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IRecipe By, The Rustic Elk NGREDIENTS • 6 Pounds Venison (cut into 1" cubes) • 6 teaspoons Salt (divided) • 3 Tablespoon Onion (diced, divided) optional INSTRUCTIONS 1. Start by sanitizing your jars and washing lids and rings. I generally sanitize my jars in the dishwasher and just wash the lids and rings before getting started on canning day. 2. Cut the venison into 1" cubes trying to make sure to remove as much fat and silverskin as possible. And chop onion up. 3. Pack the jars tightly with meat and ½ Tablespoon of chopped onion. Leaving 1" of headspace. If you see a lot of air pockets, use a spatula along to remove the air pocket and push the meat down into the space. You want this to be as tightly packed as you can manage. 4. Once you have them packed, sprinkle ½ teaspoon of salt onto the top of the meat. 5. Wipe the jar rim with a clean, damp cloth and center the lid on the jar. Tighten the ring to finger tight. 6. Place the jars in your pressure canner. Add about 3" of water and a Tablespoon of vinegar to your canner. Tighten the lid to the top. 7. Start with high heat and allow the water to come to a boil and steam begins escaping the vent. Allow canner to vent for 10 minutes. 8. Place the weight on the vent. You'll need a 10 pound weight under 1,000 ft and 15 for over 1,000 ft. 9. Allow the canner to come to pressure. Once the weight starts jiggling, reduce the heat to medium. You should continue to see and hear your weight jiggle every 10 to 15 seconds once you reduce the heat. 3
Contents
HER HUMBLE HUNT - BIANCA JANE
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BIANCA JANE Meet Bianca Jane of Her Humble Hunt and the 2019 Miss American Hunting Revolution. Bianca has a great story that you don't want to miss!
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Coonhunter - Bella France Bella France is an avid Missouri coonhunter. Bella has quite an adventurous story that you don't want to miss reading!
EHG TRIBE Meet the ladies of the Paramount Outdoors Pro Staff the EHG Tribe. These women are phenomenal hunters and well respected in the outdoor-hunting industry.
AHR Pro Staff - Angie Kokes read her story on page 22
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Sisterhood Of The Outdoors Meet Amy Ray, she is one of the most extraordinary women in the outdoor and hunting industry. Karen Wiencek
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Kenzi Burnside Read the inspiring story of a young lady that has overcome many challenges to live her best outdoor life!
SARAH ANN Sarah Ann is a full-time medic and shares her fantastic story of how hunting healed her while she saves lives.
Women inspiring women in the outdoors & hunting"
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The Future Looks Bright for The Sisterhood of The Outdoors The outdoor industry is seeing growth in sales, and recruitment of new shooters and hunters is on the rise. The Sisterhood of the Outdoors (SOTO) is following those same trends, enjoying the influx of new members wanting to learn and do more. An organization with a mission to empower women in hunting, fishing and shooting sports, SOTO is poised for major growth. SOTO has come a long way from the humble beginnings. Founded in 2010, the organization has been under the leadership of Amy Ray since 2015. SOTO has become the leader in women’s mentored hunting, fishing and shooting adventures. Ray has compiled one of the most diverse and skilled teams of women
and has an unmatched reputation for excellence in the industry. The newly introduced SOTO Professional Staff are dedicated and highly credentialed women willing teach and share their knowledge with others. Complimenting the Professional Staff, the Field Staff are another group of SOTO representatives striving to support women who want to be the industry and recruiting new members. Together, all the SOTO staff unite under one common goal – to introduce and teach more people about the great outdoors. Each excursion begins by carefully choosing qualified outfitters and guides who believe in helping new hunters and creating a positive guest experience. The updated web site offers easy online booking for guests and has been a
We promote friendship, adventure and enjoyment in the great outdoors. major improvement to help grow participation. This year the hunting line up is jam packed with everything from small game, big game, shooting events, lake fishing, bow fishing, fly fishing and pack trips in the Washakie wilderness. The programing offered is expanding each year as more and more women join in on the fun and fellowship in the outdoors. Other areas of expansion include distinguished partnerships with some amazing outdoor companies, specialized hunts benefiting a
specific cause, and even improving on the branded lifestyle apparel line. In February, SOTO hosted their first benefit hunt, donated by Cheyenne Ridge Outfitters with all proceeds going to Shooting Sports for Cancer, Inc. In May, SOTO partnered with firearms maker, Weatherby®, Inc. to offer exclusive opportunities to SOTO members. Also, in May President Amy Ray and her team have worked tirelessly to improve the branded apparel line by signing a first in class licensing agreement with Continued Page 12
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Sisterhood Outdoors continued, Paramount Outdoors to create a lady’s hunting apparel line like nothing else currently offered on the market. Most recently, SOTO has connected with freelance marketing partner, Lindsey Bodamer, to drive their social media and marketing strategy into the next gear. To say they are growing, is an understatement! The Sisterhood of The Outdoors offers a platform for women to connect, get outdoors and become lifelong friends with likeminded women. For more information on joining The Sisterhood of the Outdoors, further details on excursions offered or sponsorship/ partnership opportunities, please visit www.sisterhoodoutdoors.com or email marketing@sisterhoodoutdoors.com.
