March 24, 2022
Howdy,
I hope that this WSI media blast finds you doing well.
Yes, I know, it’s been many months since we last sent out any form of a group blast to our email list. Why? Simply put, things have been so busy over the last year we have had a difficult time keeping up with the demand and activity load that was incidentally at our fingertips. Outdoor recreational travel has been at a high pitch in the US for the last 12 – 18 months, including in the hunting community. In my 35 years in this crazy industry, I’ve never seen anything like it. Our WSI bookings have been extremely active, our capacity has been somewhat taxed, we have been running short on “inventory”, and we have been reluctant to fan this amazing fire by sending a promotional piece out to the large group list that this media tool services. I know that is a bit lame in terms of our traditional emphasis of sharing with you information and photos from our hunts, but I don’t know any other way to explain things.
This blast, that we have titled Highlights From 2021, is intended to provide just that…a snapshot of some harvest photos from last year. The photos that you’ll enjoy, here, are not intended to be the biggest animals within each category, but are merely a cross-section of what our valued clients took with us in 2021. I recognize that there are some clients who will be disappointed to not see their harvests being showcased, but we must be conscientious of the size of the blast that is shared, and even with this disclosure, you’ll see that this is still a large assembly of some images from exciting hunts of last year.
Moving ahead, I look forward to WSI placing more emphasis on the food part of our hunts; most specifically the importance of game meats. On a personal basis, as well as through the collective efforts of WSI, we have been active for years in serving as an advocate for hunters, hunting, and the importance of sustainable conservation of our wildlife resources. There are many legitimate platforms that we can reflect on when we discuss the integral role that hunters serve in helping to conserve wild things and wild places, with conservation funding being a huge part of the mix. As many of you know, recent years have seen society placing more emphasis on the food part of their lives and lifestyles. These foodie group movements are not fads, but are a reflection of an increased self-awareness that food plays in human health and well-being, and with that, people have also connected to food in a way that adds excitement and enjoyment into their routines. On the hunting side of things, we have what we refer to as the locavore movement. Locavores, generally speaking, are a community of people who place value and emphasis on “locally” produced organic foods. Plus, these locavores want to be part of the exercise of collecting/harvesting those foods, as well as processing those foods. For some, this whole locavore exercise adds joy to their lives, in a bit of a recreational sense. For others, this activity is therapeutic in various ways, including the spiritual and emotional connection that is created with the natural world, bridged on the back of these naturally produced foods.
One of the amazing features of game meats is this; hunters tend to enjoy and find immense satisfaction in sharing their game meats with family, friends, and through benevolent donation programs. Conversely, few people purchase grocer-sourced foods with the expressed intent of sharing that food with others. The significance of this phenomenon cannot be underestimated. Further, there are emerging reasons to believe that the sustainable tonnage (volume) of naturally produced organic foods represent a large enough number that this number likely adds to our nation’s food security, when you stack this on top of food produced through traditional ag practices. Wild game, wild fish (fresh and saltwater), berries, nuts, mushrooms, and other plants and plant parts, collectively represent a huge number regarding regenerative food production. I encourage you to take a look at Wild Harvest Initiative being spearheaded by international conservation champion, Shane Mahoney. WHI is an absolute seminal effort to try and unlock the data that is lacking to better understand the metrics of wild-produced foods. I’m proud to share with you that WSI supports WHI financially and otherwise because we believe that the essence of this program has the ability to rewrite the narrative on the importance of wild lands and the role that hunters and fishermen serve in conservation of these natural areas. Think about this for a quick bit…there are 72 harvested animals that are featured below in the blast. Based on conservative calculations that involve estimated body weights and conversions, and based on 6 ounce portions, these 72 animals represent over 27,300 meals! Let that sink it. And that’s simply from THIS sample of animals that our clients harvested. If we were to extrapolate that against our total take that WSI and our affiliated properties yield each year, can you imagine what that number would be? But, even more importantly, when we begin to use calculations of the entire sustainable yield of all naturally produced foods across the landscape, it’s simply enormous.
WSI will continue to shine the light on the importance of the food part of the hunt. This will include “field to fork” programs that are in-place and are emerging around the country, we will examine the yield from our clients’ harvest, we’ll occasionally share some culinary tips of processing and cooking wild game, and we will do a better job of celebrating this part of the hunt.
I’ve rambled on enough. Thanks for taking the time to peruse this eblast and to enjoy Highlights From 2021.
As they say, “Life’s better outside,” so I hope you’ll find plenty of time and opportunity to go there.
Cheers,
Greg Simons
WSI – Co-owner, GM
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