A hunter from Elm Creek has made it her goal to end negative stereotypes around hunting.

Heidi Esau and her family are passionate hunters. For the Esaus it's a way of life, and they also hunt as a way to feed their family. "We eat everything we hunt, it's just a great way of life," says Esau.

Realizing that the perception of hunters is generally very negative, Esau set out to let people know that hunters like themselves who do things legally and ethically are not anything like the negative stereotypes. She believes that negative perception comes from how some T.V. show and movies have portrayed hunting in a poor light, and stories of people who are not following the rules.

Esau says she personally saw some hunters doing things in an unsafe manner earlier this year, all of which fuels the fire of the negative stereotypes.

"This fall I was hunting in our bush, I was about seventy yards off the road in a tree and somebody drove by slowly, and what do you know, out pops a gun out of their window and they're shooting into our bush," Esau says everything they were doing was illegal and very unsafe. "They don't have permission, and they don't know I'm there...It's people like that really cause the negative stereotypes in the hunting world, and they're not completely unfounded."

Esau's love for hunting started when she met her, then, future husband in college. She grew up on a grain farm near Winkler and did not grow up hunting, but that all changed when she met and then got married to a very passionate hunter. "He pretty well eats, sleeps, lives, and breathes hunting, so I had not much of choice but to get into hunting. Thankfully I really enjoy it. I've been hunting for about ten years now. We hunt as a family, we hunt our own, it's just kind of a way of life now."

Esau says hunting has also allowed her to see a different way of life where you're disconnected from technology and outside enjoying the beautiful, quiet nature, and really appreciate what's around you.

Hunting is also a way for the Esaus to teach their kids an appreciation for nature and show them where their food comes from. "I think that's a good thing for people to know, especially in the world we live in where a lot of people seem to not know where their food comes from, this we can show them where it does."