#35 Dawn
The word huntress isn’t a name or a title. The word huntress comes from the way you feel about yourself when your are hunting. You become a huntress in your heart and it becomes one with your soul while respecting the land and Gods creatures.
1. Why do you hunt and what is the best part about hunting?
My father always hunted or fished it was who he was. I spent a lot of my birthdays in the woods, being that it was on the 3rd day of bow hunting season. I was able to see him for who he was when he came alive in the outdoors and I grew to appreciate that. However, my father passed away when I was 11 yrs old, in a car accident, from a drunk driver. My mom remarried and my step-dad didn’t really have time to hunt that much. He was either working or helping to take care of the combined family of 10, now at home.
When I met my husband, one of the qualities that I looked for was that he was a hunter. I slowly picked up little things from watching him hunt and learning more about the sport. I loved bow hunting but for the longest of time I wasn’t successful at it. I just couldn’t find
my stride, couldn’t get it right, and it just didn’t click with me. I couldn’t put the time into it that was needed to be successful, because my children were small and my heart really wasn’t into it.
Like most women, hunting time is cut short whether it is in preparation of the hunt, scouting, or the actual time spent hunting. Then there is the money issue. We don’t feel like we can spend the extra cash on ourselves to go hunting. The kids and husbands needs are first and that is what is best for the family.
But as we mature and our children grown older and more independent, we start to see and understand that we are so very important. Our health and wellbeing, emotionally and physically is just as important as any other family member, if not more.
I hunt now because being outside and being one with nature is like therapy for me. I have a strong connection with God and it truly Cleanses my soul (Fred Bear). I notice even the smallest of creatures in the woods from the field mouse running across my boots in the blind, to the mosquitoes and nats biting my sweaty forehead. I truly enjoy watching the male and female cardinals pecking at the left over corn in the harvested cornfield, and the pheasant as he comes home and scares the crud out of me, every night.
2. What do you think is the best way to mentor someone into the sport of hunting?
I found the best way to mentor a new hunter or just a curious person is to make them comfortable and make it enjoyable. If they don’t see what we see, even just a little, they will be missing out on the magic we get to observe and if lucky, participate in.
Now I could talk about all of the first time women that I have taken hunting over the years, some come to hunt & some come to watch & some come out of curiosity. I also have taken my three sons many times over the years.
I believe all of the huntresses already do that. This is “in” our being, it is who we are. We want to share this part of our lives with others so that they will enjoy what we enjoy and for it to continue on for generations to come.
In fact, I have mentored so many women and youth that I have started a company to try and help others. By empowering this segment of the hunting community, it will ensure many more years or hunting to come.
I have guided hunts for women, some I do for family and some I donate. I really enjoy talking to them about what it’s all about and how it makes me feel. Maybe they can take away a positive experience and pass it along to a friend or a family member.
“I do what I love. I love what I do, and I love to empower others.” That has been my companies motto.
3. What is and isn’t considered ethical behavior while hunting?
Ethical hunting is one shot, one kill. So many times I have seen or heard hunters unload their entire gun clip on a single animal. I believe you shouldn’t take the shot if you can’t make the shot.
That is it, period. No animal should suffer and no more force should be taken than what is needed to harvest the animal.
4. Anything personal that you would like to share about yourself?
Things that I have personally learned.
It’s ok to be comfortable when hunting, for instance, warmth. For years we have been brainwashed into believing a real hunter sits for hours in the freezing, fridged temperatures while braving the snow and wind. Hogwash— Bring a small heater, bring a blanket and don’t stay all day, cut it short if need be. Many animals have been harvested within an hour or so of hunting.
We find that spending a little extra money on things like women’s hunting boots are ok for some comfort. We also understand the importance of having our own bow and/or gun that fits us and is suited to fit us.
Being comfortable while hunting is now expected and not considered a luxury.
My favorite one of all is the myth that you aren’t really a hunter if you don’t field dress your own deer. So many times women have been told and believe that if they don’t do that last step then they cant do any of it. But I am here to set the record straight. I just had this very same discussion today with a close family member.
We are girls. It is not in our nature to cut an animal up the middle, put our hands inside it’s body and rip out it’s vital organs while blood flows out. It just isn’t natural for us and its ok. You just got to find somebody will do it. I have paid a complete stranger to gut my buck when my sister and I hunted together, and my husband was at his deer hunting camp.
My sister and I went to the local gas station and asked the clerk if he knew of someone that gutted deer. In the middle of the conversation a man walked up to us and started voicing his great disgust with us and saying things like “How dare you call yourself a hunter, if you cant gut your own deer?”
When he got all finished my sister looked him square in the eye and said, “Really? Where is your buck? I don’t see one in the back of your truck? So who is the hunter here?”
With that he turned around left grumbling something equally ridiculous under his breath.
I have had to deal with a lot of in justices since that day also. We women will have to keep standing up to the old way of thinking and will never go away completely away. But it will continue to get better for generations of women, on down the line.
I have learned that it’s ok to “Hunt Like a Girl” and to be proud as hell for it! We don’t have to hunt like guys because simply put, we aren’t guys.
5. Why do you want this hunting trip?
Winning any of the prizes would be truly a blessing. I am just so proud that I had enough friends and family that believed in what I do, that they in turn asked their friends to vote for me also. Women and hunting is a very important part of my life and helping to promote others is my main goal and objective.
I have never hunted outside of Michigan. I am just about the oldest contestant. I am not getting any younger and my body lets me know everyday. (Hahaha) But I just make adaptations to get the job done.
My husband and I own and live on our farm that we purchased from his family in 2000. As you know farmers do not make much, if any money. If I won any of the trips, I would have to do fundraisers and garage sales to help pay for the trip. That would be no problem as I have done it before for things that we have needed and felt were important. I am a part time substitute teacher and my husband is a part time bus driver. Money has never been an issue in our marriage because we never have any. Our only issue has been having enough time spent together. Winning this trip would enable us to have the dream vacation and reconnect our bonds together. This summer is our 25th wedding anniversary and it would the most incredible second honeymoon of a lifetime.
****There are a whole bunch of quotes and pictures and cutsie things that I had wanted to add to this essay. But I don’t have the time nor the technical experience to do that.
However, I feel that my words have brought about some of what it means to me to be part of this contest. True Love and Commitment of the sport. Yesterday on my face book page someone made the comment that Hunting is not a sport. My reply was Really? Cuz every time that I am outside enjoying the environment that God has made for me to enjoy and perhaps harvest, I feel like a made TOUCHDOWN.
Tomorrow or rather later this morning lol, I am taking my husband turkey hunting for his first time. You see he knows so much about deer hunting, but it is I who is self taught in the turkey hunting. I will call for him and video tape for him. The student has now become the Master. J Here’s to hoping one of us scores a FIELDGOAL today!
“Being a successful hunter isn’t measured by the quantity of animals that you have harvested, it’s the feeling in your soul that you receive for having another chance to experience the amazing outdoors”. (I wrote while ’10 Bow hunting)
