Took a few days off the blog to celebrate my oldest son’s high-school graduation, emotions running the gamut from to pride to sadness with a ton of laughs and tears in between. A thousand people have told you one of the oldest cliches of all time, “They grow up fast.” It’s true.
BTW, ZONER Chris barbecued pork and chicken for 200 that we had at the big bash for my boy on Friday night. Awesome job man!
Now back to hunting…
One day I sat on a Wyoming ridge with an old dude named Bill and watched a 30-something gal stalk a muley a mile away (from what I could tell in my binoculars she was pretty hot and the buck had a nice rack too). She moved slowly, cautiously and I wondered if she’d ever get in rifle range. I might have to go over there and show the little girl how it’s done.
“She’s doing perfect,” Bill said from behind his binoculars as he watched her. We heard the thump of the hit, saw the buck buckle and then heard the rifle crack.
“Mostly it just takes ‘em one shot,” said the cowboy who had guided hundreds of men and maybe 20 females. “Gals who are really into it are better hunters than men.”
I blew out my chest and barked, “I don’t know, most of the chicks I know who are really into it have a chip on their shoulder and think they have to prove they’re better than us.”
“Just what I mean,” he said back. “You beat your chest, get all macho and think you know everything about stalking, guns, ballistics, shooting, whatever. The more you brag about how much you think you know, the more likely you’ll screw up on a big buck.”
Bill went on to say 3 things make women better at hunting: 1) they’re patient; 2) they’re good listeners; and 3) they do what they’re told.
“If I tell a guy to go sit by that tree for 3 hours he’ll sit maybe an hour before he gets fidgety and gets up and starts walking around and messing up the spot,” Bill said.
“If I tell a woman to sit there for 3 hours she’ll sit there still and ready the whole time until I come back to get her…a lot of times she’ll kill a big animal.”
Bill also said many gals are calmer than men, many of whom get buck fever and come unglued and miss deer. He pointed out that women shoot smaller caliber rifles, .243 or 7mm-08 or whatever, and they can hit better than some guy with a cannon magnum that makes him flinch.
I don’t know about Bill’s theory because I have never hunted with many gals before and don’t really want to (I’m not a chauvinist pig in other areas of life, really!).
So I ask you: If you hunt with your wife or girlfriend, is she as good or better than you?
Oh yeah, you gals who are really into hunting, what say you?
BTW, the photo is of Tara Strommen, wife of Luke, my buddy and one of the best bowhunters and deer guides on the Milk River in MT. Tara killed that awesome 155” deer on a zero-cold morning at 110 yards with one shot from her .243; the 100-grain bullet split the buck’s heart in half.