April’s Woman of the Wild~Tish Proffitt

As I ponder my evalution as a Huntress and avid angler, I realize my journey began many years ago growing up in the great state of Virginia, rich with wildlife and abundant with waters!  My parents still enjoy sharing stories of me wanting to sleep in but rolling out of bed at the last second when Dad was leaving to go fishing for fear of being left behind!  So began my love of the water and fishing!  Over the years I’ve had the blessed privilege of fishing in various states on the east coast along with the Gulf Stream and coastal waters. I have been able to supply my family with meals of a variety of fish including everything from Alabama crappie and Virginia bass to Tennessee striper and Gulf Stream yellowfin tuna!  Although all meals I place on the table are nice, none compare with dining on freshly caught trout from the stream served on a lap of aluminum foil!!
Another of my outdoor pleasures I only have the chance to engage in once a year and only in a 3 week window, hunting morels!! Affectionately refered to as dry land fish in areas of the south, these small mushrooms have provided many a delicious meal here in my home. Times spent hunting and gathering morels take me back to my roots as supplier for my family.  Native Americans shared in this gathering of food and generations later, I love the time spent seeking the forest floor in search of her treasure and passing along this tradition to my two young daughters.
As a huntress, again I started at the tender age of 12 hunting with my dad and distinctly remember my first hunting trip being a dove hunt.  I didn’t kill any that day but enjoyed being outdoors and being with my dad. For many years I joined him in the woods and successfully harvested small game but never any large game. I married a hunter at the age of nineteen and for four years I let him enjoy his hunts with his male hunting buddies. Then I realized, this is something I enjoy as well and can share with him the way I did with my dad!!  The need and desire to hunt took over and for the last nine years I have joined him in the field hunting with my new hunting partner!  Over those nine seasons I have harvested twelve deer, two turkey, more small game than I can count, a Texas Dall Ram and successfully added grouse hunting to my list of feats!  Although all my kills were rewarding and very special to me, none of my endeavors came close to sharing the experience of my seven year old daughter’s first kill when she harvested a 225 lb boar in Tennessee!!  To know that she carries the same passion, fire and desire that I have is a feeling that words cannot express!!
I consider it an honor to be featured on this site along other strong women in the sport!  The last year has been filled with many things I never thought possible.  I have my own Signature Series of turkey calls that I sell online and in sporting goods stores in my area, I launched my project Southern Belle Outdoors which supplies ladies with discounts on hunting related products!!  Please feel free to add me on Facebook and get to know me!! I love having the opportunity to represent women in this sport and meeting and sharing with other ladies with the same passion as I. To each of you, I wish you the very best of luck and happy hunting!!

Tisha Proffitt
Southern Belle Outdoors

 

Miss Huntress 2011!

Camp Wild Girls is Glad to announce they are sponsoring the 2011 Miss Huntress Contest. We are down to the remaining 10 Huntresses and wishing all of them good luck! Click here to find more about the contestants!

Women Hunting Dall Sheep in the Brooks Range, Alaska

Women Hunting Dall Sheep in the Brooks Range, Alaska

For the past 3 years my friends and I have been hunting sheep in the Brooks Range in Northern Alaska. Experiencing these remote wildernesstrips has changed my perspective of life. When I am in the midst of  these lovely wild mountains and long flowing rivers, I realize that I am quite small yet magically blessed with being a part of the natural order. The natural order demands that death is necessary to sustain life. Some plant or animal must die for me to eat and live. Hunting is the  process of stalking, killing, and surviving and this requires  an acute awareness and presence. When I am hunting I feel most alive.  I feel what it means to be a human, raw and exposed, without the cushion of society.

I enjoy both the planning process and the product of our hunts. I plan the gear and my friend, Kimberley, plans the food. Marianne and Kay have the same system. Everyone is responsible for providing 3 days of food for the group. The food theme for 2009 was Thai and for 2010 pasta. We always carry wine. We avoid duplicating gear. We only need one spotting scope, one stove. The weight limit for us and gear  is 1200 lbs and we take 1199.

The process of the hunt includes kayaking, day to day survival, camping and hunting. I’m thrilled to land on the tundra, pull out the gear and watch our plane fly away. We immediately inflate the water wolf kayaks, secure the gear, put on our dry suits and push off into the current. I love reading the river ,making a few corrective strokes and being one with the current. My awareness is heightened and I resolve to accept whatever comes as I flow with the water.

After a few hours we pull off on a sandbar and make a comfortable camp with a fire and  tasty food. Our party consists of two hunters and two hikers. The days are active but at night we share conversation while sipping wine by the fire. We stay in one area for several days and see sheep, caribou, and wolverine then move on to another site for a few more days.  Every day we see Rams by the river.The River is high and fast. Marianne and Kay have a hard time stopping their kayak when they see a trophy ram hanging out with ewes on a rock cliff close to the river. In the end they manage and Marianne shoots him from 350 yards. We continue down and find a camp in an area with ram potential.

