I woke up this first morning of a hopefully happy 2019 with one thing on my mind: my blog.  The last post I published was in August.  I have thought a lot about recipes, taken many photos I would like to share, had an entire fall hunting season filled with stories, successes, and failures, eaten some amazing wild game meals, and yet none of it made it on to the blog.  It might be a happy 2019, but I didn’t immediately feel that it was related to my blog. 

Looking back, I started this blog back in 2014 with one purpose: to teach myself to harvest my own food.  While I can’t say the blog had a successful fourth quarter, I will say I have stuck to main purpose, which is a rewarding feeling and should definitely make for good 2018 and hopefully a happy 2019.  After I finished my hunter’s education course, which was like pulling teeth to even get me to do it for some reason, I kind of figured I would be the person who carried a gun around for a half hour, following slowly behind the other hunters, and eventually headed back to camp early for a nap (don’t get me wrong, I still like mid-hunt naps as much as I did before).

Somewhere along the way I harvested my first turkey.  It was probably the ugliest hunt anyone has seen.  I shot a branch out above the turkey, scared him off, and then ran back into him while loading the gun in the truck.  At that point a pathetic foot race ensued and I somehow ended the entire situation with a successfully harvested turkey. 

I went on a muzzleloader elk hunt where even though the results were empty handed, I had more fun than I could have ever imagined.  I crawled in the mud, sat shivering in the snow as the sun set, engaged in an elk calling war, ran into a couple of bears, and returned to camp each night so exhausted I could barely pull my own boots off.

I eventually did have a successful hunt for a pronghorn.  I have never felt so excited, frustrated, thrilled with myself, and sad as during that hunt.  Finding bucks and taking shots was so exciting, but missing over and over (and over more than I should probably admit) was the most frustrating time of my life.  When I finally did drop the buck, I cried. I still can’t describe what you learn about yourself, life, respect, death, and appreciation during a hunt.  It is something you can truly only learn by experiencing yourself.

I won’t say that I am still not that person who wanders behind the group slowly and thinks about the mid-hunt nap, but I definitely have grown past that point somewhat.  There’s still work to do though.

I have also learned to cook, something I never thought I would enjoy.  During college, I could barely boil water.  I thought making a box of mac and cheese was cooking.  The link between harvesting something yourself, learning to care for and clean it, and taking the time to prepare something just so is a gift.  I enjoy opening that gift every meal.

If I had to pick a favorite meal from the blog, I would probably choose the blueberry balsamic reduction over elk steaks.  Hopefully in my quest for a happy 2019 I can create a new favorite meal for the blog. 

So, when I woke up this morning and the blog hit my mind first, I knew it was a sign to keep working.  Here’s to another year, and more hunting, stories, photos and recipes to come!