At Adam and Ana Gall's home in western Colorado's Gunnison Basin, mountains crest as far as the eye can see. Adam squints and points past the late afternoon sun. "Eye-popping numbers of cow elk will be there, between those ridges, in about a month," he says. Adam has hunted for most of his life, and with his wife, their company Timber to Table teaches his students to do the same. "It's a spiritual practice," Adam believes.
For their customers, a 5-day guided hunt through the West Elk Mountains with Adam is just the start. After, Ana helps you break down and quarter your animal and custom wrap your meat, right next to her home where we talk, her blonde baby on her hip. It's butchering 101 — learning by doing. Ana has "processed" (that's what hunters call butchering) more than 600 animals, from antelope to mountain lion, but her specialty is deer and elk. She opens a freezer full of cryovaced elk cuts to show me. After the hunt, her customers go home with a year's worth of meat.
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Hunting can be a boy’s club, but Timber to Table’s philosophy is to teach a deep appreciation for the land and the animals that thrive there. "We want to educate, support and empower women hunters and first-time hunters," Ana says. This is hunting for 2018, a way to connect with the earth and its rhythms, to unplug and tune in, and to know exactly where the food on your plate comes from.
It Starts (and Ends) with the Food
Gretchen Dunn, a CPA turned stay-at-home mom in Missoula, Montana has always wanted to hunt. “The reason I hunt, and so many other women hunt, is because we are interested in providing good food for our family,” Dunn explains. “It’s the healthiest and most ethical meat you can get.”
When Dunn set out to hunt with Timber to Table in 2016, she was seven months pregnant. Dawn and dusk are the best times to get close to elk — 150 yards is ideal for a clean shot. Adam took her on a short hike into the woods early in the morning, and then again as the day turned into night. The mountains were “peaceful and beautiful.” The two waited. And waited.
When an elk herd appeared from a break in the trees, “I had my rifle on a tripod and I was shaking,” Dunn remembers. “It was pretty intense. I shot her once, straight through the heart. Then I started crying which really surprised me. It was intense and empowering. Adam says he’s cried before, too. He made us take a moment to appreciate this animal and honor her death.”
“My husband was jealous because he had never shot an elk . . . this trip was for me. But also he was thrilled and really proud of me,” says Dunn.
After, Adam taught Dunn to field dress the elk. Field dressing is removing the internal organs of game, which helps preserve and cool the meat. (The fresh meat is too “hot and mushy” to work with, says Ana.) Then there’s the hard, heavy work of packing out quarters.
“Shooting the animal was the easy part,” Dunn reflects. Butchering such a giant animal took patience and stamina, and Ana was a knowledgeable guide, showing her how to remove silver skin and separate steaks. Dunn had the broken-down meat — about 600 lbs. of it—overnighted to her home on dry ice. She still has some ground elk in her freezer, though most has been enjoyed by her family in the form of steaks, elk burgers, sausages, and smoked meat (Everyone I spoke with emphasized that elk is super lean and easy to overcook—word to the wise!) .
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Chris Chaffin, a real estate developer in Telluride, prefers his elk as carpaccio. He slices it thin, marinates it for a few minutes in soy sauce and olive oil, and serves it with a squeeze of lemon. He says, “it tastes a little like ahi tuna.”
Chaffin met Adam fly fishing in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Like Dunn, Chaffin was looking for a rewarding hunting experience that would result in quality meat for his family. Adam and Ana’s ethics resonated with him, and Chaffin set out on a four-day hiking expedition with Timber to Table. On the last day at dusk, a herd of elk darted through the Aspen trees. He picked out one to aim for. “It was a majestic creature,” says Chaffin. “It ran off and I wasn’t quite sure if I hit it. Then 50 yards later, it collapsed. It was a clean kill.”
For Chaffin, as for many hunters, getting food from the land is deeply satisfying. The meat is as free-range as it gets, free of hormones and additives, and wonderfully tasty. “When I called my wife, I was this proud, excited person,” Chaffin remembers. “I was like a hunter/gatherer delivering something for my family. I felt a sort of primordial pride.”
Love for the Land
The popularity of hunting is declining. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey showed that only about 5 percent of Americans hunt today. That’s about half the number from 50 years ago.
One of the reasons that’s a problem is that hunting helps pay for our country's wildlife conservation system. License fees and excise taxes on guns fund state wildlife agencies, which are tasked with managing much of U.S. wildlife. “Hunting means dollars that go into conservation,” says Adam. “It’s how we manage state parks and big game populations, and there’s no plan B.”
As Adam’s grown up and raised his own family — Ana and Adam have five-year-old and eleven-month-old daughters — he thinks a lot about the future of the land. “I’ve caught enough fish and killed enough animals,” he reflects. “My passion now is for education. I hope people who come hunt with us will speak up on behalf of their public lands.”
Ana and Adam met more than a decade ago. Adam was working as a wolf biologist in Idaho, and Ana volunteered on the project — she has a degree in environmental studies and natural resource management. Timber to Table was born when the two were brainstorming “how many folks want to try hunting but have no idea how to get started.” They would be a different kind of outfitter — one less concerned with the trophy kill than the procurement of quality food, one that educated about and celebrated the magnificence of the land.
In 2016, they took their first clients out hunting. So far, they’re completely booked through next season. “We want to give people an experience that will open their eyes,” Adam says. “We hope new hunters will become hunters for life.”
“It’s grounding for a human to be connected to the natural world,” Ana believes. “There’s the very real feeling that we’re part of something bigger than just ourselves.”
Pan Seared Garlicky Elk Steaks
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 2 elk steaks (6 - 8 ounces each), cut about 1 inch thick
- Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. butter, divided
Method
Pat steaks dry. Generously season salt and pepper, rub with garlic, and brush with extra-virgin olive oil. Allow to come to room temperature.
Place cast iron over high heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet. Sear each side of steak for about four minutes, or until a golden-brown crust forms. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter on top and serve with roast or mashed potatoes.
Pro tip: Elk is super lean and overcooks easily.
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