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

 

January’s Woman of the Wild-Tera Busker

Every little girl idolizes her daddy and growing up I wanted to be just like mine. I wanted to be a truck driver, a fireman and, most of all, a hunter. Every November I remember helping my dad get his gear ready for Wisconsin deer opener. I was a ball of excitement as we hung the blaze orange clothes outside, packed up the chili and made sure everything was ready for the next morning.  But, every year as my dad headed out to the woods, I was left behind. Not because I didn’t want to go, but because I didn’t have a hunter’s license. Where I grew up not many girls hunted and I was way too intimidated to take hunters safety with a bunch of boys. So what did I do? I waited until I was 18 to take hunters safety with a bunch of pre teen boys. AKWARD! But after so many years of sitting in the woods and not being able to hunt, I had to do what I had to do so I could partake in the full hunting experience.

I remember my first hunt like it was yesterday.  It was one of the coldest mornings of the year up to that point – 5 degrees. My dad and I sat in a small stand together in Prescott, Wisconsin. I was SO excited for the sun to come up for my first official hunt to officially begin, but it seemed like the light of day couldn’t get there soon enough. As soon as the sun came up, the temperature seemed to drop another 10 degrees. I remember thinking…”Is this really what I was excited about? I’m going to freeze to death before I get a chance to shoot.”  (I can be a little dramatic at times) We sat in our stand all morning and didn’t see a thing. After lunch we decided to do a small drive with our hunting party. Since I was the newbie in the group they set me up to get the deer. Not long after they started the drive a large doe came my way. It was a textbook scenario – she stopped 30 yards from me, broadside. I pulled up and took the shot – perfect.  When you have great beginners luck like that, you can’t help but fall in love with the sport. I was hooked. Since that first hunt, hunting and the outdoors have been a passion of mine.

In 2005, my dad introduced me to the greatest hunting experience ever – Spring turkey hunting. There is NOTHING like calling in a big, fanned out Tom Turkey while he slowly struts his way towards you. It’s an amazing adrenaline rush to hear the gobbles get closer and closer and when you finally see the Tom dancing in full strut right in front of you – it’s beautiful! Since 2005 I have only missed one Spring Turkey hunt, which was when I ran my first half marathon. BUT – I will tell you that for 10 of those 13 miles I had visions of turkeys dancing in my head.

Hunting and being in the outdoors are passions of mine, but another love of mine is fitness. As an avid runner, weight room junkie and personal trainer, I’ve found a great way to combine both of my passions. 2 years ago I started a fitness program for hunters and outdoor men & women called CrossHairs Fitness. CrossHairs Fitness is a hunting/outdoors specific fitness program designed to help people get ready for their upcoming hunts or to get in better shape for the hunting season. Many hunters don’t think about important their health & fitness level is to their hunt until they are out in the woods and gasping for breath as they walk up a hill. When you are in shape and feel good, the hunting experience is so much more enjoyable. This is a very fun and rewarding program for both me & my clients. I help them get strong, healthy & “hunt ready” and they have more energy & fun during their hunt.

I became an ACE (American Council on Exercise) Certified Personal trainer in 2000. After working in a large gym for a few years, I decided I wanted and needed a change. I noticed that the setting that I was in wasn’t ideal. There were too many distractions (waiting lines for equipment, noisy conversations, loud music) and the excuses to miss workouts became more frequent for my clients (no baby sitter, bad weather, too busy). I became very frustrated with what was happening! I wanted to give my clients the privacy and the one-on-one attention that they deserved as well as eliminate the excuses to miss appointments. I wanted the best for my clients and I knew that they wouldn’t be able to get it in a gym. In 2002 I developed Fitness To Go, an in home, online and private studio personal training service tailored to fit into my clients busy lifestyles. With Fitness To Go, I am able to bring my services and equipment to my clients as well as offer them a quiet and private place to workout at my studio in Roberts. No more excuses or distractions. Just me and my clients, working collectively together to reach their goals in a way that is challenging, yet, convenient and fun.

