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FOOD BRINGS
HUNTERS TOGETHER By Portia Wycliffe Photos courtesy of Pheasants Forever and National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic
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he number of women in hunting is growing. They’re women of all ages, they sit on all sides of the political table and they have all different reasons for wanting to carry a firearm into the field and harvest their own dinner. Krissie Mason, 55, and Danielle Prewett, 31, are two of those women. Both are featured speakers at the National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic February 16 to 18 at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. Mason and Prewett will talk about hunting for food and the dishes they make, but food is essentially the one thing that brings them together at the table. “Food has a way of bringing people together,” Krissie said. “As thinking and feeling creatures, we long for relationship. Food has a way of creating that intimacy and connectedness for a brief period in your day. It’s not that I love cooking so much, it’s that I love being in relationship with others, and making them feel valued and appreciated. Time in the kitchen, and really good fare that you’ve harvested by your own two hands, is a means to that end.”
Krissie was raised a Minnesota farm girl and came from a hunting family. Their family “raised grain, alfalfa, had a huge garden, black angus cattle and chickens,” she said. “That’s just how I was raised. I didn’t know any different. We fished for crappie and walleyes, hunted venison in the fall and birds here and there. Hunting was always field to table, but we didn’t call it that.” Danielle starting cooking wild game while living in Houston, Texas . “I could purchase any type of high quality meat that I could possibly want, but there was something about wild game that I was instantly drawn to,” she said. “You can’t buy it from a grocery store, you have to earn it.” She started upland game hunting five years ago when she moved to North Dakota. “As my perspective of the meat industry began to develop, I started to place more emphasis on harvesting my own food. I want to see where my meat comes from and become part of the story, developing a deeper connection to what I eat.” Their stories are different, but the results are the same – they are both a part of a large increase in the number of women