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Kristy Kellick, known within her industry as "Crossbow Kristy" and one of the preeminent whitetail hunters in the Southeast. "The fact that Paramount was able to pull all of these companies into the hunt shows you the power of the company and the EHG brand," said Kristy Kellick, who recorded two crossbow kills during the hunt, slaying a gator and a 400-pound hog.
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Bianca Jane
for the love of hunting fills my soul.
Darkness, here it comes, Over the rolling hills in the far distance. The rain is beginning to fall through the Pine trees , with the sounds of the wild waking up to reclaim the night. My body beginning to react involuntarily to the sounds of unseen danger. Sitting in this tree stand 20 feet off the ground, feeling like it's 100 feet up or more. Though I have my rifle, I know deep down my pistol is my weapon of choice if something were to threaten my safety. Too bad my pistol is in my pack, which was 20 feet below me. As I sit in this stand, I know there is no one here with me. My closest aid was so far away I don’t believe I would be heard if I were to scream for help. My cell phone has nearly run dead thanks to my lack of memory to turn off cellular, so it has been searching for signal and draining my battery without warning. It was
in these moments, in the cold, dark, wet woods somewhere in South Georgia that I saw myself for what I was. I was an adult but honestly, inside, I was a weak, scared little girl who was still allowing childhood fears, past anxiety issues and uncertainties control my life. It was on this night that I made the decision to tell that little girl, that she didn't live here anymore, that it was time to overcome my mental restraints. Slowly, my body began to relax, my breathing shifted towards normality, my hands found strength holding that 30-06, no longer loosely held and unsure. I came here to hunt, I came here to do something I had never done. This was the first day of the rest of my life as I shed the weight that had been holding me back for so many years. I was always told that inside of me was the ability to conquer my greatest fears, I just needed to find a reason
WRITTEN BY BIANCA JANE PHOTOGRAPHY BY HER HUMBLE HUNT
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big enough to do so! For me, hunting became my reason, my how, my why. I came home after 3 days without a kill, but it didn't matter, because I found life in those woods. Now it's 2019, with so many memories filling my mind, there is only one thought that is amplified above the rest. What would my life be like had my fiancĂŠ never asked me on a Sunday gun day "Do you want to go hunting?'. I did not grow up in a family of hunters. However, hunting has been a skill I have desired to learn for many years. The problem was, I had no one to teach me. I find it most intriguing that the idea of hunting in this time period is seen as barbaric, cruel, unnecessary to many people. Across the United States, hunting is seen as purely recreational. There is nothing recreational about connecting with nature in a form that makes you apart of the life cycle. Humans have settled into a mentality that the act of killing the food you eat, is wrong! As for me, since I started the path to learning to hunt, I have never felt more capable as a woman, a mother, a provider. The words of my fiancĂŠ ring loud in my mind even to this day. Preparing me for my first hunt, he told me that hunting is an act that doesn't always warrant a kill. I didn't yet know the impact that statement would have in my life, but I soon learned. It was in the process of understanding that hunting is not killing, that I found my greatest accomplishments. I was on the basis of this understanding that I felt the conviction to start the "Her Humble Hunt" website. With the desire to share what the reality in hunting was to others who may also be new or interesting in learning to hunt. It's easy to find yourself discouraged if you don't understand the process that may have led another hunter to their success. With the population of hunters in the U.S declining, it became critical to me to do whatever I could to help share the positive, passionate and respectful side of hunting. With so much misinformation floating around the internet, it only made since to defend the life I love. Along the way I was fortunate to attempt to hunt a top 5 species in the country I had set my sights on even before harvesting my first whitetail deer. With little notice and potentially my position at work on the line, I ventured north to Saskatchewan Canada in the spring of 2018. Destination Missinipe, far north of the providence. Having never left the U.S alone, I laugh at how easy it was for me to not second guess this trip. After all, I was seeking success in hunting my very first black bear. Even this moment as I write these words my memories of this hunt bring a smile to my face. With five days to make this dream come true, I dropped my mature boar on the first hunt, first day. I remember the wave of emotion, the tears, the uncontrollable wave of shakes that followed. The reason 12
