I didn’t grow up hunting. Back in Minnesota, it always felt like something other people did to embrace the cooling temps and an excuse to sit in a deer stand and drink beer all day. Not me....Still, I struggled to take the leap on my own. I had always been the curious observer tagging along—helping prep gear, mapping hunts on OnX, waterproofing tents, packing food—yet never the hunter. That’s when I discovered Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ Hunting for Sustainability program: a chance to finally step into the role I’d been circling for a few years.