I hike up a creek bed at 5 am while the others stay back to work on the cape. I love those early morning solo hikes where each bend reveals some new discovery. I pass plenty of sheep and a few rams along the way. Five large rams come into view several miles up the creek bed.  At times I walk along the creek but often cliffs force me to back track, searching for a path where I may climb up the mountain side. The rain and even a thunderstorm come and pass. After several miles, I pull out my scope.  The stalking begins.  I must get closer to those rams. I use the creek bed for cover and hike beyond them. I cross the creek and find a ravine to climb. I am now above them. They did not see me and the wind is in my favor. It is 2 pm. I leave my pack at the top of the ravine at the base of a rock wall. I slowly lower myself down a steep rock hill with my back against the rocks. It is too steep to safely crawl head first on my stomach. Periodically I lift my head just high enough to see one noble ram lying in on his perch  and watching the world below him. I am not sure if the other rams are grazing and I assume they are below this ram. As I watch and approach, a thought penetrates my focus, “ This stalk is so thrilling, I’m satisfied with the experience  even if the ram runs and lives. He is so beautiful.” I am 30 yards away.  He lifts his head, scents me and jumps to his feet. I stay still, hardly breathing. 3 Rams are 45 yards from me. I look at them and they at me for 45 seconds. They are legal game, but they are facing me and I can’t see the full curl. The double broomed one locks his eyes with mine. I slowly sit up, raise my gun and shoot. One ram runs.  The other stands next to his dead buddy. He looks into my eyes with dismay and sadness and I look into his eyes with remorse and great respect. After 7-10 minutes , he trots and then gallops away.

I stand, look down at the valley, out across the mountains and take a deep breath and thank God and the world  for my life and the sheep’s life. I field dress the ram, put him on my back and slowly descend.  My pack is too heavy. I leave much of the meat and head on through some brush above a small creek . After leaving my scent to deter the bears I hike back to arrive at camp at 11 pm. Marianne and I hike back the following day.  Together we  pack the sheep out.

All animals experience life for a brief time. We both kill to survive; I kill the sheep and the sheep kills part of the vegetation. Eventually we all become food for someone. Before that last breath, we strive to experience life. We try to understand.  We connect with others and find a way to contribute something.

I wonder what drives these noble sheep. Perhaps for the sheep it is enough to be here, graze,  chew, and take in these incredible views. I learn from them.

Dr. Julia Heinz

http://www.WomenHuntingAlaska.com

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Mia’s Elk Hunt 2010~Camp Wild Girls Rep Mia Anstine

This years fall elk hunt was, as always, a tough one.  I hunted third rifle season which ran November 6th through November 14th.  Third season is always a chilly one, and this year was no different.  We had it pretty easy the first weekend.  It at least got above 40 degrees during the day. More>

MY Hunting Story! by Robyn Woodruff

I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors and had a strong appreciation for the beautiful planet in which we live.  I was first introduced to hunting by my high school sweetheart and his family. They were avid deer hunters and their enthusiasm for the sport made me want to hunt.  However, “hunting is not for women” they would say.  Years later, I met and married the man of my dreams.  The man who also happened to be an avid hunter and fisherman and who would jump on the opportunity to teach all he knows about hunting and fishing to any willing participant.  I now fish and hunt musky, small game, waterfowl, turkey, whitetail deer and just about any animal that comes in season in the State of Indiana with one caveat.  I only harvest animals I will eat.  I have a great time outdoors and have been very successful over the years with the exception of whitetail deer.

Every year on the Friday before deer firearms opens; we head out (camper in tow) to one of Indiana’s state owned properties.  We do our homework by scouting areas in advance of the season, setting up latter stands and making sure we have a plan B in the event there are other hunters in our area.  I have had a couple of encounters with nice bucks, but never such that I could get a good shot.  I am particular about shooting and have to feel comfortable about every shot I take.  My Husband teases me and says “why didn’t you shoot?”  Every year seemed filled with squirrels or orange hat humans getting my heart going and the words “why didn’t you shoot?”  While I am confident that Indiana’s natural resource programs work and our state forests and parks are of great caliber, I have ran into to less than favorable situations hunting public land; including, but not limited to, a burning truck, a guy target shooting an automatic assault rifle, a dead calf and marijuana plants.  The latter was my last straw. It’s unfortunate that a few bad apples ruin it for the bunch.  I told my Husband I would no longer hunt in these areas.  It just so happened about the same time I made my ultimatum, my Husband acquired permission on 400 hundred acres of private land. We were ecstatic! We immediately began scouting and setting up trail cameras.

It’s now opening morning of deer firearms 2010.  We drive to our parking spot, finish dressing and spray down with cover scent. We walk for a little a while until it’s time to split ways to our respective stands. My Husband bends down, kisses me on the cheek and whispers “no small bucks, sweetie.”  I nod in response and head toward the woods.  It’s a cloudy morning, very dark and I note that I may have a difficult time finding my stand.  As I enter the woods, I spook a deer. It snorts and trots away.  The remainder of my trek in the woods could be compared to an elephant stampede and I was convinced there wasn’t an animal within 50 miles, let alone a deer.  I was beginning to get frazzled and think I would have to sit on the ground until it was a bit lighter.  I then realized I was standing right under my stand. I almost laughed out loud.