for this reaction truly was more than just killing a big bear. The events leading up to the shot involved me coming full circle with the reality that I had done something I would have once never thought possible! I had never even seen a black bear in the wild prior to this trip! Yet here I was, celebrating this unforgettable moment in my life, 20 feet up a tree far from home, in a foreign land, with people I had never met! I'm so thankful to have these moments captured on video. Each time I watch it's like the first time over again. I made the acquaintance of incredible individuals while fire side looking at the sun at 3:00 a.m. mesmerising by the pure joy of the atmosphere as others from camp joined in on celebrating the success of a stranger. The feeling of being unified by one common passion can't be described, it has to be experienced. This experience is exactly what fuels my passion for sharing this life, the life of a hunter, with anyone who has the desire to learn to hunt. One of my favorite quotes is by Aldo Leupold ""There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot." As for me, I can no longer live a life that does not include hunting. I found mentorship in other women as well as men with years of experience in the field. I remember taking my hunter safety course and reading that it is the duty of every hunter, to educate and aid those new and interested. I have been so fortunate to have met some pretty incredible people. Hunting has made me feel more capable than ever as a human, as a mother , as a provider. I feel in touch with the environment around me, I feel that I am a part of it like never before. I no longer find satisfaction in only observing nature. With gratitude in my heart to those who helped me find my path, I hope to pay it forward to others in the future. I have always believed and said "It's never too late to do something great.". Thank You to everyone who has been with and guided me along the way. Thank You for believing in me, supporting me, investing time in me. I have no idea what future adventures for me may include, but I know they will be somewhere in the woods.
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Kenzi & Mike Burnside .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
KENZI BURNSIDE This story will overflow your heart and you will fall in love with Kenzi too. Our daughter Kenzi is 23 years old and is a surviving triplet along with her brother Thor; she lives with her mother and I in Oklahoma. Kenzi loves everything about life and doesn’t shy away from anything; she is willing to try anything at least once and she doesn’t know a stranger, just someone that she hasn’t made friends with yet! She was born with cerebral palsy and has been confined to a wheelchair her entire life; during her middle school through high school years she had many different surgeries to help ease nerve and or muscle problems due to her diagnosis; she has had two hip surgeries on her right hip and one on her left hip to help with resetting her hip ball sockets due to muscles in her legs pulling the hip joints out of the sockets. After her first double hip surgery, she developed double pneumonia and had to be transported to another hospital for recovery. She
additionally had a subsequent surgery to remove the hardware from her hip joints as she grew older. She had dorsal rhizotomy surgery (went into her spine and clipped nerves that were sending signals to certain muscle groups in her legs to reduce contracting muscles) along with clipping muscles in her legs to also help with muscles that were contracting. Her surgery placing metal rods along both sides of her spine from her pelvis to the base of her neck, with having to be resuscitated at her recovery room due to her stopping her breathing. As well as other “minor” surgeries; as you can see, she is a fighter! Kenzi has a love for the outdoors and any sort of physical activity. She loves snow skiing with an adaptive sports program and has skied yearly for the past 8 years; we have taken her snowmobiling (strapping her to my chest with Velcro straps), whitewater rafting, riding
WRITTEN BY MIKE BURNSIDE PHOTOS PROVIDED BY MIKE BURNSIDE .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
daylight on the hunt! We drove back on Thanksgiving Day and she requested spaghetti for that Friday using her deer.
