As we all know, hunting is no longer just for the male of our species. There are many very successful women deer hunters across the country and the outdoors networks include a good number of programs featuring women hunters. This has been a great thing for the sport of hunting for many reasons … one being that they set a great example for young girls to enjoy this great activity at an earlier age, which will in most cases lead to the entire family enjoying it together.
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This is exactly what has happened with the Angelo family where one of the better archery hunters in our area is Megan Angelo. She is strictly a bow hunter and has harvested eight bucks in the seven years she has hunted in New York; her best was a 130-inch monster. Not to mention harvesting a beauty in Missouri already this year. She is a wife and mother of four, and still has time to harvest at least one nice buck each season. As matriarch of a family of possessed deer chasers, there is a constant balancing act between the kids’ school work, sports activities or the kids wanting to join her or her husband Ralph on the deer stand. But come fall, other than school work, all other sports take second place to the sport of hunting.
I reached out to Megan to see what drives her to get into a deer stand during her precious little solo time and she was gracious enough to express her thoughts. “I have been extremely competitive my whole life, especially when playing sports. I love participating in anything athletic and still play on a soccer team when time permits. As I get older, though, I worry more about getting injured so when my husband Ralph introduced me to hunting and bought me my first compound bow, I was immediately hooked! I love the sport of archery and was happy to shoot targets. Then I sat with Ralph in a double tree stand while he hunted and thought that I can do this too and I want to do it better! I found such peace waiting and watching to see a deer, listening to the outdoor sounds and watching all of the wonderful nature around me.
“But what feeds my competitive edge is the physical demands, the challenges of every situating being different, and the mental part of staying composed while focusing on your target to make the shot count. There is nothing like the feeling of adrenaline and your heart pounding while anticipating your target’s next move. For me, bow hunting is a challenge against myself. It’s a new competitive feeling, to do better than the last hunt. I’m always making mistakes and learning something new, and that keeps me wanting more.
“It’s a bonus that I can share my passion for hunting with my family and my best friends. As a mom of little hunters who cannot wait for October 1 to roll around each year, I try to emphasize having respect for the sport and appreciating the value of each experience.
“I have met so many amazing people along the journey who share the passion and take pride in this sport. Being a female, I definitely think people have had their doubts, but in today’s age there are so many successful female hunters that young girls look up to. I love seeing more and more women getting into the sport and looking forward to hunting bigger game in the future; all while exploring this beautiful country. The best part is that as a mom, you stay competitive in a sport that you can enjoy with your family.”
Thanks to Megan for taking the time to share her thoughts. I’ll bet she wrote this while in her deer stand. She is the real deal.
The world of females enjoying the sport of hunting is growing by leaps and bounds. All the outdoor catalogs have sections of clothing and equipment geared especially for women, not to mention specifically designed bows and guns.
If you are a woman who is interested in getting started hunting and have no mentor to help you, the D.E.C offers programs designed to help get women started. The programs are called BOW… Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) and Beyond BOW. These programs are especially designed to teach women outdoor skills and give them information, encouragement, and hands-on instruction in outdoor skills such as fishing, shooting, archery, hunting, trapping, outdoor photography, map and compass, survival, camping, canoeing, and outdoor cooking.
Becoming an Outdoors-Woman workshops are designed primarily for women who have little or no experience with outdoor activities. These three-day workshops offer a number of different classes over the course of a weekend.
Beyond BOW workshops are another opportunity for women to learn outdoor skills and are additional items not offered in the traditional three-day BOW workshop. They may be “next step” classes for women who have completed a beginner class at a BOW workshop and may be one day, one subject classes. They may include an actual hunt, canoe trip, or camp-out. BOW and Beyond BOW workshops are open to anyone aged 18 and over – past participants have ranged in age from late teens to the mid-eighties!
The sport has come a long way from the days of the red-checked wool jackets and the old guy smoking a pipe while sitting on a stump waiting for a deer to run by. As more and more women are introduced to hunting they are quickly understanding what is involved in the harvest of a wild animal, and the work and attention to detail it takes to be consistently successful. They then appreciate the enjoyment of the challenge of matching wits with these wild creatures. Women hunters go a long way towards softening and mainstreaming the sport and ending the preconceived stigma that hunters are nothing but a bunch of blood-thirsty killers.
So, the more women hunters the better as far as I’m concerned. This influx is fantastic for the sport.
Although I do have one small problem; I don’t see any women waterfowlers out there. I would think y’all be all over waterfowl hunting because there are dogs involved. So what that they are covered with mud most of the time and smell like they just dug up a septic tank! I throw this challenge out to all the women hunters out there. Get yourself a pair of waders and let’s see more females in the swamp.
We all know women are way too smart for that!
