Meet Colleen - Hate Love Relationship with Hunting

A short while ago I ‘met’ someone on Twitter and began a conversation with her. Her name was Colleen and she said something to me that I have never heard a hunter say. She said she HATED hunting. I have heard a lot of women say they disliked it, didn’t know much about it, or just say “it’s not for me” but from her Twitter profile she looked like a hunter in love with every aspect of it. Of course I wanted to know more because there had to be something behind such a strong HATE of hunting.

She sent me her story because I knew I had to get this out to everyone to read and possibly relate to, learn from, and most importantly support her. I’ve read over her words numerous times trying to figure out how to present this on my blog to everyone and realized this - it is not my story to tell, this is hers. I can put it in my own words, edit it or change it to a Q & A session but I think the true meaning and emotion would be removed from her words.

So instead of me writing about her and her story, I think it’s best to let her tell it for you. Please be kind to her words because this was her pouring her emotions and thoughts out and continue to support her the way you always support me.

 

 

Meet Colleen and her Hate & Love Relationship with hunting…

I grew up loving the woods, loving nature, always outdoors, but never ever having anyone in my family hunt. We were the family that would feed bambi & I never understood people that would hunt deer; it seemed inhumane to me. Fast forward to my freshman year in college 11 years ago when I was first introduced to hunting. I started dating this really cute football player who was fun, outgoing, made me laugh, but a hunter, & not just your typical hunter. This guy was into it, his family hunted, & all his friends hunted. We would go to parties and hunting was always a topic that would be brought up, there would be stories about deer camp, talks about who has shot the largest buck, etc. We started dating in the middle of hunting season so one of our first trips back to his house, his friend called and said he shot a monster & wanted us to come down & see it. We pulled up to his friends and out & hanging from a rope in his garage was this adorable buck. My facial expression must have said it all because my now husband looked at me and said, ‘bet you have never seen anything like this before.’ I looked at him and said ‘oh this is cool’, but in my head was like what is wrong with these people, what did this poor animal do to them?!

Needless to say that was just the beginning, as mid-summer came around Derek would always go out to take walks in the woods to look for sheds, put out trail cameras, set stands, & find that tree with rubs around it that looked like it would be a great place to hunt. He would spend hours upon hours doing this kind of stuff, which to me I was thinking ‘why don’t you want to spend time with me, all you have to do is go set up some stupid stand and wait for a deer to come by.’ He would be so excited to go back out & look at the pictures on his trail camera; again something I did not understand, basically none of it ever made sense. 

Fast forward to hunting season, the season I would proclaim I was basically single because all he did, talked about, dreamed about, and thought about was hunting. It was so annoying & bad to me one year that I made him dress up as a deer & me as a hunter for Halloween because I told him that was the only way I would ever get him to notice me. If we argued it was always about hunting, how he would spend Friday nights in so he could wake up early to hunt all day Saturday, how he would come back from hunting all day & then we would have to go to his cousins or friends to see what they shot.  We would walk into these garages, where a bunch of guys were gathered around this deer that was dead, high fiving one another, drinking beer, laughing, telling stories, & just having a good time. I would usually look at these people and think to myself you have got to be kidding me, they call this a sport, and this is a joke & a shame. I was even at a hunting show one time & had 2 men approach me asking if they could tape me hunting; my response was ‘um hunting is dumb, I am only here because my husband hunts, sorry.’ That’s a moment though I now regret more than ever.

Needless to say for NINE years this was my mentality when it came to anytime Derek spoke about it. In 2012 though that all changed. We were out one night & Derek said to me, “want to go hunting with me, I really think you would enjoy it, you can see what it is all about.” I quickly responded with my typical, “no, why would I want to do that?”  But then said you know what I will go with you, just to prove to you how dumb it really is. He got this big smile on his face & said ‘I am telling you, you are going to love it.’  We woke up that Saturday morning, it was 20 degrees out (I hate the cold with a passion), he gave me his hunting clothes, so of course nothing fit right, his hunting boots, which made my feet look like clown feet & was spraying me down with this stuff so deer couldn’t smell me.  I remember it being 5 am and thinking, oh my God why did you wake up for this, just go back to bed, but I went though.

