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Field Notes from Jess ~ Rewilding in 2022 | Week 6/52 | Winter

archery hunting camp wild pig Feb 06, 2022
Hunting | Rewilding | Archery
Field Notes from Jess: Rewilding 2022 Week 6/52
 
Hunting Camp and Kinship
 
I'm just returning home from Austin Texas after spending four days at hunting camp. An exceptional group of people shared a common desire to engage one of the most primal human and communal necessities, which is to hunt for food.
Instructor @joelvbushcraft partnered with Instructor Cole Wilks @flatlanderonyt to welcome students onto remote land to deepen their connection to the wild and offer instruction on the foundational techniques of hunting.
We arrived as strangers but left this beautiful land as comrades. Time in the outdoors removes walls, devices, comfort, distraction and exclusion. Waking together before dawn in 25 degree weather, swimming in an ice cold river, tracking the land, observing a mountain lions den, processing wild boar, archery practice, sitting quietly in a blind, nighttime hunting by starlight, and closing out each evening around a campfire while passing around wild pig meat were just some of the many gifts we collectively experienced. We enjoyed many open-hearted conversations around meals together, which included freshly caught catfish tacos and venison stew.
I am thankful to witness the unique personalities that were brought together for this course. We all shared a similar sentiment regarding our reasons for choosing this path. It is a steep learning curve to take this on as an adult, however I believe this is an essential element to thriving as a culture in a modern world. We need to know how to harvest food and to do this in community. We need to know how to take care of one another and the land. We need to know how to process an animal and experience what it truly means to be a meat eater and therefore embrace the circle of life. We thrive as a species when we can feed one another with our hearts and with our hands.
Thank you @wildkindacademy women @suuuugar_starrrr and @vicious_and_delicious1 for taking this leap with me. You are powerful beyond measure.
Thank you to the extraordinary men who I am blessed to call friends.