BRUCE MCGLENN

Founder and lead instructor of Human Nature Hunting, Bruce McGlenn has nearly 40 years of bird and big game hunting experience in the Pacific Northwest. Passed down from his father, hunting has been a way of life for Bruce from the beginning. He sees as much importance in the experiences and personal growth gained from hunting as he does a source of healthy food and connection to nature.

A third-generation hunter/gatherer of the Northwest, Bruce has been helping people reclaim their hunting heritage since the 1990’s, officially with the Awaken the Hunter course since 2016. He has been teaching introductory hunting and shooting classes with the non-profit Washington Outdoor Women since 2001 and has guided fly fishing and whitewater rafting. He is a certified Master Hunter and shooting instructor, holds a Master’s degree in sustainable business and is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Washington.

Bruce is a committed steward of the land and wildlife, primarily due to his understanding and appreciation of our ecosystem from engaging in it as a participant - a hunter. His desire to help heal and strengthen the human connection to nature is what inspires him to teach and pass on his skills so others can experience the journey of the hunt with confidence.

Sarah mcglenn

As a midwife and outdoorswoman, Sarah was intimately connected with birth and the natural world, but it wasn’t until meeting Bruce that she started exploring how it might feel to connect with the web of life (and death) through hunting.

A practicing meditator and vegetarian for over a decade, Sarah was initially hesitant to explore this realm. After a process of deep questioning and experiences in the field, she began eating wild game and fish and has embarked on the path of the hunter. Along this journey, Sarah has been inspired by the mythological Huntress archetype, and has a deepening appreciation for Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and midwifery.

A former whitewater raft guide and forest firefighter, Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Prescott College, and a Master’s of Science in Nursing with specialties in Midwifery & Women’s Health from Yale University. 

Alt Lind, Chef

In a lifelong passion for building skills and knowledge connected to food and nature, Alt started his journey as a baker in Woodberry Kitchen, in Baltimore, MD after graduating from St Johns College with a BA in liberal arts. He then traveled the globe, experiencing the world and its cuisine, to come back to Woodberry to serve as a Butcher in their sister store, Parts and Labor. Upon moving back to Seattle in 2015, he began working and studying as a preschool teacher, later choosing to focus on outdoor education and nature connection with youth as part of Wilderness Awareness School. Now Alt focuses his multi disciplined skills as a chef and mentor, with a grounded foundation in regenerative agriculture and regenerative social practices. His favorite animals are bear and otter. He loves cedar trees and the murmuring of small creeks winding through the woods.

John McGlenn, guest instructor and Grandfather

A lifelong hunter born and raised in Montana, John has taught his wife, sons (including Bruce), and daughter how to hunt and fish and has been instructing shooting and hunting skills with Washington Outdoor Women (an organization his wife founded) since 2001. He has served on numerous committees and boards of conservation-based NGOs and is a founding board member and past president of the Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition and the current president of the Washington Wildlife Federation. John served two six-year terms on the Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission (receiving the NWF Conservationist of the Year award during that time).

He is a certified Master Hunter, a consulting engineer, and a distinguished marksman and expert in rifle and pistol for the Navy. John learned to hunt from his father in the Flathead Valley. Not as active with courses these days but a founding “father” nonetheless.

Kelly White, Hunting Guide & instructor

Kelly was born and raised in Kettle Falls and has been hunting in Washington and neighboring states for more than 50 years. He has archery hunted for more than 40 years with his longbow and recurve and has been guiding for 20 years. A longtime family friend, Kelly was there when Bruce shot his first deer in the early '90's.

Having successfully hunted moose, elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, bear and turkey by way of archery, muzzle loader, and modern firearm, Kelly primarily hunts with his recurve bow. He served on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission for over 10 years, has been active with the Kettle Falls Gun Club, formed a local archery club, and was on the board of directors for the Washington State Bowhunters. 

Alan Byars, Trustee and Treasurer for the Nonprofit

Alan grew up in Texas hunting with his family at an early age. Now in Washington, he is primarily a deer and elk archery hunter and a bird hunter. Having focused his professional career on real estate management, he has volunteered much of his time with organizations such as the Scouts, Sierra Club, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as a Hunter Education instructor, and now with Human Nature Hunting’s nonprofit and scholarship fund, Nature and Community.

Ryan Bludau, Survival & First Aid

Ryan Bludau was a professional SERE (survival, evasion, resistance & escape) Specialist for the United States Air Force for ten years. He trained in every biome to experience first-hand how to adapt the principles of survival around world, from sub-zero temperatures to scorching heat. He has completed Wilderness First Responder, EMT training, and a man tracking course from the U.S. Border Patrol.