I got settled in my stand, pulled up my gun and loaded it. It’s an hour before shooting time and I try to clear my mind and listen to the woods.  At 8:30a.m, I text my Husband, “c any?”  He responds “nope.”  I respond, “they know it’s opening day.”  Ten minutes later, I spot deer headed my way.  My heart is pounding.  It’s a doe and a knob buck, or as my Husband would say, a button buck.  The doe is unaware of my presence, eats acorns and continually shoes away the knob buck who obviously thinks he is prince charming.  A few minutes later, I hear something coming behind me.  I slowly turn around. It’s a buck with antlers and a doe!  My eyes must have got as big as saucers and my heart kicked into overdrive.  I instantly decided I needed to let them pass.  Then those haunting words crossed my mind, “why didn’t you shoot?” The buck is 30 yards away, turns and begins to take steps away from me.  I grab the call hanging around my neck and softly grunt a couple of times. He turns his head my way and stops.  I only have one viable shot and it’s in the neck.  I raise my gun, click off the safety and shoot.  He dropped right where I shot him. I can’t even describe the joyous feeling. It was overwhelming to say the least.

I finally harvested a deer after years of trying. He had 7 points and weighed 130 pounds field dressed.  My only reservation is that my Husband was not there to witness the harvest and celebrate with me.  My sense, however, is that he would have kept me from shooting given the age of the buck.  In retrospect, I’m glad he wasn’t there.  I am so thankful and proud of this harvest.  I am now pumped up to get back out there!  My goal is to harvest a doe for Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry.  Let’s hope I’m successful.

Robyn Woodruff

Arcadia, Indiana

Guru Huntress: ThermaCell on … mosquitoes off!

I have a thermacell that I won at a sporting event. I took it hunting this spring for Turkey and they do work great. Here is Nancy Jo’s review on the WON.

Guru Huntress: ThermaCell on … mosquitoes off!.

May’s Woman of the Wild-Gretchen Steele

“In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair.”

This quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson was taught to me by mother many, many, years ago, where I was barely big enough to remember it, let alone really fully appreciate it. Thanks to the countless hours that she, my uncles and others let me tag along with them on their adventures in the woods, the lakes, the rivers and the streams of southern Illinois, I soon developed a passion for being “In the Woods.”

I developed a passion for being outside, knee deep in all that the outdoors had to offer. It seems that it didn’t really take all that long and I too felt that in the woods I could return to reason and faith.

Growing up in Southern Illinois put me in the enviable position of always just being a few minutes away from open fields, high bluffs, hardwood forests and the rivers, lakes, and sloughs.

Here I chased rabbits, quail and pheasants, deer, turkey and dove. I ran trotlines, turtle lines and traps.  I marked my days not by the calendar but by the seasons – root digging season, morel season, time to harvest the plants….watching the incoming migratory waterfowl in the fall, gauging time by the changes in the creatures and the landscape.  I am forever grateful that both of my parents and my extended family passed down to me the traditions of living wild.

Not only are we meat hunters in this household, and eat a great deal of wild game and fish, I also forage for wild foods and the medicinal plants and roots.  Many a frantic neighborhood mother with crying toddler has stopped by for mullein oil to soothe the earache. A diabetic friend uses the comfrey infusion to heal wounds on his feet that traditional medicine couldn’t.

Because I was raised by parents who lived in the through the Depression, nothing goes to waste and nothing is taken for granted. “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. “  was a common phrase in our household growing up and continues in my home today.  I learned early on that as long we remained good stewards of the land and conservationists, the forest and the fields could provide for us.

I never take a harvest for granted – taking a moment to thank the deer, the turkey, the rabbit or squirrel that gave up its life so I could have a tasty meal in the crock pot. I count my blessings when I find a big mushroom flush or huge patch of ginseng, golden seal and blood root.

Although hunting with firearms and bows  became somewhat curtailed for me over ten years ago when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and my upper body strength and coordination started disappear I realized with the help of a great occupational therapist that truly, I could still hunt, only with a camera. I could still fish – it was good exercise for those often uncooperative upper limbs, I could still hike, I just had to build rest periods into the plan for the day.

I’ve become an ace at ferreting out places that on tough days I can take the scooter down the trail, and have developed a network of friends who always happy to accompany  me on the days I’m not so sure I should be climbing up a bluff  or out setting turtle lines alone.

Do not be fooled – hunting with a camera entails just as much as hunting with weapons. I track, I pattern, I lie in wait…sit in stands, hide in blinds, and lay out in the snowy winter fields with the waterfowl hunters waiting on the geese to come flying into the spread.

I’m very proud that I was asked to be on the Board of Directors for Hunters With Disabilities (www.hwd2010.com) . Through this organization we able to bring both the able bodied and disabled hunting community together through a mutual love of the outdoors, and an understanding that for so many of us our time outside, our time in the woods is vital to our well being. The forests and the fields are our “dirt church”.

