Are you interested in hunting or already a rifle hunter and thought to yourself that you really would like to try hunting with a bow? That was the scenario for me. I started hunting with a rifle and really enjoyed everything about it. Then I decided that archery looked pretty interesting and I had always heard that it is more “challenging” than hunting with a gun. But how do you get into archery when you might not know anything about it or know anyone who can help you. What do you do? I want to try to help out with that.

This is how I approached getting into hunting with a bow. First, a little bit about me…I took up hunting, rifle hunting, while I was dating someone. We broke up but I wanted to keep hunting. No one in my family hunts so I’ve kind of been on my own figuring things out bit by bit. It can be done!! I decided I wanted to give archery a try. My first step was to attend different Women it the Outdoor events with the National Wild Turkey Federation and Becoming an Outdoors Woman program. I gained knowledge from those programs and decided from there that I really did enjoy archery and wanted to try to hunt with a bow and arrow. However those programs only take you so far and you have to move on from there. That’s where groups like Babes Bullets and Broadheads comes in so keep that in mind!!

I had some knowledge and limited experience so I wanted to purchase my own bow. But there are so many bows out there…what do you get? How do I know what will work, what will fit, what you’ll like? The best thing you can do is just go to an archery shop and try all of the different bows that are available. Every bow is different and it is all personal preference. Have the technicians at the archery shop measure your drawl length. Figure out what weight you can pull back. They will do all of those thing for you. Ask. Shoot all the bows you possibly can. Have a price range in mind. Bows can get very expensive. For me…I started out with a very basic “starter” bow that did not cost a lot of money. My thoughts were that I didn’t want to spend a lot of money and then face the possibility that maybe I don’t like archery hunting after all. I hunted with that first bow for a few years. Even thought it was not a very expensive bow I was able to still harvested a deer. From there I decided I wanted to upgrade. At that point when I went back to an archery shop to buy another bow I knew what I wanted, knew the poundage I could draw my bow back with, knew my drawl length and basically sounded like a pro when I walked into the shop.

Besides all of that information the best advice I can give you is to practice practice practice!!! The more you pull a bow back the more comfortable you get with it, the more you gain the strength you need to shoot it and the more awesome you become. Go to 3D archery shoots in the summer time. There is a website (3Dshoots.com) that will tell you where 3D archery shoots are in your area. 3D shoots help you judge distance and help you determine what distance you can be confident shooting your bow at. Shoot in indoor archery leagues in the winter to help with consistency. Just practice in your backyard if you can, but practice. The only other thing you need in patience. It can take some time for an animal to come close enough for that perfect archery shot. And then when it is close enough you might have to wait for the angle to be right. Just be patient.

Archery season can be the best time of year to hunt. It’s so quiet and peaceful. And if it is something that you think you might have an interest in it can become addicting. For me…archery is my passion and rifle is my “back up” 🙂

There are many different ways to prepare your wild game meat.  As a home-made diet in my house, it is all I serve.  I live at home wtih my boyfriend and work full time; so these meals can be prepared easliy on a weeknight after a long day.  My inspiration in my dishes comes from workng in restaurants almost my whle life and watching the Food Network  I do not follow recipes and I make them up as I go.  Enjoy them and I would hope to hear feedback on any of these some-what different take on my entrees.  Only sharing some of my favorites.

ELK

MEATBALLS
Ground Meat
Itialian Bread crumbs (regular or glueten free)
Eggs
Paramsan Cheese
Basil (freshly chopped or preserved)
Garlic powder or fresh garlic
Onion powder
Salt & Pepper

I have addded chopped eggplant into my meatballs and its delicious!

TACOS
Ground meat Season in pan with lime juice, salt, pepper, garlic and sea salt
Taco seasoning after meat is browned with water
Soft or hard shell tortilla
Spinach or lettuce
Salsa
Mexican Cheese
Sour cream
Avacado or home made guacamole

BURGERS
Ground meat
BBQ Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Sometimes mix shredded cheddar cheese and breadcrumbs

VENISON

PULLED VENISON
In a crock pot add roast
ginger ale
BBQ sauce
Worchestire Sauce
Let cook low all day, add more BBQ sauce after draining most of the liquid

FISH

TACOS
White Fish Fillet
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt & Pepper
Lime Juice
Garden or spinach tortilla
Purple corn tortilla chips for nachos
Mango Salsa
Coconut flakes
Avocado or Guacamole
Sour Cream
Mexican Cheese
Chives and cilantro

FISH CAKES
White fish fillet cooked
Eggs
Unseasoned breadcrumbs and Panko breadcrumbs
Worchestire sauce
Dijon Mustard
Old Bay Spice
Green Pepper chopped
Pan fry until each side is golden brown

BEAR

STEW
Chopped stew meat (pan fry for first 3 min each side )
Beef Broth
Sweet Onion
Sweet Potato
Roasted Potato
Celery
Carrots
Side of baked bread for dipping

BURGERS
Ground bear meat
BBQ sauce
Worchestire sauce
Bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper
Cheddar Cheese

We all know they call it hunting for a reason.  The animals don’t always coopertate.  I live by the rule that the more you go hunting the more the chances are you will find sucess.  I also take advice from my hunting friends and family.  Hunting is a learn as you go sport.  The more people I meet and hunt with, the more I learn what they may do to improve thier chances at bagging a big one.  I try to wear the right clothing, be as quiet as possible, and scent free when I can but sometimes you just have to hunt the wind.  And when all of those tactics fail me, I bring out the DOTS!  Yep you heard me right, DOTS candy.  It’s also a Babes, Bullets and Broadhead tradition.  Take a box of DOTS and you will bag bigger bucks.  I hope my sisters won’t be upset with me for letting out our secret.  Next time you plan your big hunt, pack some DOTS!  Let us know if it works for you.