In 2010 I added Get Fit Bootcamp to the services that Fitness To Go offers. Get Fit Bootcamp is a unique and fun 60 minute class that combines cardio, strength training and core work all in one exciting workout. It’s not your “standard” bootcamp class – no yelling and NO negative talk. Get Fit Bootcamp is all about being positive and encouraging each other to do YOUR very best.

You can say I’m a no nonsense type of trainer. I don’t believe in excuses, gimmicks, pills or shortcuts of any kind. There is no easy way out when it comes to your health. Hard work, determination & commitment are what it takes to reach any goal that you set for yourself. Making excuses will only set you further away from achieving your goal! I am truly blessed to be able to work with my amazing clients and see the progress that they are making each and every day! Each one of my clients is an inspiration to me & they are why I keep doing what I do.

When I am not training my awesome clients, I spend my free time hunting with my husband Luke, relaxing with my 2 lazy bassets Lucy & Maggie and finding new way to challenge myself. Whether I’m hunting a new animal,  sprinting through 6 miles of mud or running 2 half marathons back-to-back, I try to always keep myself JUST outside of my comfort zone. I believe if I am always striving to do bigger & better things in life, it help me relate to my clients so much better.  Losing weight and getting healthy can be hard & scary at times, but once you step out of your comfort zone, you open yourself to a whole new world of possibilities.

I am always looking for a new way to challenge myself, so this year I plan to try coyote and pheasant hunting as well as bow fishing. These are things that the other great hunter in my life, my husband Luke, loves to do during his free time. It will be a great way for us to spend time together and enjoy the outdoors. Because, as the saying goes in my family….the family that hunts together, stays together.

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

September’s Woman of the Wild~Jana Waller

I grew up fishing and hunting pheasants and waterfowl with my Father in Wisconsin.  During my teen years several road trips were made to South Dakota where we enjoyed cornfields bursting with pheasants.   It wasn’t until 1993, when I was a Senior in college, that I picked up my first bow.  My Dad had started bowhunting that same year and after successfully helping him track his first whitetail buck through a muddy cornfield,  I knew I wanted a taste of that exhilaration.  Addicted to bowhunting ever since,  my obsession has only been fueled by the success I’ve found in the past decade.  I’ve been blessed to arrow  6 whitetail bucks in the past 8 years and have recently expanded my hunting horizons to include bowhunting Africa, Canada and the Western states.

In terms of passions, fishing comes in at a close second.  Growing up with dozens of lakes within an hour’s drive,  a weekend often included some type of fishing.  From panfish to pike, I love it all and have been blessed to fish all over the world.  Whether it’s reef fishing in Bermuda to trolling the Canadian shores for Northern Pike, I love the anticipation and excitement, but also the relaxation, that come with spending time on the water.  Fly fishing is a new found love of mine as well and look forward to fly fishing adventures in Argentina and Brazil.

After graduating college in 1993 from UW-Whitewater with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations, I spent many years working in outside sales and as a marketing associate in an Investment Firm.  In 2008 I embarked on a new career and launched  www.paintedskulls.com where I custom paint, stone and feather European mounts for customers.  That same year I started free lance writing for hunting websites and publications.  Many of my articles, product reviews and photographs can be seen regularly on womenhunters.com and bowhunting.net as well as in publications such as Bowhunter Magazine, Iowa’s Family Fish and Game Magazine and the 2010 Prois Hunting Apparel catalog.  I also am on staff   with a variety of hunting companies including Prois, Commando Hunting Products and Honey Creek Outdoors.  Luck was in my corner this year when I was casted to be a participant on the award-winning show ‘Ammo&Attitude’ which airs on the Versus channel.   I’m also currently filming a pilot show with a major network  featuring my skull business and my passion for hunting and conservation.

Everyday I’m  appreciative of the challenge, beauty, diversity and comraderee that hunting and fishing have  brought to my life.  From the South Dakota road trips as a kid, to float plane adventures into the Canadian wilderness, I can thank my Dad for my passion towards the Great Outdoors and my Mom for encouraging me to follow my dreams.