The MS diagnosis was my “aha moment”  when I decided that I would chuck my career as a public health nurse and focus on spending as much time as possible as long as possible in the forests and the fields.  Ten odd years down the road and I have a successful photography business that specializes in outdoor, hunting, and wildlife photography and a budding career as outdoor writer and blogger.  I’ve been added as pro staff / official photographer at several hunt clubs and hunting or fishing organizations. This has allowed me to network and build even more friendships with others who enjoy their time outside.  My mentors have been many and I have been truly blessed in that arena.

Finally as I approach the ripe old age of 50 it seems I’ve found my place in the world and it’s in the woods!

Please visit my blogs  and my web site to have a peek at my life these days.

Steele Photo Services – www.steelephotoservices.com

Through the Lens – hosted at Prairie State Outdoors www.Prairiestateoutdoors.com

In the Forests and the Fields – http://siloforests.blogspot.com/

As well as my second home on the internet – Southern Illinois Outdoors – www.siloutdoors.com

PRÓIS HUNTING AND FIELD APPAREL PARTNERS WITH CAMP WILD GIRLS TO LAUNCH EXCITING NEW HOME HUNTING PARTY PROGRAM

Our March “Woman of the Wild”-Stacey Huston from “A Focus in the Wild”

By Stacey Huston from “A Focus in the Wild”

I grew up in the mountains of North West Montana. I was raised immersed in the outdoors.. So I spent a lot of time as a young girl watching and learning about wildlife. My parents raised me with a deep respect for the natural world.
I married young, a man who shares that passion for the outdoors, and together we have tried to foster in our children that same love for all things natural.
I was raised on wild game. My mother as well as my father was a hunter, . She enjoyed spending time in the outdoors and I am very grateful that they never hesitated to take us kids along.

When I was asked to be this months “Woman of the Wild” I thought back and tried to remember, when was the first time my parents took me hunting? I honestly can’t recall. For us, it was a different time, my parents hunted out of necessity to feed their family, not for sport, It was a way of life, like gathering the eggs and making sure the chickens were fed each morning. We were taught at a young age how to clean, and butcher anything that was harvested, rabbits, grouse, deer or elk.
I don’t remember the first fish I ever caught. I recall learning were to search for earth worms, how to bait my own hooks and how to clean and cook a fish. I remember learning to track animals, and tell by the bark and needles what trees were in the area.. How to tell what way is north, and how to find your way home if you ever got lost in the woods..
My family still eats primarily wild game. We hunt for meat, in a time when most people care more about the size of the antlers that they can hang on their wall, we still hunt for food.

I can’t really remember a time in my life when I was not learning something about nature, weather it was sitting on the shore line with my parents watching a family of beaver interact on a high mountain lake, or fully camouflaged, on an alpine ridge in September archery season, talking to the magnificent bull elk, flying a hawk after bunnies along the Absaroka Range or just taking photos of our children while we hunt for rabbits with self bows and home made arrows.

I am a licensed falconer and volunteer as a sub-permittee for a local bird rehab center. I have been flying birds of prey and hunting small game with them, off and on for over 10 years now and am in the process of applying for an education permit so that I can take birds of prey to schools and groups for educational seminars.

We live a simple life, and in this world of technology it is the simple, natural things that are the most important..

Aimee Pitts-My 8pt Buck

Have you ever had one of those years where you just want to give up especially when you feel like you have worked harder than everyone around you but they seem to be the ones with the success?  This is my story about my 2009 hunting season that was horrible but then better than all previous seasons and you wonder how that could possibly be.  Chris, my boyfriend/hunting partner, and I have three places where we hunt – one is in Bossier Parish near my mom’s house and is my favorite place to hunt, another is in Desoto Parish which is the closest to where I live and the other is in Natchitoches Parish about an hour drive from my house.   This year we decided to try something a little different by putting our trail cameras out early in Bossier Parish and Desoto Parish in hopes to get some pictures of bucks in velvet.  And that we did, in Desoto, we had pictures of a nice 8 point and a good 6 point which gave us high hopes long before the season started.  That wasn’t true for my favorite place because I went from having lots of deer on my camera last year to having a doe, a yearling, and more hogs than I cared to count, which was a first for this area.  Of course I wasn’t going to let some pesky hogs bring me down and keep me from hunting in that spot so I readied for opening day, clearing old and new shooting lanes.

Two weeks before the season opened we had a special youth hunt weekend and my 8 year old son, Mason, decided this summer that he wanted to start hunting with me this year so I bought him a new rifle.  Youth weekend he and I hunted the 8 point and 6 point that we had seen on camera.  We hunted all weekend long but only saw a doe with a yearling, not once but every time we were in the stand. Mason was tempted to shoot the doe but using his better judgment he decided against it since she had a baby and I was really proud of him for making that call.  Therefore, no first deer for him on youth weekend and he was ok with it.

