Elk NetworkWatch: Non-Hunter Takes Up Hunting

General | December 3, 2019

“Hunting has never been a part of my life. I have never desired to take down a bull elk with a gun or even whack a trout on the head. Yet, somehow, I found myself in a hunter education class, enjoying the lessons and learning more than I ever expected. If I’m clearly not a hunter, why on earth did I sign up for hunter-ed?”

Those are the words of Crystal Egli, a videographer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, written in a 2016 blog post.

“Utterly disconnected from where food comes from, I stopped to think about it for the first time when a coworker offered me slices of sausage harvested from an elk hunt. I’m a regular person who eats regular supermarket meat, with no room in the budget for local butcher shops or organic, free-range, grass-fed beef. Taking the first bite of elk, it dawned on me that I could finally ask someone exactly where the meat came from.”

Three years later, she turned the camera on herself as she ventured into the field for the first time as a hunter.

Go here to watch the series of short videos.

(Video source: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)