By JACKIE TAYLOR | December 10, 2025

Stepping out

There are plenty of things to write about in the political arena; but I am choosing to write about my adventure this last weekend.

Some may have seen the Facebook post showing me holding a snow goose that I shot while at Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area. I was part of a trio of hunters, down from eight, that is down from 10 originally, taking part in the Kansas Wildlife Foraging program; aka, edibles program, as I can never remember the foraging part of it.

Since Cheyenne Bottoms is near Great Bend, four hours-plus west of Linn County, I drove out Friday night, joined one hunting partner and waited for the day to begin Saturday morning. Due to the low number of hunters in my group, things were accelerated on Saturday after classroom time and a potential trap shoot to acquaint ourselves with our shotguns to, “hey, it’s early, you want to just go hunt?”

Well, all of us jumped on that and we headed to the refuge. My friend and I drove around the refuge prior to the class; the thought in my head was, we’re going to drown.

Well, a map in the refuge headquarters showed most water in the pools that surround the refuge itself are 12 – 17 inches deep. Easy peasy, I thought.

We caravaned to a location, parked and got our gear on and ready, then entered the pool. I described it to my dad as “black, stinky pond muck” we were walking in. If my waders weren’t attached to me, I’d have lost them in the mud.

We got to the location, got settled and discovered that the space station could have seen us – never mind ducks and geese that we were hoping would fly over us. I was fortunate and managed to shoot the one stupid snow goose in the area, and broke the ice for the group.

What was interesting about this venture was this program was the brain-child of our coordinator that focused on training people to take what they learn back to their communities to get others involved in the outdoors.

What I discovered was that hunters are hunters, fisherman are fisherman and others just like to take pictures or wander in the woods finding edible mushrooms or plants. The lure of hunting geese or deer may sound appealing to people, but when it gets down to it, it’s very different than pushing the button on a camera or finding plants that work as food.

For me, I love the outdoors and was trained as a hunter/fisherman before I ever thought about hunting plants for food. It’s a mindset that one acquires when you pull the trigger or hook a fish – not one that some people want to get or can get when “doing no harm” in the woods.

Conservation is something that involves harvesting animals, fish and green plants. Conservation does or can involve killing animals – but in a sensible, planned way that keeps a natural resource available for everyone for a long time.

There is a difference between a conservationist and an environmentalist. I’ve found very few whackadoodle conservationists – I’ve found many in the environmentalist group.

Hunters and fisherman are generally solid people that love to get out into the world that God created; harvest an animal to feed themselves or their family, and leave enough so there is a season next year.

God gave geese and ducks great eyes and hearing to warn them away from newbie hunters like myself. Like the saying goes, a blind pig finds an acorn every so often; well, I found my acorn Saturday – then froze my buns off Sunday waiting for more dumb geese or ducks to fly by. Well, unfortunately, they were all at 500 feet over our heads going somewhere else than where we were.

My point in this is take advantage of experiences when they are presented to you. You may find they are really fun and something you’d like to do more of. If you don’t step out into the proverbial ‘wild side,’ you miss a lot of what life has to offer. 

For me, I super enjoyed duck hunting and see it as a new sport that I can get involved in, sink a ton of money into, and have to build more shelves for equipment for. However, what is life if not an adventure?

Anyway, don’t be afraid to try new things – who knows, you might like them!