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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1490198
I magine winning a Limited Entry Hunting draw that allows you to go shoot a caribou in B.C.'s Itcha moun- tain range. That would mean driving 10 hours from Vancou- ver, jumping on a Beaver float plane and getting dropped off in the middle of nowhere for 10 days. "It was pretty extreme for a new hunter," says Jenny Ly, account executive at Vancouver- based software firm Function Point, of her first hunt. It was 2018, and the 25-year-old had just quit her job, ended a six- year relationship and moved out on her own for the first time. Looking for a fresh start, Ly began foraging for mushrooms. She took two exams, and learned gun safety, hunting safety, backpacking skills and backcountry survival. She also worked at a restaurant, where she met hunters of different calibres. "It all spiralled from there," she remembers. No matter how big your pas- sion is, taking on a caribou on your first hunt is no easy task. W E E K E N D WA R R IOR WARRIOR SPOTLIGHT Function Point is an agency management software company in Vancouver that helps creative companies in the marketing and PR realm with end-to-end project management. After earning an entrepreneur- ship diploma from BCIT in 2013, Ly spent some time as a business consultant before joining Function Point's 50-person staff as an account executive in 2018. "I wear many hats," she says of her work, which involves software demos, contract negotia- tion and keeping clients happy. –R.R. WILDEST DREAMS Jenny Ly's favourite kill so far was a 300-pound mountain goat, which she skinned, butchered and hiked back by herself Into the Woods Function Point's Jenny Ly is a software sales exec, hunter and conservationist all at once by Rushmila Rahman O FF T H E C LO C K ( quality time ) promotions so that she can maintain her current work-life balance, which enables her to devote just as much time as she works into volunteering as a board member of the BC Wild- life Federation (which includes 40,000 local members, most of whom are hunters). In her role, she implements DEI policies and digital strategies to help TANYA GOEHRING JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 BCBUSINESS.CA 55 After the experience—in which Ly heard her partner make the kill—it took several trips (and days) for the pair to skin, butch- er and hike the animal to the pick-up point. But by the time they reached the lake, the snow had them trapped for three days before a plane could get them. What Ly does is called mountain hunting: "Just imag- ine you're going on a five- to 10-day backpacking trip in the mountains," she says. She car- ries everything on her back: a light tent, sleeping bag, mini stove, freeze-dried food, water, trekking poles and boots. "The only difference from a back- packer is my rifle," she adds. As you can probably tell from the gear involved, hunting can really gut your wallet. But even after five years at Func- tion Point, Ly has declined