Set Your Wild Nature Free

Daniel Vitalis explores strategies for genetically ancient humans to thrive in a modern world, awakening our instincts, freeing our bodies –– and minds –– from the degenerative effects of domestication.

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Stories shared around the fire at the @magpulcore Backcountry Hunter course. I was really impressed with this workshop. If you've ever imagined yourself hunting the mountains on solo adventures but don't know where to get started, this is the course for you! My merino wool @firstlitehunting Fusion Camo performs perfectly in the backcountry!
This solo episode is a comprehensive breakdown of my experiences with #barefooting. As a long-time barefooting proponent, I’ve traversed thousands of miles of various terrain with #barefeet or #minimalistfootwear, and I’ve learned quite a bit about the often unknown and under-utilized capabilities of the human #foot. I detail my experiences wearing minimalist footwear in challenges like the @tough_mudder and @goruck, as well as during my recent backcountry hunter course. I break down my favorite minimalist footwear brands, unpack the myth of arch support and share some not often discussed benefits of barefooting that I’ve discovered over the years. Note: This podcast is best enjoyed while walking #barefoot on a forest trail.
After a successful hunt comes the real work, processing the animal into usable food. This has been a powerful week, as I've navigated between the pragmatic advice of conventional bear hunters on one side of me, and the spiritual advisement of Native American elders on the other. These two different but complimentary approaches lead to my successful harvest of a beautiful young male black bear on the opening day of Maine's bear hunting season. This journey has taught me so much, and I'm really honored and excited to be eating this bear with my partner and friends over the course of the coming seasons. Thank you in advance to all of you who have supported my journey! Aho! For those who are stillon the fence about this kind of thing, I hope you'll have a listen to my upcoming podcast called "Why I Hunt", (still several weeks away). For those who will be (inevitably) upset by this, please know I've done my homework, and believe that this is the most sustainable and lowest impact way for me to live - and I'm not projecting it on to you - it's just the way I've chosen for myself, and I believe it's a good way. I lived a long time as both a vegetarian and vegan, and this is where my journey and quest for truth has led me. More than anything I want to give thanks to awehsohs (the Eastern Abenaki name for black bear) for this incredible bounty, and for all the "medicine" that you've shared with me. I'll never be the same, as the archetype of the bear has been absorbed into my bones, flesh, and psyche. Forever grateful.. ~D
It's the first morning of Maine's bear season and I'm so happy up in the trees! Had a gorgeous red colored coyote come in today, and spent the morning with red and grey squirrels, black cap chickadees, and blue jays. All in the pursuit of wild food for my table. Got to keep me and my lady well nourished, especially if there is ever gonna be a baby vitalis 😳.. I spent some time talking to a native elder about hunting bear, and he suggested I learn the bio-regional name of the black bear. Thanks to Arthur Haines I now know that the Passamaquoddy called the black bear "awehsohs", pronounced AW-wa-soos. @cheffrankyg you know I'm gonna be calling you for sausage recipes! Hahaha Quick shout out: Love my @firstlitehunting fusion camo, and my @magpul Remington 700 Hunter rifle stock!