The smell of the outdoors to me is a mixture of dust, dried leaves, gun powder, all carried by the wind of the season. I’m what you might call a hunter.

Friends of mine wouldn’t hesitate to call me a barbarian for shooting little woodland creatures, riding 4-wheelers, drinking Coors Lite, and maybe dipping. But, they also don’t fully understand the closeness to nature that hunters feel; traversing the earth, observing animals and plants, being out in the woods when it rains. They don’t quite understand what it’s like to camp outside, look up into a pitch black sky scattered with twinkling little stars, and breathe in the majesty that is our universe. But I don’t hold ignorance against them. Anyone who enjoys the outdoors is soon made aware by spending a weekend in the blind with me that it’s a give and take relationship with nature, and often times it takes my breath away.

Hunting is an exercise in self-reliance and survival, as well as it is on conservation. Whereas hunting does take the lives of animals for food, for those who respect nature and the circle of life, it is also a way to help control over population, and to become aware of the systemic value of life-cycles, and the role we all play in maintaining our planet.

Trust me, hunting for Cheez-Its at the supermarket isn’t the same as hunting your own food. The value you place on what you’ve caught and killed, cleaned and eaten is a lot more substantial than what you put on your Skinny Cow cheese wheels and crackers. It delves into the meaning of life and death, of resourcefulness and respectfulness. That’s why I hunt, and I challenge you to try it once or twice to gain a better appreciation for gathering your own food.