When the season started I hunted every chance I could, every weekend going to Bossier and seeing nothing and then when I got the chance I would take off early and hunt the 8 and 6 point in Desoto since that stand was close to home.  I had made up my mind that if I saw the 6 point I would let him walk even though I had never killed a buck bigger than a 3 point – a very large bodied 3 point but nonetheless a 3 point.  I was going to save the 6 point for next year or if one of the kids were with me let them take it but I never saw the 6, the 8, or anything else and then sometime during November the gas well company came in and laid a saltwater line and really messed things up for the rest of the year.  Needless to say we were down one place to hunt but I continued to hunt hard in Bossier Parish in hopes that my luck or things there would change.  I couldn’t imagine where all the deer had gone especially since I had never shot anything off of that stand but all the deer had disappeared.  Still nothing and I was now getting very discouraged because it seemed that the harder I worked or the more I went the less I saw. But Chris, on the other hand, saw deer every time he went hunting and it seemed as though everyone I talked to had been seeing a lot of deer but not me.  My discouragement led to us making a week day afternoon trip to Natchitoches Parish.

We took off work earlier than normal and Chris and I headed to Natchitoches Parish and I was glad we made that trip because I finally saw a deer and it was a buck. Yipee!  A very small 8 point came out just before dark and hung out in my shooting lane for a good while.  He was maybe a year and half old so I just watched him, knowing that in about 2 years he would be a nice one.  I didn’t mind letting him walk because I was thankful to have seen a deer.  After seeing the little 8 point we made the decision to take off early Friday and hunt and camp there for the weekend.  When we arrived Friday afternoon we went straight to our stands I hunted the one where I saw the 8 point earlier in the week and Chris hunted what he calls long lanes.  We both hunted til dark and I saw nothing and Chris saw 3 does, I figured it wasn’t a complete loss since he saw deer and he was only hunting about 400 yards from me therefore I knew I was bound to see something that weekend.  Saturday morning Chris and I both hunted the same stands again and again I saw nothing and he saw quite a few.  That Saturday afternoon the frustration was really working on me and I asked Chris to let me hunt his stand and he could hunt mine.  You can bet I will not make that mistake again.  At 4:15 pm I hear him shoot and nearly jumped out of my skin, and immediately sent him a text to verify it was him although I knew it was and he replied “isn’t your lucky day”.  Now I was really getting frustrated – I asked him what he shot and just said “8”, my first thought was “he shot my little 8 point that I let walk” but I new better especially since he will not even shoot a doe.  He told me to stay in the stand and continue hunting the rest of the evening but I was too aggravated by now so I got down and went to see what he got.   When I saw the 8 point I couldn’t believe it, it was huge.  At that moment, I got upset and decided that he was right I just don’t have the luck and was ready to just quit all together but I’m not a quitter.  I have been told that I threw a little fit but I don’t believe it.

It took me a few days to get over being jealous and feeling sorry for myself and when I did I realized that the Thanksgiving holidays were in a few days and I would have extra time off work and more time to hunt.  The Friday after Thanksgiving I was up early not to shop like everyone else but to hunt in Bossier Parish and since my mom was out of town we had a place to camp for the weekend.  Mason wanted to hunt with us so Chris took Mason with him to give me time to focus without any distractions.  I hunted Friday evening in my favorite stand and again saw nothing until right at dark, when I looked to my left there one stood in my new lane that we extended this year.  The deer looked to have a very large body and I could see horns but couldn’t tell how many because his head was behind a tree, I hesitated due to my fear of shooting one at dark and losing it.  I took my chances anyway thinking this may be the last one I see this year.  I shot and he ran and I panicked.  I immediately called Chris but he wouldn’t answer so I waited a few minutes, got down and went to look for blood but couldn’t find any and it was really getting dark.  I finally reached Chris and he and Mason came to help me look, I showed him where I thought he was standing and we looked around and found nothing.  I began to doubt my shot but I knew I hit him so Chris walked a little further down the lane and found blood and some yellow stuff.   That’s when the sickening feeling set in, I had not only gut shot the deer but I obviously can’t judge this lane like I thought because I thought he was a lot closer than what he actually was.  After calling a friend to bring his dog to help track him we found my deer – it was a spike, and I was devastated.  I don’t shoot spikes, it is a rule I have but I had shot a spike.  The next morning when my alarm went off I didn’t move I was still too upset with myself over making a bad decision.  Chris and Mason went hunting without me.  At 7:15 that morning Chris sent me a text message that said “Mason did it. He shot one.”  At that moment I forgot about myself and focused on Mason’s success.  While I was getting dressed to go meet up with them Chris sends me another text “doesn’t look good, gut shot, going to stay in the stand til 10 and then look.”  I crossed my fingers, said a little prayer and waited to hear back from them.  At 10 am we called the same friend with the dog and he trailed Mason’s deer.  Mason didn’t make a bad shot his was perfect the deer only ran about 50 yards a laid down Mason got his first deer – a spike.  I was very proud of him but still upset with me so we went home I was done for the weekend.  Sunday morning 7:00 am the phone rings it’s one of my girlfriends; she needs Chris to come help her husband cape out the huge buck she just killed.  That was it I had had enough everyone around me was either seeing or killing deer and now one of my friends who doesn’t hunt and gripes because I do every weekend has killed a mountable deer on her first time to go this year.  I quit!