on a jet boat, participating in races up to a marathon with volunteer runners pushing her in a running chair with the group Ainsley’s Angels, and riding a horse during her therapeutic horseback riding weekly as well as during the Pinto world Hose Show held annually. Of course, Kenzi got involved with fishing by me taking her fishing and she loves to fish. She has caught bass, catfish, and bluegill perch with my assistance and will request that we eat her fish when I begin cleaning! I asked her last summer if she would like to go deer hunting last fall and she said yes as soon as I completed the sentence. The Holy Pursuits Dream Foundation had told us that they would take Kenzi on hew dream fishing or hunting adventure and she decided on mule deer hunting as her dream; this decision took place towards the end of the summer which would put a time crunch on getting all of the details worked out for her hunt. I told her that it might be tough to happen that fall but that she and I would go deer hunting on our property no matter what. The mule deer hunt could not be put together in the time we had but they did ask if she would like to come to Illinois during Thanksgiving week and hunt whitetail with a crossbow; a child that was scheduled to come could not be there due to illness so we arranged to go before Thanksgiving. We got her up at 4 a.m. every morning and hunted until well after dark for the threeday hunt; she would fire the crossbow by sucking on a vacuum actuator that would transfer an electronic signal to the trigger guard mount that pulls the trigger. As luck would have it, she shot a doe during the last 20 minutes of
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At the same time we were doing this, the Oklahoma firearms season was ongoing. After we returned home, we would hunt on days that her muscle spasticity and tone would allow. We hunted over the next week and during that Saturday, the next to the last day of the season, she told me that she would be done after that hunt and didn’t want to hunt the last day. As luck would have it, does came out feeding about 80 yards in front of us and eventually a small 8-point buck and doe came to feed also. Our times of me helping her hand over hand shooting the rifle came down to this moment. The video that I made of the hunt reveals her breathing hard and taking deep breaths, just like any hunter with buck fever. Calming her down, I helped her with the rifle and the 7mm-08 found it’s mark! The buck traveled about 40 yards before collapsing. Kenzi was so excited before and after the shot, in which we all should remember that feeling when we got our first big game animal. Help a youth or someone who hasn’t gotten that opportunity and I’m sure it will help give you a level of excitement that you may not have had for awhile. I know these two hunts with Kenzi were two of the best hunts I have ever been on. She is going on her dream mule deer hunt this fall in Wyoming with the Holy Pursuits Dream Foundation (holypursuitsdreamfoundation.com) and also will be going on a free-range elk hunt in southwestern Oklahoma in which an individual has arranged for her to go. So I have some stiff competition now in the family with another hunter!
HUNTIN' MOMMA'S LIFE Holly Overman is the owner of Doe Range and is an amazing mother. point I was in my final trimester so I could only hunt them from a blind. It does get boring that way, but I had entertainment watching the baby move around in my belly. No words could ever describe that feeling. I might've not got a shot at one but seeing the few turkeys that did come out, and hearing the gobbles in the distance was truly amazing.
A Huntin' Momma's Life I'm a Huntin' Momma of two handsome boys that's turning one and twelve this year. Our oldest loves to go on many outdoor ventures, but the baby is still to young for most of it. Being a mom with a new baby don't give me much time to hunt, but occasionally my husband takes over with him so I can. During the 2017-2018 deer season I had to make a few changes since I was pregnant. For example, being grounded from a stand to a blind and taking frequent breaks when walking out there. I also made sure to have snacks to munch on and to always keep hydrated as well. Above all else, I listened to my body so I wouldn't over do it. When I was 16 weeks, I shot a wide 6 point with a short nub on one side. Tracking him got interesting since it was dark and I had to watch what I went through. I kept hunting for as long as I could, even during he following turkey season. At that
I missed out on many fishing ventures and other outings that summer due to just having a baby that I didn't want to leave yet. Not to mention, having to build my strength back up as well. When I could, I got out to walk and even shoot my bow to get ready for bow season. I knew it would be more challenging with a new baby, but not impossible.
the baby alone, I got him dressed and just took him with me. This buck fell in his tracks so all I had to do is strap him up and get him back. There's no way I was doing that while holding a baby, so I put him in a carrier on my back to free up my hands. Did I field dress them bucks? Yup I sure did, but when the baby took a nap. However I did take many breaks to check on him though. I can't wait for the day I get to take him out on those ventures like I can his brother. As well as filming their encounters and reactions to it all, like I did for myself. Such great experiences I got to enjoy and eager for plenty more to come.
At first I struggled with leaving him to go hunt. You could say I was pretty attached. The few times I went, I didn't see much but it was nice being out there and apart of nature again. I still managed to tag out with two great bucks that I filmed prior to season opening. One was an older 9 point and the other was a young 10 point. How you might ask? Well we got this field out back that deer love to travel through, so I just shot right out the back door. Both bucks were taken while I was still in pajamas and before taking my oldest to school. Now you're probably wondering how they got back to the house with my husband at work. Well I was blessed that our neighbor came and retrieved my 9 point for me, but the 10 point was all on me. Since I couldn't leave 17
Shannon Beck
" If I could just fulfill his wishes life would be okay " said deal! I was going to do whatever it took to go. I met kip that Saturday on the side of the road in Binger, OK before daylight. I introduced myself and hopped in his truck off to fulfill a wish with 2 very special shells. We walked quite a ways to the blind and we had a owl on the tree that we were under and every time he would hoot we could hear a gobble. When daylight cracked we could hear a gobble and hear him fly down, kip called just one time and that old turkey made a mad dash for us! Through the tears I put the site on him and jerked the trigger back; I missed!