Born to Hunt-by Melissa Shopes

Born to Hunt

By Melissa Shope

My first hunting experience was when I was a little girl and my dad decided to take my sister and I grouse hunting.  I, of course, being against killing helpless animals, had no intentions of letting him kill anything.  He told us before we left that we had to be very quiet.  We weren’t and that was the last time he took us hunting.  He loved to hunt grouse and turkey but was never much on deer hunting.   He loved the outdoors and in turn taught us to love nature also.  We didn’t have much money or a lot of extras but he always saved enough money to take us on a family vacation.  We learned not to be in a hurry to get to our destination because he always took the scenic route and made plenty of stops to enjoy the views.  I don’t really remember being upset about it.  It was just what we were used to.  He always tried to pick historical places so we could learn something from our experiences.

Growing up in eastern Kentucky gave me a love for being the mountains that I didn’t realize until I moved to North Carolina.  As a girl I loved being in the woods exploring or climbing a tree with my favorite book and reading for hours.  I moved to the foothills of North Carolina when I was eighteen and didn’t visit the mountains that often. My first husband did not hunt nor did he enjoy going to the mountains or visiting KY.

I went home to Kentucky as often as I could and looked forward to the climb up the winding roads to get to my parents house.  I found that I would get more homesick in the fall.  It has always been my favorite season and the mountains in Kentucky are beautiful in the fall.

At age thirty-six, after a failed marriage and two wonderful teenage daughters, I started dating a man that I worked with.  I had worked with him for five years so we knew each other well.  He had always been big on hunting and I used to tease him sometimes about killing helpless animals.  We fell in love and spent as much time together as we possibly could.  One day he asked me if I wanted to ride to South Carolina with him to his hunting land and I said that I would love to go.  I still remember how I felt the first time we walked into the swamp.  It was in the spring and it was breathtaking. I cried as I stood and took in the beauty of it all.  The way the sunlight broke through the tress spilling rays of light into the densely wooded swamp gave me goose bumps.  I fell in love instantly.  I could see how much he loved being there and that he felt the same way that I did. Seeing his love for the outdoors and how he took time to stop and show me things that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, made me love him even more.   I continued going with him to help him get ready for deer season.  It was a lot of work but I enjoyed every second of it.

One day he jokingly asked me if I wanted to go deer hunting with him and again I agreed to go.  He was very surprised but excited that I actually wanted to try it.  He found me some clothes and bundled me up as much as he could and warned me how cold it might be.  I made it through the day without complaining even though I couldn’t feel my feet as I walked back to the truck.  We didn’t see any deer that day but I continued to go with him every chance I got. It was a long time until I actually saw a deer and I was getting very impatient.  He tried to encourage me and continued to tell me that if I kept going I would see deer.  I finally did start seeing deer and it was so much fun being able to sit in the stand and watch them walk under you and never know you were there.    I loved being in the woods and listening to the sounds and seeing all of the wildlife. You feel so close to God during those times.  Seeing all that he created and experiencing it firsthand makes you appreciate things so much more.  It gives you time to examine your life and be thankful for the ones you love.

He took me to the range and I finally found something that I was good at.  I had never been athletic and failed at every sport I had tried but I could shoot a gun!  I loved it.  The more I went hunting the more I wanted to try it for myself.  I started sharing a stand with his son, Hunter.  We had so much fun.  We saw a lot of deer but we always seemed to get the giggles over the silliest thing.  Those were memories I will never forget.  Eventually I started hunting by myself but I just never saw a shooter.  I had no desire to shoot a doe.  If  I was going to kill something I wanted it to be a good one. With that said, I still haven’t got my chance to this day.  But I have patience and I know it will happen.

In the spring he took me turkey hunting and I my love for hunting doubled!  I was shocked at how much fun it was.  The first day we hunted he called in a big bird right to his decoy.  He shot and I jumped and yelled, “You got him!”  I guess I was surprised but he thought it was funny.  He is a very good hunter and a very good shot.  He easily killed his limit that year and I was disappointed when it was over so soon.

My dad was surprised and proud that I had taken to hunting the way I had.  After each hunt I would call him on the phone to give him every detail.   He would share his experiences with me and would tape things on TV to show me when I came home to visit.  We planned to go turkey hunting together in Kentucky during their fall season but he passed away before we got the chance.  I am so glad that I found my love for hunting before he passed away.  Being able to share our hunting experiences with each other made us closer than we had ever been.  My mother gave me his turkey gun and I will proudly carry it hunting with me the next time I go.