Again I spent a few days dealing with what I now know was jealousy.  My aunt who isn’t a hunter is the one who got my mind right.  She told me that I was trying too hard and maybe if I stopped focusing on that BIG BUCK and got back to the reason why I love to hunt then maybe things will change.  After talking to her I thought about the main reason why I love to hunt and that is because I love the outdoors and nature.  When I hunt I feel like a part of nature whether it be in the mornings when it awakens or the evenings when it is going to bed.  That is what I did the following weekend. Chris and I both took off work early Friday and headed to Natchitoches, but since I wasn’t planning to hunt anymore this season we weren’t prepared and didn’t make it in time to hunt that evening.  During the night Chris and I both became very ill with a stomach virus but we hung in there determined not to be forced to go home.  We slept most of the day Saturday and at 2:00 pm we decided to give it a try and head for the stands.  Neither one of us had eaten since Friday and were extremely weak to the point that I didn’t know if I would be able to climb in the stand.  I went to the stand called long lanes and Chris hunted what is called fence row.  Around 4:30pm I had a spike come out about 200 yards in front of me I watched him walk off in Chris’s direction.  A few minutes late I had 3 does in my lane on the right so I watched them for a while.  At about 5:00 pm Chris sent me a text that he said he has 2 does to the right of his stand.  Things were looking up I was finally seeing deer.  Just before dark I had 3 more does come out on the lane to my left and began to wonder how I was getting back to the house because that was the way I had to walk out and I could still barely see them even well after dark.  I managed to get down and walk out without spooking the deer.  When I returned to the house Chris was waiting to tell me what he had seen.  Just after he sent me the text about the two does on his right a nice 8 point walked out behind them, he chose not to shoot in hopes that if I were to hunt that stand Sunday that maybe I would get a chance at him.

Sunday morning I hunted the fence row and he hunted the stand that I had hunted in the previous evening. That morning we hunted til about 11:00 am and I saw 8 does and Chris saw 5 does but no bucks. That evening we were back in the same stands that we hunted that morning and I am thinking Chris saw the buck the previous evening so maybe this will be my evening. Around 4:45 pm a doe stepped out to my right and my heart started pounding I was thinking this is it the buck can’t be far behind her. I sent Chris a text and just as I pushed send the doe spooked and ran back in to the woods I knew then that he was on his way out. Directly across the shooting lane from where the doe came from, out stepped a spike. I knew then that the big buck wasn’t there because the spike didn’t seem too concerned. A few minutes later I get a text from Chris saying “the 8 pt is on my shooting lane to the right.”  Again my point is proven he was just luckier than me and the deer seem to follow him, but why?  A few minutes later he sends me another text that said “get down and come this way if he is hanging with this doe like I think he is you can make it.” My doe had returned and now I had 2 deer to my right about 75 yards from the stand and I didn’t want to spook them but I climbed down anyway and just as I got to the bottom the doe started walking towards me and then stopped and watched. I never scared them and they just watched me walk away and at that moment I knew my luck had to be changing. The stand Chris was hunting in has a lane out front and lanes to the left and right, like a T with the stand in the center. I walked down the lane out front and headed straight for the stand trying to decide what in the world I was going to do once I got there or should I say if I got there without jumping up or spooking one that may be coming out on the lane I was walking down. I walked thru knee high water that filled my boots and made a loud squishy sound or at least to me it seemed loud.  I made it to the end just in front of the stand and was burning up from all the clothes I had on. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled out in to the lane facing the direction of the buck but he wasn’t there only a doe and a 3 point were there. Chris whispered “he is in the woods snort wheezing at the 3 pt, so just be patient” but I was uncomfortable and needed to get out of my coat so I slowly took it off and laid it on the ground. I still wasn’t sure how I was going to shoot from the ground and I knew I needed some type of rest. Everything from this moment on happened so fast that I will tell it how I think it happened. Chris pointed in the direction of the doe and the buck stepped out all I saw were horns and a huge body. I immediately stretched out, laid on my stomach, propped up on my jacket, and shot. He stumbled for a second and ran into the woods followed by the doe and then a few seconds later the 3 pt followed behind the doe. I did it I walked all the way over and I did it I got my first big buck with my brand new Savage 30-06 rifle that Chris bought me for an early Christmas present. That was an exciting moment but it wasn’t over. After Chris got down from the stand we heard a lot of crashing in the woods and I got a bad feeling that I had made a bad shot and it was getting dark. The crashing lasted for about 5 minutes and I stood ready in the shooting lane while Chris went around to where he thought he was headed to send him back my way.  A few minutes later the crashing stopped and I could hear Chris walking thru the woods in my direction, he then yelled at me and told me to start walking the lane.  I went about 30 yards and spotted something white near the woods and there he was.  I didn’t make a bad shot! Chris then told me that the crashing noises were from the 3 pt chasing the doe once he saw his window of opportunity. That’s when the high fives began because I had made a perfect 75 yard shot from the ground. Some people may call that cheating of some form since the buck didn’t come out by my stand but I call it one heck of an adrenaline rush and a really good story to tell.

