A woman who hunts bears to make stew says she gets a huge sense of pride from successful missions.
TV host for Country Outdoors and Outdoor Channel, Mary Spooner O'Neill Phillips, who is originally from Sydney, Australia, but now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, has always had a keen interest in the great outdoors.
Her family were gardeners and had their own farm when she was growing up.
This sparked Mary's passion for sustainable living and knowing where her food has come from - spurring her on to avoid 'toxin-filled' supermarket produce.
However, the 32-year-old didn't get involved in hunting until after she moved to the USA in March 2016.
Her first hunt was for wild turkeys which she shot down from five yards away. She initially had mixed feelings towards the killing but at the same time felt deep respect for the animal that had been sacrificed and said a prayer for the birds.
After taking the turkeys home, butchering the birds, and eating them, Mary says she felt instantly connected with nature and had a strong sense of pride.
Mary hunts deer, wild birds, fish, and has even hunted black bears. Apart from using the animal flesh for meat which can be used as steaks, sausages and in delicious stews, Mary uses the hides and horns for taxidermy and rugs to honour the animal and ensure that nothing goes to waste.
The reaction to her kills on social media is largely positive with people wanting to get involved in sustainable living themselves, but Mary did receive some negativity on an image she posted of a black bear she had hunted.
Messages she received called her a murderer and asked how she could do such a thing.
Mary said: "We always had some sort of a garden growing up and we also have had my family farm since I was four. I think my passion has stemmed from that.
"With so many toxins being used on food these days and with such an increase in cancer cases, the idea of knowing where my food comes from has become very important to me.
"I owned an archery bow in Australia and would shoot it down on my farm, but I never had anyone to take me to hunt. When I moved to the USA and started to pursue my career in country music, I was suddenly surrounded by people who lived an outdoor lifestyle.
"My first hunt was for wild turkey in Nebraska with my now husband and our friend. The boys called in two turkeys, with their mouth pieces, from five-hundred yards away over the sandhills and I shot my first bird five yards away.
"I had this immediate mixture of feelings with a huge rush and then also a heavy weight - the weight of knowing that I had taken a life as I had such deep respect for the animal.
"I said a prayer and we took the bird back to the home, cleaned it, and ate it. I just remember thinking that there had been this whole way of life out there that I had been missing out on where you are living with nature and off the land, and connected to the earth. I was addicted from then on out.
"There is a huge sense of pride when you train to make a good shot, harvest an animal yourself, and then eat it. When you buy meat from the supermarket, you have no idea how the animal died.
"I have seen enough YouTube videos to know that their death is not always humane in an abattoir, and can be dragged out for days and hours. It's really torturous for an animal to die that way. I think that's the main reason why I love to hunt.
"It is great fun fishing for walleye or bass and then bringing the fish back and having a fish fry with your mates.
"Bow hunting white tails entails a three-am wake up, shooting my bow a couple times to make sure I'm confident and then grabbing a coffee and heading to the tree stand. Most hunts mean seeing nothing and just watching the animals.
"Now that I've been hunting awhile, I will wait on a mature older buck. Which could mean not getting anything at all. It's a luck game. Well, luck and showering game.
"I will shower with a scent control soap before heading out and I leave my hunting clothes out in the fresh air all night so they don't smell.
"Turkey hunting can either be a lot of walking or if you have roosted a bird the night before and know where they'll fly down, we will set up close by, up against a tree, and try to call them in when they fly down.
"Turkey hunting, much like elk hunting and duck/goose is a calling game. It's very cool to be able to talk to an animal and call them in.
"Hunting makes me feel connected to the land and not separated from it. Hunting has been around since the beginning of time.
"I am all about getting back to it. After the Covid crisis this year and supermarkets running out of stock and the meat markets getting shut down, I am more certain than ever that this is the lifestyle for me.
"I had a freezer full of wild game when the pandemic broke out and was able to hunt turkeys so we didn't have to step into the supermarket much at all."