Sportsmen ’ s Alliance members have great stories to tell that speak to the success of conservation and their efforts to continue the traditions of hunting , trapping and fishing . We ’ re proud to share such stories in these pages , as they demonstrate the commitment of citizen huntervationists . The Sportsmen ’ s Alliance recently caught up with Larry White to hear how an early love of the outdoors led to a career in cooking wild game . The following is his story , in his words . I am from the foothills of North Carolina . My dad got me into hunting and fishing relatively early , between 5 and 8 years old . I started off squirrel hunting and bass fishing . We would go on vacation in the
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summers and do some saltwater fishing . My aunt had a little bit of land , around 50 acres , and I spent my childhood hunting on her property . That was my foot in the door until I was old enough and skilled enough to take up some publicland hunting in my 20s .
I was in college in Wilmington , going to business school , but I thought , I don ’ t want to be stuck inside ! I just didn ’ t know what I wanted to do . Our neighbors were in the U . S . Coast Guard , so I talked to them , ended up joining and became the fourth generation in my family to serve in the military . I ’ d always been obsessed with food , so I signed up for the military ’ s culinary program . It ’ s a fast program , a few months in wine country in Petaluma , Calif .
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For my first assignment , I was stationed in Islamorada in the Florida Keys . That was a blessing because I could buy fresh seafood right out of the water , unlike most military kitchens . I fished from Key Largo in the waters bordering Cuba . I then transferred to Charleston , S . C ., where I had the luxury of fishing off an 87-foot cutter , along with a friend ’ s offshore rig from the waters of North Carolina to Georgia . Next in my Coast Guard career was becoming independentduty qualified . I was the sole cook on a search-and-rescue ship , and I got to make my own menus . If you ’ ve never cooked in 12-foot seas with the doors of hot ovens smashing your arms , you ’ re missing out !
When I got out of the Coast Guard , I got my bachelor ’ s degree in culinary
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COURTESY OF LARRY WHITE ( 6 ) |