It was the first Saturday of rifle for PA so we went into the woods in the pitch black & finally got to our ground blind.  I just remember how calm it was sitting there in the woods with the sun coming up & the woods coming alive around us & thinking hmmm this is pretty cool. Turkeys were walking by, squirrels everywhere, beautiful birds, & of course a few deer.  This was the day I started to understand what hunting was really all about. Even though Derek did not have any shots at any deer that day, his pap sure did! Derek got a call saying “pap got one, pap got one” from one of his cousins who was also out there with us that day.  We left the ground blind and started walking through the woods to meet up with all his cousins, uncles, dad & pap to go search for this buck. His pap was so excited he could barely catch his breath, it only took a few minutes to track & once we found it, it all clicked. Everyone started high fiving, hugging, congratulating his pap, & then his pap was sitting there taking pictures & telling the story on how he shot it; which from listening to his story I learned it was the first buck at age 78 that he ever shot with a rifle. To be a part of that moment and see a family come together like that & to have everyone be so happy for him was amazing. It showed a moment to me that so many families in this world now lack & that is being together & being happy. I even got to take a picture with this deer just because I was there that day, it was just so cool to have the opportunity to be a part of.

Throughout that year I would continue to go with my husband every Saturday to hunt, it was such an awesome experience & that’s when I decided maybe this is something I wanted to actually give a try too.  I started talking to a great friend of mine who is a hunter too who really encouraged me to start hunting as well; she gave me a push & support I would need to really give it a go.

I told my husband that I wanted to try archery hunting, so we went & got me a bow (with no pink, I hate that color) & got it all set up. When the man at the shop showed me how to shoot it I was like, oh wow what did I get myself in to? It was insane to me how much goes into archery hunting & how hard it really is; I thought you pull the bow back and shoot, but needless to say that is not the case.  Every day after work I would go outside with Derek & practice, practice, practice. I even practiced when he wasn’t there; it was such a challenge & being the first & only female hunter in a family where if you are a guy you literally start hunting the day after you are born, I had to make sure I was ready to go when I got the opportunity. 

2014 was my first year of archery hunting & without the support of my husband & my friend I wouldn’t of had a clue what to do. My husband helped with hanging tree stands, showing me how to do the little things like put a bow holder in the tree, making sure I actually had clothes that fit & kept me warm, because I get cold when it is 50 degrees out.  We went spotting and would walk in to check the trail cams, look for rubs & scraps, we definitely put our time in. I was so excited for the first Saturday of archery I could barely sleep the night before, I felt like a kid the night before Christmas. 

Now came the part that made me respect hunting, I spent 4 weekends in the woods & did not see one deer, no does, no bucks, no nothing. Very quickly it put it into a reality to me that this was not going to be some simple task where I climb up into a tree, & get the opportunity to shoot a deer.  I was really understanding at that point why it is such a sport; not only do you have to hope that you are in the right spot at the right time, but you have to hope that the deer don’t smell you, that they don’t see you, that you actually see them; basically it is not so much harder than any person who has never tried it could ever realize. 

 

It is mentally wearing at times, but so amazing & worth it when you see another hunter finally get their chance to kill a deer.  You know how much they went through, the time they put in, & how things finally worked out in their favor that they got that opportunity,  It is a sport that I have grown to love & respect more than I ever thought possible.   It is a sport that I feel everyone should at one point or another really try because I think a lot of people who feel like I used too would see it like I do now.  See it as a sport, that is time consuming, mentally & physically tough, but oh so rewarding in the end.  It is a sport that can help to bring families together & really help to give people direction. It something where kids can be kids & learn to follow their parents in their guidance in it, something that is not inside & gives them a chance to dedicate themselves too. I did not get a deer this archery season, I actually never even had a chance, but even though I didn’t I really took so much more from it then I could have ever imagined. I can honestly say I love hunting, I love to hear the stories, I love to wake up early to go in my tree stand, I now can’t wait to see trail cam pictures, & want to be the first one to high five whoever’s deer we are going to see. Remember this is all coming from the girl who made her husband dress up as a deer for Halloween & she dressed up as hunter, just so she could be noticed during hunting season for once!

 

FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER @CBrletich