We took to the woods

I was nervous. Ridiculously so. I was seeing the big bears that we had coming in on the cameras at each site and I knew that I had to make a damn good shot if a bear came in. I has shot three times to get my gun sighted in and knew that it was right where it needed to be - and I was comfortable making those shots.

I packed all of my clothes, which were washed in anti-scent detergent and properly washed and stored with anti-scent dryer sheets. I showered with my anti-scent soap and put everything into the car. As I sat in the driver seat of the car going through my mental checklist, I realized that my gun was still inside. A quick run back inside and I was really ready to go this time.

At Steve's, I prepped some bait for the day. I was a pro at this point. It was hot - 86 degrees and no breeze but regardless of all of this, it was opening day of bear season! We had lunch, put everything in the back of the truck and were off to bait sites in the woods.

The plan was to get to the site around 2pm and take our time getting into the blind. The last thing we wanted was to get sweaty and then have to sit for more than five hours. I was still nervous during the drive up but I knew I had everything I needed and a gun that was ready and could do the trick.

As we turned off onto the dirt road and rounded the corner, there was a jeep parked where we normally park.
Hunters?
Campers?
Foragers?

They had pulled up parallel to the road, turning the three potential spots into one. We pulled up along side of them and Steve went to find the owners of the jeep. Whomever was out there needed to know that we were planning to hunt and that there were plenty of bears coming into the area. We also wanted to make sure that if we did shoot a bear and it ran a little ways before it died, anyone else around would be aware and know to expect gun shots. I waited next to the truck and got my gear unpacked. I heard voices in the woods and then saw Steve coming out shaking his head
" We have to call the Ranger. They have a fire going in the middle of the woods. No fire ring and no rocks. Just an open fire in the middle of the woods surrounded by pine needles."

It set us back an hour but eventually some very drugged out hippies from out of state emerged from the woods. One girl and two guys reluctantly packed up their jeep and angrily drove off, honking the horn five or six times as they left. They even turned around and drove back by, making sure the honk then as well. The ranger came by and looked for the fire. The hippies had covered it up using pine needles (nature's kindling) and it was still smoldering so he had to soak the fire to prevent any flare ups from starting.

Loud voices, a random fire and some less than polite harassing hippies and we were finally heading into the woods. And I was even more grateful than ever that I deer hunt on land that we own!

Our view of the bait from the blind.

In the blind, I got my steady stick set up with my gun and we waited. It is weird when you are in a new place - the sounds and light is new, so it takes a while to get use to it. This was my first day in the blind so everything was new and took some getting used to. Every year I have to readjust to the fact that squirrels really don't sound like every other large animal in the woods but for those first few days, like most hunters, you swear that what you are looking for be it deer or bear, is coming in when in fact it's a squirrel.

Steve and I waited and waited. I visualized the bear coming into the bait site and the exact shot that I would take. We hadn't seen any sows and/or cubs on the cameras just good looking bruins of all sizes coming into the bait. And one massive bear that I wasn't really sure I wanted to see in the woods.

As soon as legal hunting time was over, at 7:58pm we packed up and headed back to the truck. The bears were around and were steadily coming into the bait but these are wild animals and there is no guarantee that an animal will show up when you are there waiting for it. It's nature. It's hunting. I love it.

Where are the women?

This week, my interview with Steve at The Maine Outdoorsman went live. Steve said yesterday 200 people hit his site viewing over 500 pages. That is a lot of people reading about little ole me and hunting. Why? When I think of women who are in the general public's eye and hunt, I can think of 2 - Country singer Miranda Lambert and Sarah Palin. Why only two? Why is the female hunter such a fascinating thing? (I should probably note that I do not have cable so any and all female hunters on the hunting stations are lost to me. I'll keep it to the general public because that's what I am familiar with.) People/media were fascinated by the fact that they could get footage of Palin and her gun, shooting (and gutting) animals but I feel like the nostalgia would be lost if they had the same footage of McCain. Lambert and her hubby Blake Shelton tweet photos of their kills, and comment on what/where they are hunting. I only know this because I follow both. That's it....

Do Outdoor Women need to toughen up?

I hope you get shot out in the forest and wolves gnaw on your dying corpse…..WHILE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE I’d like to rip off your f*$%ing head and pour gunpowder down your f*$%ing throat and light it on fire Only c*%t’s shoot animals and take pleasure in it. I hope you die a horrible painful death As I began to look at how female hunters were being bullied, I had to ask myself if it was because we were easy targets as women or if we needed to just toughen up a little. Once I started asking my fellow female hunters about their experiences, the things that they sent to me as examples of what they deal with daily made me sick to my stomach. I’d like to meet you outside someday with a gun in my hand, I would shoot you several times and laugh over your f*$%ing body as you die like you do to those poor animals that can’t defend themselves. MURDERER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Generally threats are basic name calling. They include sexist remarks, racist remar...

Wanted: Mr. Sportsman

A friend of mine sent me this link and asked what I thought about it. I had seen it before and was honest when I told him how degrading I felt it was. Not only was the title of the "Miss Maine Sportsman" application in pink* but the questions were incredibly insulting to those of us that are fighting to be taken seriously among our male counterparts. Questions like, "Do you clean your own kills/catches?" would never be asked if it were Mr. Maine Sportsman. It would be assumed that yes, of course men clean what they kill. Why is that assumption not made of us outdoor women? Another question, "Do cook [ sic ] what you catch/kill? If so, what’s your favorite recipe?" would never be asked of men. My friend asked me what sort of questions I would ask if it were a Mr. Maine Sportsman pageant. I came up with a bunch of snarky questions (Do you bait your own hook?) but then I thought about the questions that could have the most impact on the men t...

and a strong cup of coffee

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