on hunting. Being in the Chicagoland area, I didn't know a single person who hunted, so I was forced to be entirely self taught. Those were challenging years. The only success I had with any animal was squirrel, while coming up short with turkey, rabbit, coyote, waterfowl, and deer. I remember bow hunting on public land for white-tail multiple times per week for months in the same location. Some days being below 0. On the last day of the season I shot and missed a doe at 10 yards, the arrow reflecting off a branch. I broke down crying and quit bowhunting.
Now at the age of 26, I have persevered and grown past that experience and have since moved to Tucson, Arizona this past year. Instead of hunting deer on small plots of public land filled to the brim with hunters surrounded by fields of corn and soybean, I hunt Coues on plots of pristine desert so large it's difficult to comprehend. You guys were a large part of my journey. Hank's small game podcast inspired me to look at hunting from a new perspective. I now spend time reading studies on antelope jackrabbit, desert cottontail, and Gambel's quail trying to understand the fascinating world they live in and be more effective and finding and hunting them.
I am in the .0001% of hunters that thinks their favorite animal to hunt is the antelope jackrabbit, inspired by Hank.
Thank you both for what you do! You truly make large impacts on people lives.
If you are ever in Tucson I would love to hunt with and show you all my secret spots for high densities of Gambel's quail, Couese deer, or antelope jackrabbit. Feel free to email me at danielkozlak@comcast.net if you ever want to take up the offer.
Holly, As you know, I am here for many reasons, but mainly so I can stalk you and Hank and steal all your duck hunting spots!!!! All kidding aside, I am a life long California resident. I am a forestry and wildlife biologist and spend a considerable amount of time trying to fill my freezers and panty with food from the land. Right now, I'm doing pretty good with two elk and a deer on ice! After getting to spend time with Hank in the field, it has made my search broaden for different resources that we have available in the great state. I am here to continue to broaden my horizons and also stay in touch with the community of fellow hunter/gatherers. Also, since I am a forester and spend time in Sacramento dealing with politicians, I love hearing what others in the state and the greater land say about public policy and rules and regulations and how they may affect us all.
Hi everyone! I’m here because I grew up with a passion for hunting and fishing and eventually developed a love for cooking. I have loved every recipe I’ve made so far from your website, and am eager to learn more so I can start creating my own. I’m also building a brand called CHIEF Provisions where I’m designing gear for everyday adventures but I have plans to have cooks/chefs become a large target audience for our business!
I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the heart of hunting, angling, gardening, and cooking country. I'm not a hunter, and have only caught a handful of fish, but I'm a gardener and cook. I may not hunt in the field, but I'm an avid supporter of sustainable food and our local farmers' market. I let them hunt, and I cook.