Modern Huntsman

It’s no secret, hunting gets a bad wrap in the media. And, being honest, for good reason. Photos of dudes grinning obnoxiously ear to ear, holding a bloodied buck by its antlers have been prominently displayed by hunters for decades. The portrayal painted is a bloodthirsty killer, pleased that he or she has imposed their own selfish will upon this animal.

Interject the Modern Huntsman. Modern Huntsman is focused on flipping the script on the narrative of hunting in our modern culture. Though, the appearance of those “grip and grin” photos is preposterous, what lies behind them are drastically different but so easily misunderstood. Emotions stemming from knowing you’ve filled your freezer with extremely valuable, difficult-to-obtain, clean protein for the year ahead. Overflowing satisfactory feelings of having been submersed in the wild, rooted in an ancestral, core-grounding experience, coursing over many long, arduous days and unforgiving miles. The sense of accomplishment which lives deep inside, knowing one still has the necessary knowledge, skill and fortitude to survive out here. To the untrained eye, grip and grin photos would never portray such an image.    

As society evolves, humans must adapt. Hunting no longer seems necessary to some because we can obtain our sustenance from the grocery store. We, at Northstar, believe the culture of hunting, fishing and gathering is as important now as ever before because so much more than our mere self-assuredness of ability to survive is at stake. In the midst of swelling city limits and an increasing human/natural disconnect, the fight to protect our wild lands, wild habitats and wildlife demands our full understanding, focused intentionality and unabashed support.

You may be asking yourself why we, at Northstar, even care about the modern perception of hunting? Because we feel we fall closer in line with hunting and wildlife conservation processes than we do modern, conventional food production. Stewardship lives in our core values. Conservation plays into our every decision. The inner affliction we feel toward harvesting animals pushed us to write a script on our own harvest principles inThe Harvest Film we partnered withEPIC andDonnie Vincent to produce. It’s a difficult act to put into words but the film does a beautiful job of profoundly conveying this complexity.

Modern Huntsman just released their 3rd volume of gripping, peridigm-challenging articles paired with stunning photography. Many of which were written by fellow modern huntsman and women who are reestablishing the narrative and understanding of living in balance with the land and raw, self-finding experiences, only found in the daunting wilderness.

At the core, vegans and conscious consumers share the same virtues of concern for animal welfare and conservation. Each choose to consume and interact with their surroundings differently but that doesn’t change the inevitable fate of flora and fauna. In the natural world, it’s a cycle of life feeding life. We must be a conscious consumer, asking ourselves the difficult questions to discover the richness of who we are and our part to play in bettering our surroundings.

Wade in with an open mind.

Live well this week,

Sean and the Northstar Tribe

I encourage you to visit themodernhuntsman.com and share with friends or family if you so feel compelled.