A Walk in the Woods (aka Grouse Hunting)

Following my hubby through the woods.

I bought a hunting license this year. That statement may not be shocking to most of you, but it is if you’ve known me in my younger years.  I grew up in a family of ranchers, although we stopped ranching when I was a little girl, and beef was always on the menu.  Hunting, however, was a foreign concept.  There were certainly members of my extended family who hunted, but it was not something I was ever exposed to.  In high school I became very attached to one of the steers we were raising for meat, and I swore off red meat.  Several family members love to tell the story of Chrissy the Vegetarian, but I was far from it.  I never gave up chicken or pork.  Especially not bacon, because, it's bacon.  Enough said.

When I met my husband I had no understanding of why someone would hunt, and although I didn't really think it was wrong, I didn't think it was something I would ever really support, let alone participate in.  But I started to see that Nick was hunting as a means to sustain.  Hunting for food, not trophies.  Then one day I tried some of his elk jerky, and that was it.  I was a rare-steak-eating wife of a hunter.  I have come to love cooking with wild game, and found a way of life in providing our family healthy food harvested from the woods, rather than bought at a store.  Most surprising of all, especially to myself, I have started to think that I need to fully embody my newfound philosophy on food, by hunting myself.

Nick, showing me how to aim the shotgun.

And so there I was, hunting license purchased, heading to the mountains for my first official hunt for grouse with my happy husband.  The idea of actually killing an animal is not something I have fully embraced yet, but the idea of providing for my family is something I am fully on board with.  I was focused, ready, and determined to bring home dinner.  I quickly became enamored with grouse hunting, because grouse live in my favorite place, at high elevations in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains that surround Taos.  Nick and I chose a location we had been at just a week before, where we had practically stepped on several grouse.  As we walked through the woods I tried to calm myself, thinking about how close I felt to the mountains, and the food I would be providing for my family.  I listened to the wind in the trees, the calming sound of a creek, just out of sight, and the crunch of leaves beneath my feet.  I focused on slowing my heart rate, and preparing myself for what was to come.

As it turns out, we had a beautiful walk in the woods, and that was about it.  We didn't see a single grouse, or even sign of a grouse.  We walked around for a couple of hours, and a couple of miles.  It was an amazing morning in the mountains, and nothing more.  It was a strange feeling to return to the car, disappointed that I hadn't shot anything.  I couldn't help but laugh at my mood, I was so prepared, and so let down.  I plan on returning to the woods soon, and am determined to continue on this path towards providing for my family.  I'm just hoping that future hunting trips are a little less anti-climactic!

The good news is that there was a silver lining to our grouse-less hunting trip.   We stumbled upon this cauliflower mushroom!  We have been trying to properly identify one of these for ages!  Hooray!  The mountains still provided.