New Hunter Story: Devin

I began my ongoing transition from corporate lawyer to EatWild-trained hunter with the spontaneity and uncertainty that accompany most worthwhile adventures. Basically, my friend Dan called me at the office one evening and told me to check out the website of this company he’d stumbled upon. Within about 30 minutes, we’d both registered for the CORE course starting that evening, grabbed a coffee and were in the car enroute to EatWild HQ. Result!

The haste with which we’d signed up for our first EatWild experience didn’t afford much time to think about what we were actually getting into. That was probably a good thing. While the EatWild website is polished, the messaging is novel and refreshing, and the depth of experience and expertise described in the team bios is immense, it’s ultimately a company built around hunting: a hugely foreign enterprise to most urban people and certainly to us as denizens of the city’s financial core. As we pulled into EatWild HQ that evening, it occurred to me that I almost certainly wouldn’t fit in – perhaps to the extent that it would be an uncomfortable few hours.

Now, although my friend Dan is a fellow lawyer, he’s a guy who owns a respectable amount of plaid. He also happens to have a robust beard. Consequently, I was fairly confident that he’d blend in with how I imagined the other students to look. Meanwhile, I was arriving “office-fresh” in an overpriced Hugo Boss suit with briefcase in-hand, exuding all the outdoor manliness of a wet carrot. I therefore made sure that Dan walked in the door first – my smoothness surpassed only slightly by my cowardice!

Upon walking in, however, we were greeted by a surprisingly diverse group of students. To give you an idea, the age difference between youngest and oldest participant was around 40 years, approximately 30% of those in attendance were women, and there was a solid variety of educational and professional backgrounds in the room. Whatever dated optics I had on hunters quickly went out the window that evening, and I’ve been consistently reminded of the diversity within the hunting community since then.

The purpose of this submission to the EatWild Blog is really to convey that last point: hunting is not the exclusive or predominant domain of any single demographic or stereotype. It’s certainly not just big dudes who look like lumberjacks. Since I completed the CORE course, I’ve met other lawyers, private equity and wealth management guys, school teachers and medical professionals with a dedicated interest in respecting food and where it comes from, understanding nature and experiencing adventure.

This is a hugely diverse community, and EatWild offers an outstanding way to get welcomed in.