I had my first exciting chance to shoot at a turkey this past spring.  It was a lot of fun but a big miss for me.  I was so upset and disappointed.  I will try again next year.  I have been teased many times by my co-workers about hunting but it doesn’t bother me.  They have no clue what they are missing and I can’t explain it to them.  I owe so much to my wonderful husband for taking me with him and letting me fall in love with the many joys of hunting.  I have no doubt that it will be a part of my life for many years to come.   I look back and laugh at how I used to be and how I am now.  I went from a little girl who hated the thoughts of hunting, in to a woman who, I now know, was born to hunt.

My first buck-by Deborah Fox

After multiple weekends of whining and feeling sorry for myself; my many years in the woods finally paid off.  I hate to admit it, but I’d been whining. I was sick of hearing myself, and I know my husband would agree. It seemed that no matter what I did to hide my scent, be quiet, and make as few movements as possible, my cover would be blown!

We’d been hunting in Georgia for a few years with some “good ole’ boys” who had some “freezer” success but no real bragging rights. As the only female hunting on the property I didn’t really get a warm & fuzzy welcome from the other male hunters. At one point they even asked my husband, “Do you bring her every weekend?” He smartly replied, “I wouldn’t think of leaving her at home, she’s a better shot than me!”

The moon had been full or close to it for several nights so the deer had been doing most of their feeding then. There had been signs of rutting activity for a few days, and my husband witnessed several bucks chasing a doe.  As they raced past him, he spun around so quickly that he broke the chair he was sitting in. But that’s for another story.

We made the decision to sleep in the next morning.  We ate a big breakfast and head to the stands around 9:00am. We had plans to stay all day instead of breaking at noon for lunch and maybe catch some bucks wondering mid-day.

I had been in my ladder stand five minutes when I heard the fateful blow of an alerted deer behind me. I was so close to climbing down and going back to bed! But not wanting to mess up my husband’s hunt, I stuck it out.  I’m really glad I did.

Ten minutes later I noticed some movement inside the wood line about 85 yards in front of me.  I picked up my binoculars and scanned the edge to find out if it was a “shooter”. I caught the glimpse of an antler and my heart started to pound. I carefully raised my gun and tried to locate the buck in my scope. Where was he? Every time I looked in the scope I couldn’t locate him through the saplings and briars. I could only see him with the naked eye. I was really getting nervous! I thought back to the past few weeks and all the blown opportunities. I was sure if I didn’t get it together soon this would be added to the list. I took a deep breath and looked back in the scope one more time and found his front legs. Eureka! Just above that is his chest! I slowly moved my gun up until I found his front right shoulder and pulled the trigger on my 30-06. All four legs went in the air in the classic bucking motion. I had made contact! He broke into the field and headed straight for me. This is when I realized he wasn’t just a buck he was the biggest buck I’d seen in the woods, and the first one I’d shot at! I rapidly pumped my gun and fired off four more shots. He came to rest about fifteen feet behind my stand. I quickly grabbed another clip and slammed it into the gun. I wasn’t going to take a chance that he might get back up. He wiggled a little and I shot him again. Once I was confident he wasn’t going anywhere the celebrating began. Later I was told that I was heard on the other side of the property hoopin’ and hollerin’! My husband keyed up his two-way radio and asked if I was ok, and if I had one down. I confirmed that it was big but he should continue to hunt. I still had no idea the magnitude of what I had just accomplished. He waited about ten minutes but couldn’t stand the anticipation and headed my way.  By then I had finally stopped shaking and felt confident enough to safely climb down out of the stand.  I stood there for what seemed an eternity just staring at the magnificent animal in front of me. When my husband arrived he congratulated me with a hug and a tear. I then said to him, “Don’t even think about telling me I’m not getting it mounted!”

I’m very blessed to have found someone who enjoys the sport as much as I do and that we were able to share this moment together. The only thing that would have made it greater was if my Dad, who introduced me to hunting could have been there too.

As we started to drag the deer out of the woods my husband noticed there were only two shots in the deer. The first shot and the last shot. The first being the fatal one and the last was my nervous one….right into tenderloin, which to this day my husband won’t let me forget!

