My Journey With Nature

Author: Agata Ryś

My name is Agata Ryś; this is a story about my journey into this wild and wonderful world of nature and all that is part of its biodiversity in my home country of Poland.

My journey into the hunting community started at a very young age, I was always fascinated with wildlife and nature. For as long as I can remember, a special sense of calling had always led me to the forest, as if there was a missing connection that needed to be made. That feeling of connection about the forest at a young age would only get stronger as I grow older.

Growing up in a household with four other siblings (brothers) I’m the only hunter in the family. As a child, I often wander off through the long and winding paths of the forest alone. There was no fear to be felt, but rather an exciting experience to see what kind of wild animals I would encounter during my walks under its protective canopy.

As I grew older, I was able to participate in various hunting related activities such as taking part in the annual management hunt as a pusher or beater to help the forestry meet their management quotas. Such experiences helped me gained a better understanding in all of this and I love being a part of that.

The feelings and experiences in helping out my community, the camaraderie and friendship that goes along with it was more than enough to lead me on this path. But the inspiration of a friend was one of the final motivating factors when her father encouraged her to become a huntress. When I found out about it, it was clear that all of this was the missing connection. It was calling, my calling to do this and go through the hunting course to become a huntress.

I have only been hunting for four years. It was five years ago that I made the decision to learn all I can about hunting and to be able to earn the title huntress. Taking the long and tedious hunting course in Poland, which is considered one of the strictest and longest hunting courses in Europe has taught me a lot, it changed my life and shaped me into the person that I am today.

I started to look at the world in a different way. The priorities of life at a certain age just seem to be less important as the true meaning of my new responsibilities as a huntress started taking shape. All of a sudden, those weekends partying at night-clubs just seem to be less important.

My vacation planning is schedule with consideration to the time of the rut that falls in September with the important focus wrapped around my passion along with my duties and responsibilities as a huntress.

When the planting season starts in early spring all the way into late summer and early autumn till it’s time to harvest, my main focus will be preventing damages to agricultural crops from wildlife. My father is a farmer and I know how difficult farming is and how much damage wildlife can cause if not regulated and controlled. Those damages are lost revenues that sometimes can’t be made up.

Games taken during these times such as wild boars not only help to reduce the damages, but the meat it provides is much appreciated, not just for us, but for families and friends as well. I actually don’t buy meat from the store anymore, I know that the wild games I hunt are the healthiest meat in the world and it provides for us year-round.

Middle of August is when our hunting season for waterfowls open. Most that have experience some form of wing-shooting in Europe knows that the way we hunt game birds is through some form of an organized event through the forestry or local hunting clubs.

September is the start of the red stag hunting season. If you’ve never experience this magical time, you are missing out on one of the most truly amazing experiences out there in the forest when the red stags start their rut. In addition to all of this, the harvest season has begun. The farmers are out harvesting corns and other late fall vegetables and the forest and fields comes to life with wildlife roaming and roaring from one place to another, it’s truly any amazing experience to see and hear.

When the annual social-gathering hunting season begins at the end of October all the way into January, I will be attending these hunts every weekend. These annual special hunts help us meet our annual quotas for game management, and also help reduce the growing wild boar population by putting in hunters at certain points in the forest to ensure success, but not every trip out hunting will be a success.  That’s just hunting, and if you fail to see that, you fail to see the true meaning of hunting.

The social hunt provides us with a great opportunity to meet other hunters and connect with friends and colleagues to talk about hunting and it gives us a chance to catch up on life. New hunters participating in the traditions have an opportunity to experience hunting different games of deer species like Red deer, Fallow deer, as well as the Mouflon sheep and various small games. This provides a great opportunity to help them expand their knowledge and gain new experiences.

In closing this blog, I would like to bring up a topic we all know too well. The views and opinion about hunting by individual, groups and organizations that don’t share the same views with us are being discussed more openly, not just in the private homes and social groups, but at all levels in politics and news outlet.

In Poland for example, there are numerous movements by these groups or organizations protesting and showing up to interfere with hunts all over Poland every year. According to their “pseudo-ecologists” in Poland, we should stop hunting immediately and leave the wildlife alone.

On the other hand, the farmers whose crops and all the hard work they put into the fields every year are destroyed by wildlife and these farmers will not see any compensation from these organizations or people, nor do they care if the fields and forest get damage from over-browsing and rooting. Farmers call for more hunting for wild boars and deer to help mitigate the damages done by wildlife.

In the middle of all this debate are hunters, and on the other side are the activist and anti-hunters. It’s a constant battle to maintain the balance of wildlife. What should be done and is right for one group is not right for the other, and it’s these battles to help keep things in balance that we have fight daily, most of the times silently and away from the public view. But we need to be aware that if we do not get active in defending our way of life in order to help our fellow hunters and educate those that are willing to listen, than it’s a battle we will slowly lose.

There’s no doubt that hunting in Poland and around the world will be in question if we don’t do our part as hunters and conservationist. Nobody really knows what the future will bring, but we can at least try to preserve our commitment as ambassadors to nature and wildlife by educating more of the younger generations to better understand our roles and the importance of hunting.

As hunters, we all still have to do our part; management of wildlife, protect crops and the forest, volunteering our time and promote hunting to help keep traditions and customs for all future generations to understand, and hopefully, they too will one day wander off into the forest and make their own journey with nature, just as I did as a child.

Darz Bór!

 

About the Author

Agata Ryś is a contributing blogger for the Bergara International blog. She is also an Ambassador for Bergara international brand in Poland.

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