When fishing: Men do that?

My friend Staci and I went fishing recently. The water was down, the air wasn't too hot and the fish were jumping! It was the third time we had attempted to fish this spot and we arrived early enough to be the first in.

We had the luxury of being able to enjoy the nature around us and try out a few different flies to see what the fish were biting. A pair of Mergansers flew overhead and then swam past us while we stood waist-deep in the current.

We would cast, change flies and then change spots on the stream. It was great. Eventually, a man parked on the edge of the road and started walking down to the stream to fish as well. I wasn't the least bit concerned because I had just had a great experience in GLS with Greg.

I stopped watching him when Staci yelled to point to the fish jumping in front of her and then we watched as her fly rod created an arc back into the water and she started fighting the fish at the other end.

I left my spot in the water and walked over to offer any help and to snap photos. While we were taking pictures and admiring her beautiful salmon, the man congratulated her and then walked right past us to fish in the spot where Staci had just been standing. I was in shock. Who does that? We didn't look like we were packing things up and we were far from our two fish per day limit.

Staci explained that it happens A LOT to her. But only when she is fishing by herself or with female friends. It never happens when she is fishing with her husband. WHAT??!!

I was shocked at the clear lack of respect and sportsmanship that this guy was demonstrating. Not since dealing with my hippies have I been so dumbfounded over people's actions.

But, we had a couple things going for us that he didn't have:
1. We were in waders and could get a lot furthur out into the water than he could.
2. We are not women who will be pushed around.

I snapped this picture, knowing that I would post it to demonstrate the rudeness, and then changed my fly to the one Staci was using and proceeded to walk back out to where she had been standing and make him move to a new location. I worked on my casting and watched as a fish jumped a few times in front of me.

We fished for another hour or so then called it a day and moved on. Staci was able to take home dinner and I chalked up a few more hours of fly fishing practice. Disrespectful fishermen or not, we had a great time fishing the hidden streams in Maine.

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...

So much to celebrate - let's give away stuff!

As you know from my last post, this month I am celebrating the one year anniversary of this blog, 10 years of hunting with my Dad and a milestone birthday. In honor of all three, I want to give away some great Maine stuff to all of you! Rules: 1. Leave a comment 2. On Oct 28 (my big bday), Dad will pick a number and the corresponding post will win. What will you win? A big basket of great Maine and outdoor things! Such as: fly fishing flies, blueberry something, Maine maple syrup, apple butter (to be made by me on Tuesday), something related to deer hunting and a couple of great books signed by local authors. (Pictures will be posted when I am back at a computer). So thank you for your support and for helping my celebrate such a great month!!

and a strong cup of coffee

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