I always thought of myself as a patient and non-jealous person but I let my emotions get the best of me and that is something that I will not let happen again.  When you let the things that you love to do become work and you try to hard to achieve the goal then you forget your reason for doing it at all.

Shreveport, LA

February’s “Woman of the Wild”- Jennifer L. Metzker!

When I was a small girl, I remember going to my uncle’s property to hunt deer, turkey, dove, quail, etc with my family. I loved being out in the woods, running free, watching the wildlife. My dad would take me to hunting camp, despite the comments from the older members; dad would put me in the woods with my grandfather’s Smith & Wesson model 1000 shotgun and say, “sit still and good luck”! I only ever shot one doe, and we never found her…I was heart broken.

As the years went by, the family grew apart. I found myself driving my very old Grandfather to hunting camp, just so I could get another chance at another deer.  No Luck, I grew older as did the relatives, and there was no one to take me hunting, but you could always find me outdoors either at the horse shows or at the mud hole, which is where I met my husband of 19 years.

Bryan has been a hunter all his life and we kicked it off immediately.  We married, had a son and moved to North Carolina and had our second son. Bryan joined a Hunting club in Georgia, that we are still apart of to this day. It was at this club with my husband, that I really learned how to hunt. I was taught how to watch and “let the deer get closer” and where to put a stand, etc. I harvested my first doe on that club, weighing in at 120 lbs, while my husband sat in the truck with the boys watching a clear cut. That was it, I was really hooked! No, I wasn’t the first woman in camp to hunt, but I was the first to hunt as hard as the men do.  Sure, I have heard the same questions over the years; “How do you do it”? My only answer to that was “How can you not”? The woods are my sanctuary. Things always seem clear when I’m in the woods. And I have seen some wonderful things in the woods!

Over the years, I have harvested some nice deer and I’m always proud of whatever I do harvest. I hunt Alligator, Turkey, Deer, Ducks, Coyotes, Fox and Bobcat. I am open to try anything once. I fly fish in the spring and summer months but hunting is always on my mind.

I have been married for 19 years to my “hunting mentor” lol, Bryan. We have two sons, Bryan Jr. and Boone. Bryan Jr. is currently in the Navy and fishes and duck hunts with us when he takes leave. Boone is in the woods and water with us all the time and has become quite the hunter.  I know a lot of other ladies that hunt hard like me and I love meeting other lady hunters.

Jennifer L. Metzker

Jan 2010′s “Woman of the Wild”-Kim Pezzeminti

Kim Pezzeminti, explorer, huntress and creator of things.

“Woman of the Wild” could not be a more perfect description for this explorer!  As a young girl, I would create some of the most amazing places in the wild of the outdoors.  The most memorable is of my playhouse underneath a GREAT big maple tree!  The dirt floor was swept daily and the luscious and green moss became the carpeted areas of this delectable place.  I served mud pies topped with the flowers of the Forsythia bush.  My Grandmother Ruby would always be there to assist in my projects.  I credit her for blessing me with creativity.  She taught be how to see pictures in the clouds and how to make something out of nothing. (Which by the way has been a wonderful trait to have through my adult years!)

My Mother and Father are also very instrumental in the development of my creativity Through many years of camping, seeing, doing and just sharing added the element of honesty and integrity.  My Dad would take me fishing atop Mowbry Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee.  I caught my first 3 pound bass on a Zebco 202 rod and reel and I was hooked.  I began to scream to my Dad across the pond…”Daddy, Daddy, Daddy” as I drug the most incredible, awesome fish ashore.  Daddy came just a running and was so proud of me!  I went home, took my hands up to my Mom’s nose and said smell…I caught a fish!

As I grew and developed into a woman, all of these experiences and skills would ultimately become the foundation for my work world success.  After spending almost 20 years in the tile industry, I found it ironic that I was selling “baked dirt” for a living. (Hmmm, thank you mud pie).  I was able to work with ceramic engineers from France, Italy and Spain to take clays, silica sand and glazes to make beautiful tiles for homes and buildings around the world.  This job also enabled me to travel where I was constantly in sensory overload!  As this Tennessee girl traveled to the West, it was if she had found her home.  Wyoming became the place that every chance I got, I would go there, place my feet into the vast forests and just be on cloud nine.  The grand mountains would bring my creativity out like flowing lava from a volcano!  I spent several summers in the Teton National Forest on Horseback and I never returned the same person.  I am so thankful for these days in the woods.

As I traveled, I became the Platinum Princess on Delta Airlines.  Spending over 200 nights a year in a hotel was quite and experience.  I never knew what I would receive from all these frequent flyer miles but I found out a little over four years ago…the award was my darling and precious soul mate.  As we sat side by side on a flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta (thank you Delta) we talked about deer hunting, which I had never done, but my Dad loved to deer and turkey hunt.  I told him about the back strap my Dad cooked every Christmas morning.  Needless to say, this was love at first flight!