When we returned to camp we discovered there had been multiple deer shot that morning including an 8 point, a 6 point, and several does.  But nothing came close to my 11 point. Those “good ole’ boys ”  were in awe of what the “girl” had harvested. The president of the club said it was the largest buck shot on the property in 20 years. The guy who shot the 8 point couldn’t stop rubbing the antlers of my deer. He said he was really happy with his deer until he saw mine.

After all the congratulating my husband and I took my deer to a local “stop n shop” that had a scale to get it weighed. As they began to hoist it up the last number I read was 185 lbs before the scale blew apart. It might have weighed more than that but I’ll never know.

He now proudly hangs in our home on what I like to call my “Wall of Fame” along with two of the biggest fish I’ve ever caught.

I’ve always looked forward to deer season beginning, but since that October morning in 2005 things have been a lot different.

August’s Woman of the Wild-Darla Kaarre

I grew up a native Montanan…fourth generation in a family line of outdoor people…forest service packers, ranchers, homesteaders, outfitters etc.  My mom and dad are outfitters and I spent alot of time growing up in that business.  The family all hunted…I took hunter’s safety as a kid and back in those days you could take a pocket knife to school in your pocket.

I had mine in my pocket so could take it to hunter’s safety class at night (I was in sixth grade) and show it off and let everyone know that since I owned a knife I could survive in the woods.  Well I lost it that day somewhere on the playground and never had another pocket knife till I was well into my thirties.  So even though I grew up with hunters all around me and worked in the outfitting business cooking for hunting camps and even helping drag game out of the field, I never hunted.

I went off to college, got a bachelor’s and masters degree in education, found this wonderful man to marry, had children and when the only boy got his first hunting license in Wisconsin (lived in the mid west for about 20 years) then my husband Marty really got into hunting.  So Randy (son) and Marty would hunt every year and get deer for me. I love venison!  I loved ‘cutting up meat’ and putting it in the freezer…but still never hunted.

About nine years ago my family and I moved back out to Montana…the northwest corner…back to my home stomping grounds.  I finally decided after the first year back that I would like to try my hand at this hunting business!  So I borrowed a gun that was given to my mom by my great uncle ( a nice wood stock pretty looking 308).  I didn’t know one gun from another at that point and still don’t know much, but am learning as I get more into hunting.  So eight falls ago I borrowed that gun and haven’t yet returned it and have now carried it many many miles up and down mountains and through woods.  The first year that I picked up the gun from my mom and dad’s house, I asked dad if I could hunt along the creek on his property back down to my house.  He said sure.  About 15 minutes later, down off the hill came a nice doe…it was early doe season so I took my first shot.

I hit her and watched where she ran and waited the allotted time and then went to find her. Followed the tracks and blood trails.  Retraced and started over and turned over every scenario in my mind.  Never did find her…went up to dad’s since it was dark. He said he would go with me first thing in the morning.  He did and we found her a few hours later…about a mile and a half away on a circuitous route.  I learned so much from my dad that day.  I had such a valuable resource around me, all those years of growing up and no interest back then.

That day turned out to be an education about being in the woods.  The doe was great food for scavengers that year but not so good for my freezer.  Dad encouraged me and told me similar stories from his lifetime hunting experiences.  I hunted the rest of the season and got nothing.  So I kept trying through the years and learning more each year.

I missed a nice buck at about 40 yards…even after a smart hunting strategy and waiting patiently for him to get close enough and not see or smell me.  Sat in the snow and cried about that one and was never going to hunt again.  My husband, son and Dad kept encouraging me.  Spent more seasons loving the ‘hunt’ and the whole being in the woods and observing animals and their behavior scene.

Each year I would learn some valuable lesson to apply the next year.  I could sit still enough that a coyote sniffing out something got within seven feet of me and finally I said ‘well hello there’ as that close was beginning to feel just a bit close. There was the time my son took me hunting in the early years of my new passion and we had a buck standing looking at us for ‘hours’ and any one other than the inexperienced mom would have gotten off a good clean shot.  I couldn’t find the deer in the rifle scope so couldn’t shoot.  The deer got tired of waiting for me to shoot it so finally it wandered away much to the incredulity of my son.  “Mom you could have just pointed and shot and not missed that one it was so close.”

