Protecting The Places That Shaped Us

By: Hunter Gambale

The word “conservation” gets passed around so much lately that people forget what it even means. For some people, it immediately feels political. For others, it sounds like it relates to some environmental issue that’s got nothing to do with their lives. I wonder how many hunters and outdoorsman realize just how much of what they love is the product of conservation efforts though?

I’ve come to realize conservation is actually a pretty simple concept. Its protecting what we love and care about, so that it doesn’t go away. It’s making sure that our kids have a place to deer hunt, or a river to fish in, or can hear a turkey gobble in the spring. It’s making sure we have public land to explore and open spaces to escape to. But these places and the wildlife that live there won’t always be here without people who care about them. And I think people forget that.

I was around conservation way before I had any idea what it meant. My dad started a local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) in 2011, when I was 22 years old. I spent the last 15 years watching him heavily involved in the organization, but in my young 20s, I only saw it as “Dad just really loves turkey hunting”. I went to the banquets, I donated a little money, and I slapped a sticker on my truck. I knew it mattered to him, but I didn’t understand how much work was going on. I didn’t know how much effort went on behind the scenes. And I certainly didn’t know how much the things I would grow to love needed protecting.

In the early stages of hunting, my experiences all just feel normal. Hearing turkeys felt normal, seeing deer or ducks felt normal. Parking at a WMA entrance and walking onto public ground just felt normal. It wasn’t until recent years ago that my perspective changed. As I go through the phases of hunting, old goals get reached and new goals and values have form. I slowed down from just trying to fill tags and started to listen and pay attention to the world around me. I learned that all of what I’ve always considered “normal”, has been fought for, defended, and protected through the efforts of people before me. People that valued it all the way I do. I learned that its not all just here by accident. Turkey populations took massive efforts to restore, Public land access constantly gets fought to keep, the list goes on and on.

There are constantly people working behind the scenes to protect these things. Biologists studying populations, Organizations improving habitat, Volunteers raising money, Conservation groups lobbying for protection. And on the other side of that, there’s constant pressure working against it all!

Every year, more land is being developed, and habitat disappearing. It’s also no secret that as rural land gets turned over, more people end up living in suburban and urban areas. With that, more people get disconnected from the outdoors, and hunting gets misunderstood. Eventually decisions about the outdoors get made by people who don’t have the same connection to it (let alone step foot in it) as we do.

That reality has really hit me in the last few years. The first bow season that you come back to deer hunt a piece of woods you once loved, only to find the access road is blocked off, will light a fire in your soul. Or at least it should! It changes your perspective. When you see that access to places you love to hunt can disappear overnight, you stop taking those opportunities for granted. And a lot of people assume conservation is just about protecting wildlife. It’s about protecting opportunities! It’s about protecting traditions.

A father teaching his son how to call in his first turkey is as much of a tradition as sharing a week at deer camp with the boys. Teaching your kid how to bait a hook for the first time, sitting around a campfire after a hunt, or serving backstraps to a table of friends and family. It’s all tradition, and it all matters. And I think people are starting to see that more than ever.

With that said, we still live in a world where people are getting disconnected from it all at an alarming rate. Most people spend way more time looking at their phones than looking at the woods or water. Theres kids growing up that will never hear a gobble or a bugle or have their heart race over the sound of crunching leaves behind their deer stand. That disconnect is dangerous for us because when people stop valuing the outdoors, they stop protecting it.

If hunters and outdoorsmen aren’t willing to advocate for the things we love, eventually someone will make decisions for us. Decisions we won’t like. This is something I think about a lot lately. I think about the people who laid the groundwork for the opportunities we have today. People like Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold. Can you imagine the United States without its National Parks? How about our state wildlife agencies and conservation groups? I keep going back to turkeys, but those populations were in shambles. Whitetail deer were hurting in many places, too. Several species were in trouble from loss of habitat, market hunting, and poor or zero management. The opportunities we have today are a result of previous generations doing something about it, People donated money. Volunteers gave up their time. Conservationist pushed for better practices. Hunters became advocates! Because of all this, hunters like you and I got to experience thriving populations and incredible hunting opportunities today. This should mean something.

I think a lot of people see conservation as someone else’s job. But it becomes a lot easier to understand when you realize you don’t need to be some biologist or have a PHD to make a difference. Conservation just starts with ordinary people deciding to care. It can be as simple as introducing a kid to hunting and being a mentor. Or by joining an organization like the NWTF, or whatever group interests you! It can be volunteering an extra set of hands on a habitat project or showing up to a fundraising dinner. Even just educating people on where conservation funding comes from. That’s how research gets funded, that’s how habitat projects get underway, that’s how land gets protected, and that’s how populations stay healthy. Thats how future generations get the same opportunities that we have.

I’ve come to believe that anyone who takes from the land has a responsibility to give back in some way, at some point.  If you’ve ever watched the sunrise while turkeys gobble on the limb, or watched a buck chase a doe on a November morning or shared a campfire with your buddies after a hunt, you’ve experienced a perspective only the outdoors can give you. These experiences are far too important to take for granted. And I think anyone who finds themselves returning to it can agree its worth protecting.

Now let me be clear, conservation isn’t about politics or clout. It’s about wildlife and wild places. Its about carrying on the traditions we’ve built around the two and assuring that we have the opportunity to experience them both, forever.

People used to say, “leave it better than you found it”. And I still believe that. But with everything were up against today, I just hope we can look back one day and say, “we did enough to still have it”. Hopefully years from now some kids are still sitting against trees watching the woods wake up at daylight. Falling in love with it the same way we did.