Finding Peace and Power in the Wilderness: My Wild Chix Hunting Experience

I’m not sure what I expected when I first signed up for the Wild Chix Intro to hunting weekend. I’ve always considered myself fairly outdoorsy; I grew up smack dab in the Midwest of the United States, my family had 9 acres of forest on our property and I spent much of my adolescence traipsing through the woods and the winding creek that ran through our property.

My father worked for Winchester Ammunition, so I had quite a bit of experience shooting various firearms, though always at targets. I spent years working my way through the ranks of Girl Scouts and learning all sorts of outdoor and survival skills. I spent my late teens and twenties camping with mates and becoming a confident camper. Though despite all of that I’d only been hunting once, as a small child with my father. We’d gone turkey hunting, and I remember that I was expected to sit and be quiet…for hours. I was never invited back.

I’m not exactly a demure woman; I’m American for a start, and an obvious extrovert. I love to meet new people and network and share stories of my adventures. I enjoy making people laugh and I can be a bit of a goofball…so sitting still has never exactly been my forte. I’m a professional chef by trade and I spent most of my twenties travelling the world and working at fine dining restaurants, working my way up the ranks to sous chef and head chef. My world revolves around the fast paced environment that is a professional kitchen, and has been since I was 15 years old. My day to day life consists of dealing with the day to day emergencies that come with the territory of running a kitchen, the noise, the smells, the fluorescent lighting.

So I’m not really sure what compelled me to want to learn to hunt. Perhaps it was a desire to trace the food back to it’s source; as a chef I really enjoy knowing exactly where my food comes from. I have always strived for a paddock to plate menu and I wanted to get closer to my meat so to speak. I also enjoy collecting skills, particularly survival skills, so I thought it might be important to learn something in case I ever need to fend for myself or my family. I also wanted to be able to teach my son to hunt. My wife and I agreed when we decided to have kids that whether we had a son or a daughter we would make sure they were well rounded and I take my responsibility seriously. Also….I think I just missed hanging out with like minded women.

Having kids can be isolating, and I’ve definitely felt the lack of community over the last few years. So I decided to step out of my comfort zone slightly and sign up for an Into to hunting course. It ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

The camp is set up

Before the course began, we were invited to a group chat to get to know some of the other chicks that would be coming along. We chatted back and forth, made some carpooling plans and introduced ourselves. Luckily there was another woman from Hawkes Bay that had signed up and she and I made plans to drive the 3 and a half hours to the Te Urewera forest together.

The drive up was comfortable, and we quickly got acquainted. Arriving at our hut just before sunset we were the last to arrive and were greeted with warm hugs and big smiles from the other 10 women. It felt like coming home. As we noshed on bbq venison and got the rundown from Izzy on what to expect over the next few days I was immediately in my element.

We soon geared up for a night walk, “to tune in our senses” Izzy said. This involved walking the boundary of the forest as a group in near complete darkness, focusing on trying to be as quiet as possible. It was the first time in my life that I didn’t have something to say. My ears perked up and my senses sharpened. As we slowly crept through the grass, our breath puffing out in front of our faces I could vaguely see my companions around me, all focused on staying quiet, of walking softly, listening for anything in the woods next to us, and trying not to fall on our faces in the dark. It was INTENSE! After almost 2 hours we returned to the hut to debrief and discuss what we’d experienced. We were all giddy with the adrenaline of having done something kind of scary, but really interesting. From there we played a few games, had some girl talk and hit the sack.

One thing that struck me as I was laying in my sleeping bag and began to fall asleep, was how quickly my group had bonded, how fast we were sharing our personal stories of hardship and how easily I trusted this group of women I just met. It was jarring to me as I realized that there would be NO WAY IN HELL that I would trust or be as comfortable with a group of men. It was a comforting thought and I was able to fall asleep fast. They only had to tell me to stop snoring once.

The next morning, we walked the same boundary in the daylight that we had walked the night before; HOW DIFFERENT it was during the light of day. Our footsteps fell a bit louder, our path much easier to walk in the daylight. What had taken us 2 hours to walk in the dark took us maybe 30 minutes in the light of day. We looked for deer sign (POOP) and learned the difference between stag poo and hind poo, how to tell how old it was, to look for other signs that deer were around. It was fascinating.

We spent the day learning about navigation, and firearms, we shot targets with .22 rifles. We learned about crossing rivers and mountain safety. We took turns leading the group through the bush and navigating ourselves out again. It was empowering. There were no stupid questions, no pressure to know or not know something. If you didn’t feel comfortable doing something there was no pressure to do it, just to take things at your own pace. I could feel the collective comfort at not being made to feel less than or ridiculed for not knowing something, a feeling that was mutually shared amongst us when learning from men. Facts and skills were simply broken down and demonstrated. If you needed more help, they were reiterated without condescension. It was great.

Day 3 was perhaps my favourite day. I woke up at 4 am to a -4-degree morning. Nat, a fellow student and I were heading out with Izzy for an early morning hunt. The others had opted to head out later with the other instructor. Izzy emerged from her tent, (she’d camped in the -4-degree freezing temperatures) remarkably chipper. We headed out in the dark, our footsteps crunching lightly on the frozen blades of grass. Quietly we made our way to a spot Nat had scoped out the day before. She’d seen fresh sign, and we decided we’d wait there for daylight to see if anything came out of the woods. As we settled into our position on the frozen ground, I realized how at peace I was. There was no noise. NONE. Our quiet breathing the only sound to occasionally be heard. My mind, which is constantly filled with 1,001 thoughts and ideas and reminders and anxieties….was quiet too. What was this witchcraft?? We sat waiting till just before the sun rose. Izzy decided to take us into the bush to follow a little stream of water. Climbing through the bramble and over fallen trees, I felt a connection to the forest that I’d never experienced in all my years of rural upbringing. I was immediately hooked. We spent the next few hours working our way through the forest and up the hills and down again, Izzy scrambling up mountain sides like a nimble goat, myself huffing along further down. Still…I smiled.

We returned to the hut around 9 am, had breakfast and waited for the other group to return. It was butchering day. Izzy had brought along some deer for us to butcher and I was keen to get into it. As a chef, I’ve butchered a lot of meat, but I’ve never processed a whole beast start to finish before and it was a super educational experience. From skinning the animal to breaking it down into pieces, to cleaning the individual cuts and packaging them, it was a communal effort. Everyone had a job and we quickly got to work and got stuck in. It was easy to imagine women doing this exact same thing for hundreds of years. Working together to help feed each other. After packaging the meat it was time to pack our bags and say our goodbyes. I found myself feeling suddenly morose. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay in the forest with my new friends and chase this feeling of incredible peace that I’d suddenly experienced. But it was time to go. With hugs and promises of a reunion I started the drive back to Hawkes Bay, my passenger dozing quietly in the passenger seat.

My group still stays in touch with each other, Nat and I have become very good friends, I believe our time spent in the forest has helped bond us. As soon as I got home I knew I had only just discovered the tip of an iceberg. Awaiting me is a whole lifetime of knowledge to be learned. Of incredible adventures to be had, and amazing companions to share the journey with. Luckily I know just the women to help me along my journey.