I’ve provided many funny mom hunting stories.  I have my favorite ‘angel deer’ that flew through the thick woods miraculously because it was so thick and dark and his rack was so huge there was no way he could leap as far and as long as he did through the woods and find a path out without getting entangled…but he did of course!   There was the doe I shot and stunned and who laid on the ground for most of the waiting time and just before I was to approach to make sure she was meat for the freezer jumped up and ran off like nothing had ever happened.  My dad and I again spent a day looking for her.  Never found her nor any blood trail expect two spots right where she dropped when I stunned her.

My ‘failures’ to put meat in my freezer were disappointing but kept me motivated also to keep learning and trying.  So finally after six or so ‘unsuccessful’ seasons of hunting I shot my first deer last fall…a nice muley that I hiked miles and miles up in the mountains to get.  He was so big  we couldn’t drag him off the mountain. We had to field dress him and back pack him out of the woods.  Good thing we did…a grizzly was eating his rib cage when we went back the next day to check out if the rest of the deer were still in the same area.

We had more tags to fill!  My husband was with me the day of my first hunting success….he did all the cutting up for packing out and all that.  I helped where needed.  It was all a spiritual experience for me…the hunt, the shooting, the waiting, the butchering, the gratitude for it all.  But even more exciting for me was that four days later while hunting completely on my own, I successfully filled my doe tag after doing things ‘right’ and figured out how to gut her out and all that.  I had to get my dad to come with his truck to haul her home and he said to me in his quiet voice…”You’re getting to be quite the huntress!’  For my 76 year old dad, my getting deer and carrying on his life joys was one of the coolest things for him.  So, having spent years learning some about hunting, I finally had a ‘successful’ season last fall.  I was able to put my first package of meat in the freezer that was identified as “Darla’s muley backstraps–nov ’09″.  We mark all our meat by who gets it, where and when.  It makes for great meal time stories and we are reminded of where our food comes from and for what cost.  One of the funnest moments of last year’s hunt was taking a picture of the first package of meat to go in the freezer with my name on it!

I’m looking forward to this fall and hunting season and have been checking out the deer habits in the area and have my licenses all ready…my son in law got me a new scope…my son got me a real hunting knife after learning that I gutted my doe with a Finnish fillet knife.  I will still use the same family rifle but I may need to get my own hunting clothes…I’ve been borrowing my son’s while he has been four years in the Marines.  He returns this September 13…in time for early season wilderness hunting!  So Camp Wild Girl’s show me your stuff for women’s wear!!

So that is my hunting story…my youngest daughter Elly (10 in a few days) enjoys joining me in the hungt and will be able to start hunting in two years if she so chooses.  She is a great outdoors girl.  She lead a hike of 18 people to the top of a mountain lookout yesterday here in our corner of God’s country.  In addition to hunting, I love being involved in passing on the wonders of the outdoor world by running an outdoor ministry.  So yesterday we finished off an outdoor retreat by hiking to the lookout and viewing the wonders of the mountains with a 360 degree view.  We are a non profit ministry that believes that we can live out and pass on spiritual principles in the outdoors.  We believe that challenge, growth and renewal happen through adventure in the world God provided for us to enjoy.  We do children, youth, family, women, and men’s adventure retreats.  We do hunting and fishing retreats.  We go hiking, rafting, horseback riding, rock climbing, study, site seeing, camping, backpacking, and other outdoor activities.  Each experience is used to teach spiritual principles.  Each retreat is custom designed to meet the needs of the group that joins us. Growing up in the outfitting business, getting into education and marrying a pastor, have all come together to create a ministry that brings growth and renewal to lots of people…whether they are participants or whether they find a job in which they come out to help at a retreat.  If you’d like to find out about our ministry go to athelasoutdoor.org.  You can also find us on facebook at Athelas Outdoor Ministry, Inc.

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

April’s Woman of the Wild-McKinzie Ledbeter

By~McKinzie Ledbeter

Ever since I can remember, I have been out hunting with my family.  If my dad was not taking me with him it was my grandpa.  My mom always was stuck taking my sisters.  I have three sisters, I am the oldest and we all big game hunt. Every time I was able to go, I was already in the truck ready and waiting.

