Jen Davis: Women in the Outdoors, Wildlife Conservation, & Getting Personal with Our Food

Jen Davis joins us on the show this week to discuss life as an adult-onset sportswoman, forager, hunter, and conservationist. Jen is a volunteer hunter education instructor for the state of Michigan who helps lead workshops specifically geared toward adult women interested in getting involved outdoors. She’s also an Artemis Sportswomen Ambassador, and she works a job helping maintain environmental health with her local Department of Parks and Recreation.

We talk about lessons and considerations often encountered by anyone on a journey toward developing healthy relationships with their food and local environments. We discuss common roadblocks and challenges both women and men encounter upon deciding to get into the outdoors as adults, and share lots of resources and ideas for where to turn for those interested in starting out. We elaborate on the importance, intent, and inner workings of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. We also explain what it means to us intrinsically to live close to our food, and to live lives focused on our relationships with natural spaces and wild species.

Show Notes:

Jen Davis on Instagram @Taproot_Wildcraft

Jen Davis on Facebook

Becoming an Outdoors Woman - google this + your state for more info

Artemis Outdoors

The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation - book

Beloved Beasts - book

Meateater - Steve Rinella's brand

Wildfed - Daniel Vitalis's brand

The Splendid Table NPR

Hank Shaw - Wild Food Author and Blogger

Alan Bergo - The Forager Chef

Hunt to Eat

Time Markers:

@Start -18:12 Introductions and Breathwork

@18:12 - 23:38 Jen’s Wild Food History, Learning the skills to match food-source awareness, and how harvesting wild food changes the way we look at nature.

@23:38 - 31:15 What Jen’s first hunt was like, and building a better adventure machine: How being physically prepared for your life’s passions can motivate us to be generally strong and healthy.

@31:15 - 37:15 Bringing food out of the woods isn’t easy! The learning curve for adult-onset outdoorsman, and common struggles in hunter education

@37:15 - 45:40 Jen’s experience going from wild foods consumer to educator and provider

@45:40 - 59:06 Getting started: Unique concerns, challenges, and reasons women and men have in becoming adult-onset hunters

@59:06 - 1:28:42 The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, & a new age of major influences in the outdoor media industry

@1:28:42 - 1:37:36 Why must we kill animals to protect wildlife? Participation’s role in building our ecological relationships

@1:37:36 - 1:54:17 Salvaging Roadkill, wild food cooking, and more ethics on utilizing life and death

@1:54:17 - Closing thoughts and advice on getting started