My Hunting Story

Despite the fact that I have a hunting license, I never planned on becoming a hunter. After spending six years as a stay-at-home-mom, I sent my first born off to kindergarten and suddenly found myself with a lot more free time. I had energy, freedom, and was looking to do something new.

That something new ended up being learning how to shoot a gun. This took my family and friends by surprise. I am the last person they thought would ever do this. Since my husband and I didn't own a gun, I called my dad. He agreed to meet me at the shooting range and bring a couple of his guns for me to try.

The first gun I fired was a Colt King Cobra .357 Magnum with a six inch barrel. I think that gun is solely responsible for me falling immediately in love with shooting. It was everything that I thought a gun should be- big, metal, heavy, loud, and powerful. I also loved that it was a revolver. I enjoyed the experience and after shooting on a couple more occasions, I decided that I wanted to learn more about guns and gun safety. I made a few inquiries and decided that a hunter's education class would teach me what I wanted to learn, plus it was free and a new class was about to start up at a local church.

I soon found myself in a classroom surrounded by young boys with their fathers, and wives with their husbands. It seemed everybody was there with somebody, except for me. Neither my husband nor father hunt, and I had zero experience. At first, I was overwhelmed with the prospect of memorizing a book of brand new information. Despite my anxiety, a few days later, I passed the test and had learned some useful information as well as a lot of stuff I thought I would never use. I was issued my hunting license in May of 2008.

Over the course of the next year, I continued shooting handguns. I also took a women's shotgun class at Jay Henges Shooting Range. I shot trap for the first time and discovered the joy of shooting a 12 gauge. I also enrolled in a class to become a Missouri Master Naturalist. I had no idea how all of these experiences would become intertwined and lead me to do things I never thought I would pursue.

Hiking one sunny day on a prairie at Shaw Nature Reserve with my master naturalist class, I struck up a conversation with Sue Haskins. She had recently participated in a program the Missouri Department of Conservation started at Shaw Nature Reserve- a guided women's deer hunt. I told her that I had my hunting license, but had never been hunting. She told me all about the program, her experience participating in it, and encouraged me to sign up for the next hunt.

It all sounded very interesting, and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to learn something new under the guidance of veteran hunters. I signed up and prepared to embark on my first hunting trip. I had no real expectations or idea what the weekend would be like.

The weekend began with twelve women, six guides, and the event's organizer, Kurt Otterstein, meeting at the Freund Center at Shaw Nature Reserve. Over the course of the evening, we met the guide we would be hunting with, socialized, and had a refresher course on deer hunting. We all spent the night at the Dana Brown Center and woke up the following morning to participate in either the morning or afternoon hunt.

I chose the morning hunt. Wearing camouflage for the first time, my guide and I hiked to our blind in the cold, dark, early hours and settled in for a long, silent morning. I saw a couple of deer, but they were moving quickly a good distance away through a wooded area. Even so, it was exciting. While I didn't see many deer, I observed a lot. I think one of the best memories of the hunt was listening to the world around me wake up. At first the only sound was the wind in the trees. Then a bird call. Pretty soon the silence was filled with the sounds of life.

I enjoyed my first hunting experience so much, that I continued to participate in the program.  Each year, I've hunted with a different guide and I've learned a lot from each of them.  They shared their hunting experiences with me and they taught me about the habits of deer.  I learned to be quiet, patient, prepared, and alert.  

The second year, I didn't see a single deer. It was late in the hunt and it was growing cold and I was feeling a little discouraged. My guide wanted to make the best of the situation so we left our blind and went for a walk along the edge of the woods. He showed me a small path leading out of the woods and explained that deer are creatures of habit and they create these paths from their daily routines. Once again, I discovered that a bad day of hunting is still a good day spent in the woods enjoying and learning about nature.

This past November, my third hunt, was going to be my year. I just felt like it was meant to be. I had spent time in the woods, learned from my mentors, and I knew I was truly ready to bring my hunting experience full circle. Upon meeting my guide, Andy Sanchez, the first thing I said to him was that our hunt was going to be successful.

After getting up at four a.m. on the previous two hunts, I decided that this year, I was going to take it easy. I requested an afternoon hunt and slept in. Participating in a hunt with a dozen women is so much fun. We all come back from our hunt and share our experiences with each other. The morning hunters did not yield any successes, but they all came back with stories to share. 

It was finally time for Andy and me to head out. We followed Kurt to the area where we would be hunting. Our blind was set up at the bottom of a soybean field. To the far left of us was a cow pasture. A row of trees and tall grass separated the two fields. Andy and I settled in and got ready.

I watched the edge of the tree line instinctively knowing this is where my deer would appear. A pair of cardinals and bluebirds swooped from branch to branch. Their colorful feathers stood out in stark contrast to the bare trees and dead grass. These birds and the gusty bursts of wind that rattled the blind, broke the monotony of the afternoon.

We sat and waited and watched. Hours trickled by and nothing. I was confident this was going to be my year, but as the light started to dim, I had a moment of doubt. I kept checking the time, seeing my opportunity slowly disappear. I still held on to the belief that I would have a successful hunt, and like a lot of things in life, success would be last minute. I was right.

I looked up and suddenly, where there once was nothing, a still black object had appeared. I knew it was a deer. Andy and I watched as the object slowly ventured out into the field. It was a great distance away. Too far to take a shot. Even so, I got ready. I attempted to get the deer in my scope while positioning the butt of the gun into my shoulder. It was an awkward angle and despite the excitement of having a deer in my scope for the very first time, Andy slowed me down. As I was repositioning myself, the deer would periodically stick its head up from eating and look our direction. She eventually walked back into the tall grass.

Before I had a chance to become disappointed, Andy assured me that a doe would come back and to be ready. I finally had the gun safely tucked in my shoulder and my thumb was on the safety. I looked up and sure enough, Andy was right. This time there were two does in the field and they were within range. I waited as they walked a little farther into the field. Andy told me I could take the shot. I put the cross hairs on the deer, and squeezed the trigger. I shot a little low and hit her on her upper leg. I immediately felt terrible. My biggest fear was to make a poor shot. I quickly fired my second shot and hit the doe perfectly. She went straight down.

As we sat in the blind waiting, I couldn't believe I just harvested my first deer. I was anxious to get to her. I sent text messages to Sue, Kurt, and my husband. The message to my husband said simply, "Success!". While waiting for Kurt to drive over to meet us, Andy and I walked up the hill to where the doe lie. I was relieved to discover that my shot hit her in the vital area. Andy measured the distance and told me the shot was just over 230 yards. Both he and Kurt told me they were proud of me and I was excited that I did well.

There were many more firsts and learning experiences yet to come. I had seen a deer field dressed on two previous occasions, so I knew what to expect. I was so thankful to have Andy's assistance once again. After we finished, Kurt packed the cavity with ice and gave me a recommendation for a butcher.

Taking game that I personally harvested to a butcher and placing my order was so gratifying. Sharing my harvest with family and friends only compounded the feeling. I've enjoyed learning how to cook venison and now have a solid collection of new recipes.

In the days following the hunt, I thought about it a lot. Some of my friends have a hard time believing that I could do something like this. To me, I had been preparing for this event for years. I believe in conservation, and to me, this was just another part of it. Whether I help plant native flowers, count macro-invertebrates in a stream survey, or harvest a deer, it is all part of the stewardship of our environment. I look forward to continuing to take part in all aspects of conservation, including hunting.