Welcome back!
I write this new post the day after my 2020 triathlon season concludes....well there was only 5 races total due to COVID-19. I did 3 of them and made the best of it. As triathlon season winds down and hunting season is in full force I wanted to take time to write my first hunting blog. I will give a background of my interest and how I got started.
Backing up to previous blogs, I was born in Minnesota and grew up in the SE Twin Cities in a town called Hastings. I knew a few people that hunted some friends of friends and friend's family. I always found it be to interesting, but I was focused on other things at the time. My family was not against the concept of it, we simply lived a different lifestyle and did other things.
When I met Ben in 2012 one of the first thing I noticed through social media photos was his passion for the outdoors. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a wildlife biology and ecology degree. He always loved the outdoors growing up in Wisconsin and living there his entire life. Once we met in the spring of 2012 for the second time we were out on the old ranch that he used to work for in Haakon County. I wanted to learn how to shoot a gun so I believe we started with a .22. I ended up shooting a cottontail, and said, "Now what?" To which he replied, "We eat it." I helped his clean the rabbit and we ended up making it almost like chicken or chicken wings with the legs. It was actually very good.
Fast forward to moving out to South Dakota and my 23rd birthday. Ben bought be a small and pink Bear Apprentice bow. I practiced almost every day that summer. By early October he said that I could shoot a mule deer doe if I wanted to. I kept practicing all fall and would go along on hunts with him. I sat for some pretty cold sits! It finally all came together on December 30th, one day before season ended. It was -17 degrees Fahrenheit and I sat in a ground blind. The doe came in and I put a lethal shot on her. I was 100% hooked after that hunt.
Throughout the years I have harvested at least 5 does and 4 bucks with my bow. In 2020 for the first time I shot a turkey and currently am trying to shoot my first antelope with a bow. Bow hunting is hard, but practice makes it all come together in the end. I suggest starting practice in the middle of summer to get enough in before fall. It is best if you can shoot all year. This year I am going to try to shoot indoors at the Ikes all winter so I can increase the poundage on my bow.
My advice to anyone looking to get into the sport is find someone that you know and ask questions. Read books, listen to podcasts, read blogs, watch YouTube, etc. There is a lot of free information out on the internet that is available. There are also apps such as OnX that can help you locate public land and give you information about landowners. Never in history have we lived in a time with so much information available right through our fingertips.
Bows are fun and everything but what ever happened to the gun story? Well, turns out I started shooting rifles as well. My weapon of choice back when I first started was a .308 Black Rain Ordinance. It was on an AR platform and looked mean. In 2014 when I shot my first mule deer buck my finger froze to the trigger guard and I ended up having frostbite. To this day when it gets cold and that finger loses feeling I want to puke...not sure what that is all about.
Through social media (I will make that another blog) I became a Savage Arms shooter. When they asked me what gun I wanted in their 110 Long Rage Hunter style I jumped on the 6.5 Creedmor. See the 6.5 Creedmor is the IPA drinking, man bun donning, skinny jeans wearing rifle of today's world. There actually is nothing new to this caliber but it exploded in popularity within the last several years, why? Because of it's speed and accuracy. I will totally go for what's popular for those reasons. I have shot the 6.5 Creedmor for 3 seasons now. This year I upgraded to a 6.5 PRC-accurate, fast, but even more powder behind the bullet. My hopes are to harvest an antelope and a whitetail deer with it.
This all brings me to where I am at now. I am in my 9th season of hunting. When I started there was not a lot of ladies in the sport. I took hunter's safety for bow and gun at age 23, and I was the only adult woman in both classes. That was okay for me though. I learned through questions, reading, podcasts, TV and most importantly my husband Ben.
My thought for anyone looking to get into the sport is find someone with knowledge of the industry. I was featured on the "Whitetail Rendezvous" podcast about this. I spoke about how to go on your first solo rifle hunt (something I did back in 2019). There are so many products out there and most do the same thing, but it is all about personal preference. Some stuff you cam skimp and get by without and some stuff is necessary. I think it will be helpful to show you my list of essential must haves for hunting in future blogs, and yes snacks is number one!
Enjoy some photos from the hunts mentioned above!
My first archery harvest ever was a mule deer doe on December 30, 2012!
Next blog is going to be all about optics. Shooting, ranging and what glass you should have for hunting.
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