An avid hunter, fisherman and woodsman, he is passionate about sharing his knowledge with others.

Charlie Serra, Foraging, tanning, survival

Growing up 25 miles north of New York City, Charlie began mentoring kids in nature awareness and primitive/survival skills at the age of fifteen. In 2008, Charlie moved to Washington to continue pursuing his passion for practicing and teaching these skills. For over a decade, Charlie has enjoyed cultivating a life outdoors through wild food harvesting, food preservation and animal husbandry. He holds a specialist certification in wildlife tracking through CyberTracker of North America, and is a trained Wilderness First Responder, arborist, and avid birder. Charlie’s current passions are hand-forged knife making, bow making, hide tanning, sewing his own clothes out of buckskin, wildlife tracking and walking in the woods with his dogs and wife Merilee.

Todd Baarstad, WDFW Biologist

As a private lands biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Todd manages hunting access and wildlife habitat development projects in northeastern Washington. After graduating from the University of Idaho in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife biology, Todd worked for the US Forest Service for three seasons before joining WDFW. After working in the Wells, Sunnyside and Scotch Creek Wildlife Areas, Todd moved to his current position in 2002 and now lives in the Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area. Todd and his wife Jeanne have raised three children and are now helping teach their grandchildren to hunt, fish, and enjoy the outdoors.  

J.D. MARSHALL, Archer

J.D. grew up in a bowhunting family in Oregon.  One of his earliest memories from around the age of 3 or 4 is clinging to his great aunt Gladys’ leg while a cow elk thundered towards them, certain to run them over in an attempt to elude the rest of their family nearby. Mostly a deer and elk hunter, he has always used traditional bowhunting equipment: longbows and recurves and wood arrows homemade from local materials. Since that first encounter he has been within yards of deer, elk, bear, bobcat, moose, and countless other non-game animals that seemed unaware or accepting of his presence. J.D. has taken away more memories from hunting trips than he has animals. For him that is bowhunting. 

Rick & Kriss Douglass, Wildlife Biologists

Rick and Kriss are both lifelong outdoor enthusiasts with a passion for the natural world. Rick, a retired biology professor at Montana Tech, has spent many years studying hantavirus and associated deer mice. Kriss, a retired biologist for the state of Montana, spent a good portion of her career at Fish, Wildlife & Parks, where she was one of the first and few women to work at hunting check stations. They are longtime hunters and enjoy eating their locally hunted deer, elk, and antelope throughout the year. 

TAUS SCHUMACHER, guest CHEF

Cultivating a passion for foraging and cooking over campfires and wood stoves in his early years at his family cottage in Sweden, Taus created a life around food and spent over 20 years in the Danish restaurant industry as a chef. Since learning to hunt in Sweden and Denmark in 2014, he has expanded his food awareness into the forests and mountains, cooking with wild meats and utilizing everything possible from the animal. A lifelong fisherman, he has enjoyed fly fishing for salmon and steelhead in Norway, which has also helped shaped his relationship to food.

Having diverged from the conventional restaurant business, he is drawn more towards the wild nature of food for its health, nutrition, and taste. Hunting and gathering lends to his appreciation of where our food comes from and how it’s handled and respected. Our guests claim his meals are better than available in most restaurants. We agree.

Merilee Bradford, Wilderness Instructor, guest Chef

Born and raised on the edges of Puget Sound and in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, Merilee could hardly be convinced to come inside as a youngster. She grew up dreaming of building her own cabin and has been making her own clothes, camp gear, tents, quilts and baskets since childhood.  

After acquiring a degree in Psychology & Youth Studies from Seattle Pacific University, Merilee became a pediatric mental health specialist at Seattle Children’s hospital and has been working with youth and young adults in various capacities ever since. 

Prior to joining the Human Nature team, Merilee spent over ten years teaching at Wilderness Awareness School, where she specialized in bushcraft, animal processing, hide tanning and wildlife tracking. Merilee holds Wilderness First Responder and Permaculture Design certifications and is continually deepening her wildlife tracking skills through the CyberTracker Conservation evaluation process.   

Merilee lives in Kettle Falls with her husband Charlie and their two golden retrievers and loves spending her time hunting, wildcrafting, tanning hides, making food, trail running, wildlife tracking, reading and being around a fire.

Read what attendees are saying about their experiences at the courses.