Jess Johnson is legislative liaison and advocacy coordinator at the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, and a co-founder of Artemis, a platform for women’s leadership in hunting, fishing and conservation. She sits on the boards of 2% for Conservation and the Wyoming Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers as well as a team member for First Lite. Her work centers on changing the narrative around stereotypes of hunters and advancing women’s voices within the hunting and conservation world.
Jess grew up an only child of a ranching family in Montana, Northern California and Wyoming and walked the line between ranch kid and ballerina. Her eclectic childhood instilled in her a wanderlust for wide expanses of public land, a deep appreciation and love for the wildlife that inhabit it, and a preference for the grace and strength required in archery. Since moving back to Wyoming seven years ago she has spent most of her free time as an archery only hunter and exploring the mountains and rolling sage brush slopes of Wyoming.
"I can think of no higher calling in life than to work to protect and conserve the places that bring my soul joy. If I were to leave this world having accomplished one thing....I would hope it would be to bring the voices of hunters back to the respect of the lives we hunt. The team here at Hunt To Eat gives me great hope that that is a likely future."
Jess knows that hunting in this era is a privilege and believes fully in the notion that there is no privilege without obligation. She believes that the obligation is to speak for those without voices, to conserve our hunting heritage, and to help bring a new and badly needed facelift to the voice of hunters. In her spare time she can be found stalking after mule deer, elk, pronghorn and bear, bow in hand and a smile on her face.
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