My cat toes and I

My cat toes and I

Monday, September 20, 2010

Camo and lace

(First off I hope i'm doing this right for english class)
So I just recently moved back home to Michigan from Gillette, Wyoming. I moved out to Gillette, Wyoming back in May of 2008. We went out to find work but at the same time I've always been one to travel, see new things, and always have wanted to move away from home. I LOVE horses and cowboys so I was ready to go. Its been a long 2 1/2 years out there. I've been in so many different situations I would of never thought i'd be in.  I've became so much more independent from the last time I was home.  I've had a lot of good things happen there....and on the down side a lot of bad things happen, but have learned a lot.  One of the best things that happened in Wyoming was that I learned to to hunt and grow an obsession for it.  And not just hunt squirrels and jack rabbits.  But big game animals such as antelope, mule deer, elk and moose. Hunting to me is a very intimidating sport....well at least I use to think so. : )

Hunting is a sport that has been very much dominated by males in history, its not until recent years have you found females that have taken an interest in hunting.  Even if you date back to the cave man days, frontier days, and even early 1900's.  It was always thought as the mans role to be the provider, hunter/ gather and the woman's role to be the care taker/ house wife.  I think a lot of women never really took any interest in it because of this.   Before I moved out to Wyoming I always wanted to learn to hunt.  My grandpa hunt, my dad hunt, and of course they taught my brother to hunt but none of them ever taught me. It was never something that my grandma or mom ever taught me to do.  I learned to cook, sew, play the piano, shop and garden from them.  As I had mentioned before as I grew up hunting was always thought as a mans sport, and something woman didn't desire to do. In which I did but was extremely intimidating to learn from a male figure. If it had been for my mom deciding to show me it would of been a different story.  Maybe not in every situation but I think most woman would be more apt to want to learn to hunt if it was another female that was teaching them instead of a male, I didn't get that lucky but I'm happy for the opportunity I did get to learn.


Anyways, back to my story, in Wyoming I ended up dating a guy that was a serious hunter.  Him knowing I had an interest in hunting he, not necessarily took the time to teach me how to hunt, because he wasn't the best teacher, but he did show me how to. I loved it! It wasn't necessarily the easiest thing learning from your boyfriend first off, we would constantly get into fights. Plus trying to learn something and not wanting to look like an idiot in front of your boyfriend wasn't always the easiest. I remember the first time I shot an animal and had to clean it myself!  I had no clue what I was doing, and he was trying to tell me how it was done, and it ended up being a huge argument. This is a big reason I think a woman teaching a woman to hunt would be a lot easier.  I've very much a believer in woman's independence.  That a woman can do anything a man can do (obviously in means). But I believe hunting to just be another one of those things that women shouldn't find intimidating, or afraid to do because it has been done mostly by men.  And with more women these days learning to hunt and taking an interest in it, it will only benefit our future daughters to be more independent.

While out west it seemed that more woman took an interest in hunting, I guess it was just more part of the way of life out there with a variety of big game animals. Plus with hunting channels having shows with women host are promoting more female involvement in hunting.  Here in Michigan I find less woman involved in hunting, but I find its not because they're not interested in it they just haven't been taught.  Its somewhat of a goal of mine I would like to someday start my own line of hunting wear for women and possibly even a program in which women are teaching other women to hunt.  There are some programs going on that have started this but I'm talking on more of local scale for the surround area. A good place to start finding information for woman hunting is the NRA's Women's Program NRA Womens Hunting Program
....or you could just come talk to me :)

2 comments:

  1. Katie, check out this link. (If the link doesn't work in blogger, try googling tweentribune+girlhuntsbear

    Michigan girl bags big black bear — and plans to eat it

    A 17-year-old Michigan girl has begun her big game hunting career with a bang — or rather a whoosh — by killing a 448-pound black bear with a bow and arrow from 16 yards away. High school senior Jessica Olmstead of Battle Creek shot the bear during a hunting trip last month

    To read students' comments on this story, click the headline (above) or use this link:

    http://tweentribune.com/content/girl-bags-big-black-bear-%E2%80%94-and-plans-eat-it-0
    http://tweentribune.com/content/girl-bags-big-black-bear-%E2%80%94-and-plans-eat-it-0

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  2. I just wanted to say, GIRL POWER!!!!. I am a hunter as well, and when I saw you had Camo & Lace as your heading, I knew you were a hunter. I used to work with a girl in this association and she has been wanting me to join for years. I enjoyed reading your blg.

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