It Takes All Kinds

First, I want to thank you again for your continuing support. It means so much, and I look forward to seeing all this energy in other F&S blogs and message boards.

I’d promised to write in this home stretch about what I love best about hunting. But what can I say that would cover it all? I love what we all do — connecting with the outdoors, taking responsibility for the meat I eat… I love feeling a part of the tradition of American huntresses, which stretches back to those black and white, turn of the century photos you see of skirt-wearing, rifle-toting sportswomen. Then there’s the connections I’ve made with other people — like my grandfather, who never would have started telling me his own old hunting stories had I not taken up the sport myself. It’s a link I never imagined sharing with him, but it’s made our relationship all the richer. There’s also all I’ve learned along the way, from skill-based lessons to cultural realizations.

One thing I’ve been happy to realize is that the tradition of hunting–although the non-sporting public may only see as far as a stereotype–takes all kinds. I was lucky to enter the field for the first time with other women for a mule deer hunt. We were a group of twenty-something’s and grandmothers, democrats and republicans, newbies and seasoned sportsmen. It was great to see such a range of experiences within even just one small group of huntresses. I’ve since hunted with anyone from pregnant women in South Carolina to Amish carpenters in Pennsylvania. And of course there are so many different kinds of hunters I’ve not yet had the pleasure to meet. I like thinking about the fact that hunting can be a common link between otherwise diverse groups of people. While we may all love it for our own equally-diverse reasons, the point is we all love it. -K.H.