Part of the mission of Babes, Bullets and Broadheads is to create opportunites for women to learn to hunt.  Each of our hunting trips is hosted by one of our experienced Field Staff members.  When booking a trip with us, you will be invited to a private group page on Facebook where you will meet your fellow hunters.  This creates an open formum to discuss the up and coming trip and ask any questions before you go.  Having the group page to find out details and meet other guest on the trip makes everyone feel comfortable and most important prepared for the hunt.  Our outfitters also assit with this page and add directions, pack list and license and tag informations.  We want all of our hunters to be as prepared as possbible and ready to be succesul.  The host of each hunt, along with our outfiiters are available to team up with new hunters and actually hunt with them during the trip.  Many of our staff are skilled enough to guide our guest and coach them along the way.  We put a lot of effort into making our experinces once in a lifetime trips.  We want all of our guest to TAG OUT!  Join us on a hunt and experience The Sisterhood of the Outdoors.

This is the hunting story that I will be telling my grandkids one day.  I was with Boulder Basin Outfitters last fall on a cow elk pack trip.  I knew I was going into grizzly bear country but I also knew I was with professional outfitters who hunted this area for generations without incident.  I like to prepare for my hunts, I worked out, packed light and read all I could about what to do if you encounter a grizzly bear.  I purchased the required bear spray and kept it in my pocket close at reach at all times.  I even slept with it on my cot in my tent.

Day one was spent riding the horses up the mountain to look for elk, with one missed opportunity.  It was a long shot with high winds.  Not ideal conditions for long range shooting.  My hunting partner Stacy Jo and I hunted hard in the high country with our guide Flint.  He was a true cowboy and professional hunter.  Day two we changed our plan to spend the day in a valley sitting and waiting for the herd migration.  We made a place in a small wooded pocket and built a fire for warmth.  We set up our shooting sticks on the hilly slope above our camp area.  We spent the day glassing the hills and looking for signs of elk.  We took a ride up the mountain mid day to scout.  About mid afternoon, we glassed a large grizzly bear cub, maybe like a two year old, about 500 yards up the valley from our camp. I was in awe and just fine glassing him walking away from us up the hills through my binoculars.  Then came the last few minutes of daylight.  When my senses are always hightened on a hunt.  Waiting for that last minute of game movement and being ready to take full advantage.  I was about to ask our guide if I could spend that last few minutes of light sitting on my sticks just in case an elk walked out from the valley above.  When I turned to ask him, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a very large grizzly bear coming right towards us from below the valley.  He was probably 50 yards out.  Flint immediatly stepped out and confronted the bear with both hands up and with a deep voice he told the bear to “get on out of here, go on now, go on”.  Meanwhile Stacy Jo and I were frozen and waiting on instructions from Flint.  It was a quick encounter, the bear decided to turn and walk back down the trail.  Flint quickly instructed us to put out the fire and pack up camp and get to the horses.  I asked Flint if he would go up the hill and get our sticks for us, as I was so affraid to be out in the open and alone.   Once he got to the shooting sticks, we heard a few choice words followed by “there are four more over here, get your gear and get on the horses now”.   The cub we had seen earlier in the day was with his two siblings and his momma on the up hill side of camp.  As he returned down the hill to help us walk to the horses the first big grizzly decided to come back for a visit from below camp.   He was now coming right at us on the same trail and closing in fast.  This time Flint confronted the bear and asked us to load our rifles.  We were still in the pocket of woods and Stacy Jo imediatly told me we had to get out of the hole we were in.  We both took ten steps out into the open and right behind Flint.  As he began to yell at the bear, I loaded two rounds and sighted in on his face with my 7mm Rem Mag Remmington 700.  Stacy Jo loaded her rifle and began to tell me we had to yell at it.  She started yelling “get outta here” and all I could do was concentrate on the hold for the shot while my mind raced that I didn’t know when to shoot, how to shoot, or if I should even shoot!  I was dead still and on him with my scope, but I could not find my voice to help yell at the bear.  The big grizzly was the size of a small SUV.  He never got on his hind legs but he did sway back and forth and raise his nose to smell us.  It seemed like forever and was probably less than a minute.  The yelling and the fact that the three of us were all standing our ground towards the bear must have helped scare it off.  Flint was amazing and fearless, he was out in front and we were the back up.  I never even looked up the hill or got glimce of the mother bear and three cubs. They must not have come over the hill enough to see us or the boar.  I rember when he turned and walked away I placed the stock of my gun ontop of my boot in the snow and held the barrel and shook violiently before I could muster up the senses to unload and get back to the horses.  Once we mounted the horses I had my bear spray in one hand and reins in the other.  We rode out in a hurry, the horses wanted out of there as well.  We talked really loud to one another all the way back to camp.  After a few minutes to unwind and stop shaking we shared our encounter with the others in camp.  I asked Flint if he like me, because I was going to be ten feet away from him the rest of the trip.  I was amazed at his bravery and abiity to handle the situation so professional.  Not one of us had any desire to shoot the bear.  The joke at camp was, “did you get a selfie with the bear or a video for You Tube”, not hardly !!

