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When your hunting pants don’t fit

This past fall, my routine became almost comical.  I would leave my backpack on the ground, climb into my treestand, get settled and unbutton my wool pants. Four years ago, I wore base layers with monkey-thumbs to hide the Queeze-Away bands that I wore around my wrists.  I never got sick, but those early morning breakfasts and treks to the Sky Condo were a little more challenging when I was trying to hide a pregnancy.  Dad makes sure that I am always secure and comfortable when I am sitting 10-16 feet up in my treestands but if he knew I was pregnant, I was not sure how far off the ground he would allow me to be. So, I kept my first pregnancy a secret during the entire season. I hunted, hiked and pulled the same 10 hour...

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Must have clothing for outdoor women

I did a radio interview recently and was asked about women's hunting apparel and if it is getting better. I ecstatically answered Yes!  Thanks to my involvement with EvoOutdoors, I have been fortunate enough to learn what you really need to be wearing when you are in the woods during bear season, deer season, coyote etc. With the holidays coming up, here are my MUST HAVEs for any outdoorwoman or man.First Lite: I sit while I hunt and I was always getting sweaty on my way in or out of the woods. I layer so that I can stay warmer longer but it would also take me a while to regulate my body temperature after I got warm walking into my stand. I can only imagine how much more comfortable my hunts would have been had I learned about...

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Every outdoor woman needs…

...Other outdoor women who support and push them. Plain and simple. Robin Follette, Taylor Follette and Me. These women make me want to be a better outdoors woman! In the month that I took off, there were blog posts flying around about who outdoor women are, what we like and don't and how, even into adult hood, those damn cliques from high school pop back up. Here are a couple of links to check out in case you missed them: Field & Stream's survey on "real women weighing in on hunting." I took the survey but anyone could have told you the results and at the end of the day, it has nothing to do with my hunting. Following Eva Shockey on social media does not make me a better hunter.  Feeding into stereotypes doesn't help my shot...

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Growing and gaining for outdoor women

** The following article was written for The Liberty Project and posted on their website on October 30, 2015.  You can see it here.  I was never paid for this article so The Liberty Project never bought the copyright. Women’s interest in hunting is growing fast, despite online harassment I never questioned the size of my gun.  If Dad could shoot it, why couldn’t I? My mom said that the kick alone would send me backwards out of the treestand.  I shot the 30-06 twice to get comfortable and on the third shot three weeks later, I killed a small buck that filled the freezer. I never questioned my abilities again until I started writing about and posting photos of my hunting adventures.  I was then forced to prove my...

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Trusting yourself as an outdoors woman

** The following is an article that I wrote for The Liberty Project.  It was originally published on November 16, 2015 here.  I was never paid by The Liberty Project so they don't own the copyright. Why trusting yourself is key for success in the outdoors It is critical to know and feel comfortable with any situation you put yourself in.  This is especially true if your goal is to bring home meat for the freezer.  You need to have a level of knowledge and understanding about why you are there and what you want to accomplish.  Everything about being successful in the outdoors comes from a sense of trust: in yourself, your tool and your training.  My training came from my Dad. I started to...

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The right to hunt and be safe

With the Maine legislature beginning and as always there will be hunting and fishing issues that come up, I wrote this article for The Liberty Project about a bill in Wisconsin that would prevent anti-hunters from documenting hunters when they are in the woods.  The article was originally posted on October 28, 2015 here. Why Wisconsin's right to hunt bill is necessary I can count on one hand the number of photos of my son on social media. You will never read the full name of the friends that I hunt with and I am more likely to take a photo of the trees than photos of an outing with my Dad. I am overly cautious for my safety and theirs. Last year, I volunteered with Maine’s fight against an out-of-state anti-hunting group as we...

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New year, new plan: Mission big buck

There is no snow on the ground and the temperatures have been in the 50s instead of the teens or 20s.  As a result, our deer herd is having a great time getting lots of food without the worry of snow, freezing temps or that coyote that is (still) around. Dad still has the trail cameras out and we are getting some encouraging pictures.  I didn't bother copying the ones of the coyote, but he is still around and solo. But these are always good to see and it means that we will need to change things up for next season if we are going to outwit this deer.  I believe he is about 3.5 or 4.5 years old and knows how to avoid hunters. I can NOT get over the size of his neck! And the next generation of big bucks: From the side, his...

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Erin – 0 Turkeys – 254,125

I was ready! Everything was packed and the sun was out.  I drove down to meet up with Steve and we were going turkey hunting.  Well, I was.  He had already tagged out and was sharing his blind with me. We made our way through the trees and towards the blind on the edge of the field.  The turkeys were already there picking at the food in the field.  It was the first time I had ever hunting agricultural land and the first time hunting turkey in the fall. We wanted to make sure that we were not seen, so we crawled our way into the blind and set up the chairs, my steady stick and gear.  We watched the birds eating, unaware that we were there.  For the next hour, we watched and hoped that they would get...

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Women’s hunting camp

In the Northern Maine woods, down a long dirt road surrounded by a beaver bog and thick, dense forests there was a small cabin without electricity, a phone or any sort of cell service.  In that cabin, five outdoors women sat with their guns ready to kill Maine black bears.  The swollen stream flowed past us at bear camp. The rain would start and stop during my time at camp and we would hold out breathe to find out if we would go out and hunt again or if we would be rained out and the bears that we came to hunt will continue to roam the woods and fields. Five of us were at bear camp and while we lead very different lives, our love of the outdoors and desire to hunt black bear have brought us together for these few days. ...

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