We married 2 years later on the Bell Tower of the Hotel Colorado ( Interestingly, this hotel became the White House of President Teddy Roosevelt, while he bear hunted…I think I must have felt his love of the West) then we jumped in our jeans and headed Elk Hunting for our Honeymoon.  My hunting buddy taught me to shoot my first gun and ultimately harvesting my first deer.  We make being in the WILD a priority for our extra curricular activities.  I escorted my husband on this 50^th birthday celebration to Namibia, Africa where I watched my mentor focus and harvest.  We have Elk Hunted together in Colorado and Wyoming.  Our most favorite place is our hunting camp in Georgia where we work on the many aspects of the Whitetail Deer.  Living now in Merritt Island, Florida, we are anxious to someday find a little cabin hidden in the woods where I can sit on my porch and listen to the creatures sing their songs.

Once again my experiences would take hold of my creativity and I from this my company Doeville would be born.   This is a place for women to come and capture items created by women and made in the USA.  The products and artists are a direct result of my many years of traveling and meeting people all over the world.  Our tag line is “Accessorize Your Spirit” which is what the places in the wild have done for my spirit!

My message to all women is to explore, not only places but also within you.  There are many treasures to be found!

Take the 2yr. Old Hunting with you?!

Kudos to this dad for taking his not yet 3 year old out hunting with him. As a mother of a two year old I know it is no small feat.  

This proud daddy sent me a story about his little 2 year old huntress. She was up that morning at 4:45, scent killer showered, ready and raring to go, even if uncle Dan wasn’t quite ready!

Here is his story:

We went out that morning after I took those pictures and had a nice doe at about 50 yards. She was closing in fast on us. My daughter had a coughing attack, which scared the doe off.

That night we went out again and had the same doe coming in on us. The same thing happened but this time she covered her mouth and muffled the cough enough so the doe walked right in at 15 yards. My 2 yr. old stopped her for me with the old “BAAEEP” sound. I put a good shot on the doe and sealed the deal.

 I was so proud of her. All that practicing and explaining I had done with her paid off. It proved that kids are never too young to get involved.

So don’t be afraid to bring your daughter (or son) with you sometime. I found it is a great way for me to spend time with my daughter and still get to do what I love.

Jake Flett

Extreme Huntress Contest

Primal Adventure’s Extreme Huntress Contest ARE YOU A HARDCORE WOMAN HUNTER? Winner will get an all expense-paid sheep and mountain goat combo hunt with International Sportsman’s Grizzly Basin Camp in British Columbia. Winner’s package will include airfare, license, clothing, optics, boots, firearm and ammo all presented by contest sponsors. Also, hunt will be filmed for a future episode of Primal Adventures on Versus. Total package worth $50,000.00 [more]

Frankly My Dear, I don’t Give a Damn!

In this day, some say sex sells everything. I have been involved in some interesting discussions with both men and women about that very subject. We discussed such things as hunting or fishing product and sites using “Booth Babes” and scantily dressed women, to promote their products and or some of their outdoors sites.

Websites, and companies that say they are now welcoming and encouraging women and kids into their outdoor community, are using these beautiful half naked girls to sell their sites/products to whom? I know as a woman it just irritates me and I certainly would not send the kids to get a peek!

I have found some really great websites that I would like to frequent, and because of these pictures, I do not. In turn I don’t promote these sites to anyone else either, male or female. I would like to join the e-mail updates on one website, but I am afraid I will get the “Model of the Year Calendar”. In turn I will not stop at the booths, featuring half-dressed, well endowed bimbos that know nothing about hunting or fishing, at the trade shows, no matter how great their products are. It’s so demeaning.

It’s not that these girls aren’t beautiful, they certainly are gorgeous. I am sure a lot of these “chicks” work very hard or pay dearly to have bodies like that. These pictures would be great shots for Maxum or some other men’s fantasy magazines.

It’s that women have worked so hard to be seen and treated as equals in our industry and it is like a slap in the face to see how some companies still portray the women that hunt or fish. These pictures do not encourage women to participate in the outdoors. It sends a message that women are only good at one thing, and it isn’t our sport. More times than not those using this selling tactic turn away a good majority of the women they are trying to recruit to use their sites or products. These customers leave in silence never to return.

Women usually don’t want to make waves so they stay quiet even when offended. They do however, keep it stored away. I happen to be one of the more vocal women about this subject, and when I mentioned it on Twitter, it started a “flurry of fury”. On this particular day these gals had had enough and all that had been stored came brewing out.

On the other hand, I had some of the men say to me “They didn’t hold a gun to her head” or “You’re just jealous.” Those guys are missing the point. I agree that those girls have every right to sell their goods to anyone who wants buy them. Am I jealous? Sure, I would love to still have the body I had at their age. But the point is, even when I had a body like that, nobody ever knew it, when I was hunting or fishing! It’s about hunting and fishing not the “chick”!

I don’t want to look at women in bikinis or underwear, making women that hunt and fish look stupid, every time I check out new hunting gear or go to chat with someone that hunts. This is what real women hunters look like! http://www.campwildgirls.com/photo-gallery/

I know that this post may upset some people that like the “Booth Babes” and the risque pictures and…Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!

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