Timber to Table Guide Service: Food is the Focus

Originally published in the Fall 2019 issue of Spoke+Blossom

PHOTO BY ANDY BOWEN

Ana Kampe and Adam Gall fell in love as they worked together on a wolf recovery project with the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho in 2004.

Kampe, a native of Half Moon Bay, California, earned a bachelor’s degree in natural resource management and was working on her master’s degree in sustainable farming and food systems at the time.

“I grew up collecting mussels and clams at low tide, so having a connection to the earth and its cycles was instilled at a very young age,” Kampe says. “Food has always been very central to my interests.”

Gall was introduced to enjoyment of the outdoors while hunting, fishing and camping on an 80-acre swamp in Michigan with his childhood best friend, guided by the friend’s father. Then, through firefighting, forestry and wildlife work in Idaho, Adam’s passion for the outdoors multiplied.

“Now I had thousands and thousands of acres to roam and never trespass — it was an epiphany moment for sure,” Gall says. “I love being on public lands. To me, it’s like the pinnacle of freedom!”

When opportunity arose for the couple later that year in Hotchkiss, Colorado, they went together to make it home. Ana was able to actually implement programs connecting communities with the sources of their food, and Adam put his bachelor’s in science and master’s in education to work, teaching at the local high school.

“We were together for ten years before this idea came to us, and with Adam’s dedication to hunting, outdoors and public lands, and my dedication to food and health, we thought, ‘why don’t we try that?’” Kampe says. “There are plenty of outfitters, but none of them are capitalizing on the food processing and education part like we are.”

“I love antlers as much as anybody, but I wouldn’t consider myself a trophy hunter by any stretch. I’m a meat hunter just trying to fill my freezer,” Gall says. “I think there are more and more people starting to see it that way. The fastest growing demographic in hunting is women, and the new hunters are more interested in what they can do with this wonderful bounty they’ve just been graced with.”

“It’s not just head into the woods and start shootin’ like some people think,” Gall says. “The animals that are being harvested are actually surplus animals. Every habitat has its capacity. It’s highly regulated by well-informed and educated biologists who are looking out for the benefit of the wildlife resource as a whole, for the long term. That’s why there are licenses, units and season dates — all for the benefit of the animal.”

Gall helps first-time hunters navigate the legal side of hunting, which can be tough to understand. Though their business is called Timber to Table Guide Service, Gall offers much help ahead of the “timber” part of the process. He will assist in weapon and gear selection and advises repetitious target practice, mindful of effective range, so the hunter can make an ethical shot.

“Adam and Ana were incredible teachers,” says Andrew Mays, who went on his first big game hunt with them in the late season of 2019. “You can feel their dedication to new hunters and preservation of the hunting heritage from the moment you step on their property. They are not looking for repeat customers but are truly dedicated to getting more people in the field to experience the magic of hunting.”

The educator in Gall really comes out in the field. He gives in-depth lessons on tracking, animal behavior, habitat, relationship to other species, and if they’re lucky, an introduction to internal anatomy and traditional field dressing.

Gall says the hunts can be anxiety-inducing for him, because he wants to make sure the client has the opportunity to learn from Ana as well. Drawing on her experience as a butcher in a shop that specializes in wild game, Ana demonstrates each cut and encourages the client to do the other side. As they package and label, she explains how each cut can be prepared for a meal.

“I couldn’t help but think how powerful it was that this animal that was walking two days before is now going to provide clean, healthy and delicious meat to my family for the rest of the year. I felt the weight of responsibility to waste nothing and the challenge to turn this meat into amazing meals,” Mays says.

“If it doesn’t affect [the hunter emotionally], it makes me scratch my head and think, ‘Are you even in there?’ because this is powerful,” Ana says.

“Yes. It’s not something to be taken lightly,” Gall agrees. “It doesn’t have to be tears, but if you are not moved by what happened, like Ana said, you shouldn’t be doing this. For most of the folks we’ve taken, it’s an emotional process.”

She and Gall recommend the work of Hank Shaw at huntgathercook.com, Kristy Crabtree at nevadafoodies.com and Steven Rinella at meateater.com for recipes. Thoughtful preparation of healthy meals utilizing your harvest is the best show of gratitude for the life sacrificed. To learn more, visit timbertotableguideservice.com.