Learning to hunt may seem out of reach for those who didn’t grow up with hunting as part of their family tradition. For those individuals, the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) created an Adult Mentored Hunting Program (AMH) to teach about consumptive outdoor recreation, put wild game on the dinner table and potentially revive or initiate that family tradition.
A resident of Anniston, Alabama, for the past 10 years, Laura Millington grew up in Canada in a family of non-hunters. A curiosity about hunting combined with a drive to improve her diet with healthier, leaner meat is what lead her to participate in two separate AMH hunts.
During a January 2019 adult mentored deer hunt on the Portland Landing Special Opportunity Area (SOA) in Dallas County, she harvested a 160-pound buck and a 115-pound doe. Millington’s buck was the first buck to be harvested during a mentored hunt at Portland Landing. Her second AMH event was a Portland Landing dove hunt in September.
One of Millington’s motivations to learn how to hunt is a desire to take personal responsibility for sourcing her food. In addition to harvesting the animals, she and her husband processed the meat themselves at home.
“Being personally responsible for bringing food to my table was a draw for me to the mentored hunting program,” Millington said. “My goal was to use everything I could from any harvest I made. From the deer I also got hair-on hides, bones and sinew for crafting scrimshaw jewelry and a knife handle. Rendered fat from the deer was also made into tallow soap.”
During the hunts, seasoned hunters guide participants through the experience. WFF mentors Amber Baker and Marianne Hudson joined Millington on her deer hunt. Baker was once again