Stacy Jo and I hunted until the last minute of the last light on the last day.  She tagged a cow and we packed the meat out with a couple pack mules.  On the trail ride out in the dark we encountered two more grizzly bears coming up hill to the smell of our fresh meat.  The minute I heard Flint start yelling “get on outta here”, I put my hand on my bear spray and stated praying.  This time was good as well.  We were able to circle around them on the downhill trail.  The hill got steep and Flint asked Stacy Jo and I to dismount and walk our horses.  We both started whining immediatley and we were met with a sort of drill sargent voice telling us we have to listen to him because his was trying to get us off this mountian.  We immediatly abliged Flint.  He did get us off the mountain.  He saved our lives more than once.  I have a new sisterhood bond with Stacy Jo.  She was an amazing friend to have along to help get us through the encounter.  She was so strong and able to yell when I could not find my voice.  I am extemely proud of the way we took direction from Flint and did exactly what we were told to do.  He is the professional.  I am amazed that I could stand and hold that 9 pound rifle steady as a sniper for the time the bear was shaking his head and turning towards us and trying to decide which way he should go.  I laughed when Flint told us not one single male client had ever had his back the way we did with our rifles loaded and right behind him in the confrontation.  All of this was an adrenalen rush that lasted weeks.  It took me days to feel safe and comfortable again.  I would say we had a small amout of post traumatic stress we had to deal with.  As life changing and scarey as this encounter was, I re-booked the trip for next year and added another day to the trip.  I can’t imaging I would have to deal with six bears in two days again.  Surely I am not that lucky.  I will be in good hands with Boulder Basin Outfitters.

My husband doesn’t hunt.  My father doesn’t hunt.  My brother doesn’t hunt.  It’s just me.  I’m the only one who hunts.  I started hunting as an adult with someone I was dating.  We broke up, but I wanted to keep going and so I did! I found the Babes, Bullets and Broadheads and my hunting world is what I have and hold dear to this day.  I have gone on amazing BBB Hunts and have made a group friends I would have never dreamed of from where I started out as a hunter.  Where else do you get to do this!!!

Sometimes you meet someone, and it’s so clear that the two of you, on some level belong together.  As friends, or family or as something totally different, as part of the sisterhood of the outdoors.  You just work, whether you understand one another or you’re just partners in crime.  You meet these people throughout your life, out of nowhere, under the strangest of circumstances, and they help you feel alive.  My journey with the “sisterhood” has provided me with my Wing Woman, my best friends and a new family in the outdoors. We don’t just book hunts for women we create life long friends on a journey together!

Well hi there!  I am Emma, or Miss Emma as the Babes Bullets and Broadheads (BBB) girls call me.  Yes, yes.. I am super cool chocolate labrador retriever. But I will let you in on a little secret, I am really not just a hunting dog.  Well yes, I am good at my hunting job, really good in fact, but more importantly I am everyone’s friend.  I am a hunting pal, I will keep you warm in the blind, I like to sit by you when you are fishing, I will cuddle with you on the couch and keep you company, and I love to make you forget about your troubles by having some good-old-fun playing fetch.  Who doesn’t like playing fetch?!?

But back to the job I am best known for, “Hunting Dog Extraordinaire”…  well, ok to some I am…!! My mom is a field staff member for BBB, which is how I got so lucky to get to hang with all these great ladies who like to hunt.  But, I really think it is my mom who is the lucky one, because being the hunting dog extraordinaire that I am, I make her look good!  Everyone wants to hunt with me, which means my mom gets lots of invites to hunt.  I love to hunt, and I will never turn down an invite, but my favorite hunts are when the BBB girls and their lady friends come to hunt.  There really is nothing like a blind full of gals that know how to have fun and are cracker-jack shots. And they are cracker-jack shots!  This will be our third year hunting together, and we have made amazing memories.  I helped some of the ladies shoot their first goose, and even hand delivered the bird right to them.  The truth of it is, my job is AWESOME.. I deliver the birds and I get all the lovin’. What is better in life?  Nothing is better!!  Every time I go hunting I have the opportunity to make memories that last a lifetime.  I hope to share a blind and make memories with more of you ladies.  Please, please, please come hunt with me…. We need more ladies to band together to share our passion for hunting and the outdoors.  And if you do come and hunt with me, I promise to deliver your birds right to your hand and treat you like the queen huntress that you are!