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Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Finding the Forgotten Feast

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Essays

Sunrise and an old oak tree in California.
Photo by Hank Shaw

From time to time I step back and write essays on why I do what I do, on some of the deeper aspects of the hunt, the pursuit of fish, the tending of a garden and the foraging of nature’s bounty. Here’s where you will find these thoughts.

If you are looking for just plain ole’ storytelling about my time in the field and on the water, here is a compendium of my hunting and fishing stories.

Chasing the Gray Ghost

This is the story of my first-ever whitetail buck: A Coues deer in southern Arizona. It was quite the adventure…

Read More about Chasing the Gray Ghost

Chasing Lightning

Steelhead are really two fish, hatchery and wild. To catch a hatchery fish is an amusement. To catch a wild steelhead is to catch lightning.

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The Things We Do for Mallards

I hunt ducks a lot, but mallards are not part of my normal daily bag. So, a few times a year, I will go to great lengths to have a good mallard hunt.

Read More about The Things We Do for Mallards

Hank Shaw unhooking pink salmon

Hauling Gear

If you ever wanted to know what it’s like aboard a commercial trolling boat, here you go. Hauling gear is deep in my bones, and it is good to get back to it.

Read More about Hauling Gear

Hank Shaw fly fishing.

Fly Fishing, Fears and Hangups

I am not a fly fisherman. Well, maybe now I am. Getting out of your comfort zone is an important part of life.

Read More about Fly Fishing, Fears and Hangups

That Which Does Not Kill Us…

Hiking into the Canadian Rockies in search of cutthroat trout? Casting a fly for the first time? Sleeping out in a thunderstorm? Check, check, check.

Read More about That Which Does Not Kill Us…

A Grain of Wheat

Considering the overlooked can lead you into unexpected insights. This is what happened when I harvested wheat in my front yard.

Read More about A Grain of Wheat

The Worm Turned

Bad luck. It happens. Especially to anglers. I’d had an especially long stretch of it this spring. But all things, even slumps, have an end.

Read More about The Worm Turned

Loss, Long Days and Bloody Decks

Tuna fishing can be grueling under the best of circumstances. This was not the best of circumstances.

Read More about Loss, Long Days and Bloody Decks

A tidepool in Sonoma

Tidepool

Transforming an experience into a plate of food is no easy task. Transforming a lifetime of experiences into a plate of food is almost impossible. Almost.

Read More about Tidepool

Hank Shaw's beer experiments

On Being All In

When I get into something, I don’t mess around. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Read More about On Being All In

The contents of Hank Shaw's freezer

Thrift, Equilibrium and a Full Freezer

Finding equilibrium is a vital part of any endeavor, and hunting, fishing and gathering is no different. How to respect your freezer and your environs at the same time.

Read More about Thrift, Equilibrium and a Full Freezer

A beautiful roast chicken on a cast iron frying pan.

In Defense of the Chicken

All chickens are not created equal, and there ought to be wider recognition of the potential greatness of something so simple as a roast chicken — if that chicken was raised in the old ways, not from a factory farm.

Read More about In Defense of the Chicken

Hank Shaw duck hunting.

Limitations

Facing your own limitations is a frightening thing. It can either hurl you into depression, or spark the urge to fight those limitations. I choose to fight.

Read More about Limitations

An antelope jackrabbit

The Hunter’s Paradox: Loving What You Kill

Most hunters, as well as those who raise livestock for meat, deal with this paradox: We love what we kill. In this modern age, this is a difficult thing to explain to those who live outside our world. 

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Dead ducks on a tailgate.

On Killing

Hunting season brings with it a flood of emotions. Elation when you succeed, frustration when you do not, and always a deep contemplation about what it means to kill for food.  

Read More about On Killing

dawn in the squirrel woods

Into the Squirrel Woods

Something about squirrel hunting touches me deeply. Moreso than anything else, hunting squirrels in the Eastern forests takes me back to childhood, to the woods that were my home when as a boy. I miss those days of exploration. 

Read More about Into the Squirrel Woods

Fog in Wyoming.

An Awful Mercy

Sometimes a hunt is more than a hunt. Sometimes it is a window into the dark reaches of this world, and the next. I came away from my Wyoming antelope hunt with a vision of courage — not by me, but of the animals we pursue.  

Read More about An Awful Mercy

Gutting and scaling a shad.

The Imperative of Protein

My life is governed by the near-constant need to process, butcher and store the fish and game we bring home. This is the Imperative of Protein, and while it is indeed hard work, I would not choose to live any other way.

Read More about The Imperative of Protein

A drake canvasback on the water.

On Breasting Out Birds

I’ve seen a lot of hunters “breast out” a lot of birds, leaving the legs and wings for the coyotes – or even just tossing them in the trash. It pains me to see this. It’s my hope to convince those hunters who do that to change their minds.

Read More about On Breasting Out Birds

A close up of a catfish

Reflections on Catfish

Catfish swim through a murky stream of race, class and regional rivalry. No other fish in North America defines where you stand in this world quite so much as the catfish. Eating one can border on being a political act.

Read More about Reflections on Catfish

spring pheasant with mushooms

NOMA: Time and Place and Meaning

After months of struggling with NOMA, the cookbook from the Danish restaurant considered to be the best in the world, I finally get it. Food is about time, and place. And meaning.

Read More about NOMA: Time and Place and Meaning

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatar for CalebCaleb says

    November 20, 2017 at 7:12 am

    Mr. Shaw,
    I really enjoy your blog, especially the posts that deal with the deeper issues and thoughts that go hand in hand with killing for food. I was recently asked why I pose with my kill after the hunt and I couldn’t articulate a answer that I was satisfied with. I was wandering what your take is on the subject.
    Best,
    Caleb

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      November 23, 2017 at 9:51 am

      Caleb: I actually wrote about this here: https://honest-food.net/hunting-photo-controversy/

      Reply
  2. Avatar for LoraLora says

    October 30, 2015 at 11:06 am

    Hi there,
    I am trying to access two of the web pages and the links take me to a different page no matter how hard I try to get them. It is about: “Killing the unkillable pheasant” and “a meal of a teal”.
    Please help
    Thanks
    Lora
    PS: I loooove your blog and especially the recipes. I already used several of them and my family totally likes them. Thanks for posting…

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      October 31, 2015 at 11:41 am

      Lora: Those posts have been deleted.

      Reply

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Hank Shaw holding a rod and reel in the American River

Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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