You might clock Alice Sanders in heels working in her professional career as a lawyer in Wanaka, but she’s equally likely to be found cutting the back steaks out of a deer she shot herself or in the woolshed on the family’s high country station in Alexandra.
As the pull to her family farming connections and the magic of Central Otago called her home, Alice has built a life that balances the things she loves most. Like the boss she is, she went out and made it happen.
An opportunity to learn to hunt first sparked the idea for the Mount Campbell Hunting Club – Alice got the bug and she wanted others to have the chance, and the confidence, to experience the freedom of being out on the hill and the thrill of taking an animal. They offer learn to hunt workshops, guided meat hunts and occasional trophy hunts.
The family farm was the obvious place to host, with a plentiful supply of wild deer, it was the perfect on-farm diversification, utilising their natural resource.
“Hunting is one of the only things I’ve found where you are so present in your environment that everything else falls away. Whether you’re stalking or glassing, you’re so in tune with every movement and sound that it creates this silence, and a comradery with other people that is really honest,” Alice explains.
“If I was 26 again, I wouldn’t recognise myself now. You can be whoever you want to be. Sometimes you have to go it alone and, when you trust your gut, the right people will find you. Money can’t buy you all the things that will make you really happy. I need a life I love and I went out and created it. I could have spent my career in a high rise, but I would always have been replaceable.”
Head to Alice’s Instagram account if you want some escapism, to imagine yourself out tramping the rugged hills of Central Otago, sitting around a campfire under the stars and talking smack. As Alice puts it, hunting is a form of meditation.
Describe yourself in 3 words: Driven, adventurous, silly.
Best advice you've ever received? ‘You are what you do, not what you say you are going to do.’ For me this means a vote for yourself – in a world of talking, it’s important to follow through with your actions. That’s how I ended up launching my business, even when I was heavily concussed after a rock-climbing accident.
What’s the secret to a successful hunt? First, you have to define success. Is it taking an animal or spending a day on the hill? But I’d say the key is to just keep going. With hunting, there are so many opportunities to turn back, if you miss or spook an animal. Stay that extra five minutes, go up that last ridge. Sometimes we have to redefine our definition of success – you might get right in close to the animal and not take it, but you might have a really good conversation with a mate while you’re on the hill. Some days success is finishing the day feeling great and with a clear head. There’s success in learning, too.
Favourite animal to hunt? Currently my goal is to take a bull Tahr, but I haven’t done that yet. I love deer stalking and I’ve had a couple of memorable hunts on red deer. One was my first stag, in the roar, I shot him at 15 metres. Recently I shot two red hummel stags. Hummel are stags that don’t grow antlers, it’s very unusual. This one deer, I had seen for three years and never got him. That day my back was sore; I had already spooked them once and I thought it was not the day. But I just went a little bit further – it was not an easy stalk – and sure enough, there they were. I took both animals and was so grateful for it. It was one of my favourite hunts, and such a personal achievement to finally get that animal. Everybody’s trophy is different and that was a trophy to me. We need good strong red stag genetics and those animals would have passed their genes on.
What inspires you? My dad. He is just a hard-working farmer who taught us all the meaning of hard work, showing up and getting things done. I’m forever inspired by women in the agriculture industry doing cool stuff. Seeing other women achieve makes me want to be better. I have an amazing group of supportive women who I’ve met since moving back.
Also, my clients in the hunting business, seeing how they improve and grow in confidence. It makes me want to give more people the opportunity. Hunting opens up a whole new world to people.
Dream way to spend a day? It’s got to be hunting. Though I would like a sleep-in – but I never do. Waking up in the mountains in a tent or hut with a couple of good friends and chasing animals up in the tops somewhere, away from everyone. That back to nature stuff, take an animal, cook the back straps in the pan, play some cards, drink wine and just be present out there, away from the rest of it.
What are you reading/listening to? I’m reading Finding Frank by Louise Maich, it’s about Frank Erceg, he was a deer hunter, mountaineer, photographer and culler who died in New Zealand’s first helicopter hunting accident at the age of 30. It’s amazing.
I listen to audio books because I drive a lot. Atomic Habits, everyone says Atomic Habits! I’ve started listening to The Curve podcast, it’s nerdy but it’s good, financial health is so important.
I read a lot of poetry, Rupi Kaur and Whitney Hanson.
Comments