I finally got my first buck with a rifle when I was eleven. My dad patted me on the back told me great job, smiled really big and told me I probably just got the biggest deer I’ll ever get.  It was a dandy 4 x4 with eye guards!  He was tall and wide and me standing next to it made that deer look that much bigger.  The following year my dad and I made the longest, hardest stock on this nice buck, didn’t really know how big he was at the time but he beat my buck from the year before. My dad just shook his head and laughed.  That same year I got a nice 4×5 elk.  That was a good year for me!

I think I’ve done pretty good over the years, I’ve put in my time and I’ve gotten some nice shots and nice animals. I still remember every year when I was just starting out my dad would always remind my sisters and I why we hunted. Hunting wasn’t about the size of the horns, it’s for putting meat on the table.  We’ve never hunted for horns and I never have passed up a nice shot opportunity whether it was a two by three or a four by four.

I just started bow hunting three years ago.  My first year I had my opportunities but just couldn’t get that shot I was looking for.  My second year I shot a doe right through the pumper, I thought bow hunting was awesome. Getting my first deer with a bow made rifle-hunting feel as if I just won a basket of fruit or something.  There is no comparison bow hunting for me is like winning a sweet pair of Swarovski binos!  I love hunting!  The only reason why my dad wasn’t with me for my first buck with my bow was because he told me he didn’t want to have to deliver my baby in the mountains.

I got my buck 3×2 in early archery season Sept. 5, 2009. I was a week over due. On the way down off the hill I told Walter he needed to get me off this hill RIGHT NOW!  About 5 minutes later as we were headed down off the hill to the hospital I saw my buck and told him to stop.  He thought I was having a really bad contraction and asked how I was feeling.

I told him before we started on our way again I wanted to shoot this buck I had spotted!  He couldn’t see it because it was on my side, down the hill about 40 yards. He looked at me with confusion.  We got out, I grab my bow, asked him how far it was. He wasn’t taking me serious at all. He thought I was playing a joke on him. Finally he realized I wasn’t messing around, and really did want to shoot this buck, he ranged it at 44 yards.

When I shot at the buck, it went just under him. As I headed off of the road, I asked if there was a road below us.  He told me yes.

Without even thinking about how far the road could be below me away, I went to go find my arrow and look for blood just in case. I thought maybe I could find that buck one last time.  One thing I did know, before jumped off the beaten trail was, there is no way in hell I was hiking back up.

As I took off, I told Walt, I was not leaving without this deer. When I had made it to where the deer was standing I found his tracks and followed them down to the next road.  The deer had crossed the road but I stayed there to wait for the truck to come down to meet me. As I waited for my partner to meet me I scoped it out hoping to see my buck.  Low and behold, there he was about two hundred yards away eating his way back up to the road that I was on and two other bucks had joined him.  A three point and a little two point.  After Walter finally got to me I told him that there were three bucks and I wanted to try and get one still.

Walter asked about my contractions and I looked at him puzzled and said, “What contractions?  We’re hunting!”  With all the adrenaline I had forgotten about them. He did not argue with me, he knew there’s no point arguing with a pregnant woman.

We walked the road to get closer to the deer.  They were feeding right up to the road, so we just waited and watched them for about half an hour.  After about half hour, they were within 50 yards still a little far for my little bow.  Then all of a sudden, the little two point that we could not shoot bolted straight up at us. After he did that, we got nervous that he would wind us and take off taking the other two with him.  We both looked at each, we could read each other’s minds we knew then take our one clear shot or don’t get any.  By that time, the two bucks were 40 yards.

Walter told me to hold a little high because I shot low the last time and when I did I got him in the spine and he fell right in his tracks.  Walter took off after the second one and got him a half hour later while I waited with my deer.  We packed them out as fast as we could to try to beat the dark, but it got dark anyway.

I got home that night happy as could be. I had hunted that whole season every minute I could.  Finally, I got my deer!  That next morning I was really on my way to the hospital this time! I had my baby almost exactly two days after shooting the buck.  I love hunting so much my son’s middle name is Hunter!

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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