Healed by Hunting My husband was a deputy sheriff, he was killed in the line of duty 1-23-14 and for years he had told me when he died have some of his ashes put in a shotgun shell and kill a turkey with it. I remember asking what if I miss? He said it won’t matter I’ll be out there, where I want to be. A year later I was laying in bed recovering from surgery, depressed and riddled with grief. I began wondering what my purpose in life was and going down a dark path but my mind kept going to the hunt ... if I could just fulfill his wishes life would be ok. I got on Facebook and searched for turkey hunts in western Oklahoma. The first post was a guy wanting to trade a spoonbill fishing trip in Eastern Oklahoma for a turkey hunt in Western Oklahoma. This caught my eye right off because Brian had this arrangement with one of his best friends Jerad in Eastern Oklahoma. I scrolled through the comments and seen a lady named Cassie had tagged her brother Kip Peck. I clicked on his name and seen some of his harvest pictures and a picture of his daughter and I thought to myself he seems harmless and sent him a crazy message; to my surprise he answered right away and said he could take me in 2 days.
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I knew, I couldn’t go because of the surgery being just 4 days before that. I thought I lost my shot but he said no worries he said the next Saturday, and I
Heartbroken and defeated I dropped my head and fought back tears not only had I failed, I had wasted this kind stranger's time. I felt a gentle squeeze on my leg and looked up through the tears and kip said “ turn around he is right behind you “ I turned around in that blind like a bull in a china closet and hitting my shotgun on everything! But the bird didn’t take flight he just stood there almost like he knew. Through the tears I eased the trigger back and watched him flop! I ran out and put my hands on the bird and thanked him and thanked God and thanked Brian for leaving me with this task! I’ve hunted most of my adult life but this hunt saved my life and fueled my passion for the outdoors! There is so much healing in hunting and so much more to it than killing an animal. Shannon Beck
SARAH ANN
PHOTO BY FIRSTY LASTY
My job requires me to be mentally tough, compassionate, quick thinking, and to have that customer service face. My job also is in a box bouncing down the road from hospital to hospital. And when I'm not at work I'm volunteering for my local town service. I am a Paramedic. Faced with life and death every day. Holding hands and comforting souls I may never see again, or some I will. Seeing things that cannot be unseen. I was told once that if you find a job in EMS, find a hobby. Something that you can use to destress. To unwind. Hunting was my hobby before I became a medic....and hunting has become so much more now that I am one. I started hunting because of my family and my kids. I wanted to provide for them. To give them what I enjoyed growing up. My dad was always hunting. Squirrels, turkeys, deer, rabbits. We enjoyed it all. I wanted to show them that their mom worked thru everything that was difficult and still kept going. Then came the difficult diagnosis...DDD. Degenerative disc disorder. I had been having pain in my back. Doctors couldn't figure out what it was. Finally I had a diagnosis. Because of the location, in my thoracic region, I was non surgical. Arthritis was already rearing its ugly head. Sometimes I had so much pain I couldn't move. Add anxiety to the mix...I never stop the worry or overthinking. Hunting helped me keep active. Shooting my bow strengthens my back and shoulder muscles. Hunting helps quiet my thoughts. Hunting is now saving my life. Then comes the EMS side of the story. I used to focus on the kill. Now I realize the kill is such a small part of the hunt. The being in nature. Seeing turkeys,
deer, pheasants, wildlife. Hearing the birds. The slow, stillness of sunrises and the glorious colors of sunsets. The kill is 1%. The experience is what I crave the most. The being in my blind hearing the gobbles in the early spring mornings. The big racked bucks chasing does during rut. Bow fishing out of the front of a boat. Fishing the trout stream by my house. The calmness, the quiet, the not having someone's life in my hands. The time to reboot my brain. Feeling closer to God. Women are amazing beasts. We grow tiny humans. We nurture. We provide. It is important for me to continue my journey in the outdoors. Not for me. For them. Seeing them catch trout or pond fishing. Shooting their BB guns. Accompanying me on hunts, hikes, shed looks, scouting missions. Making it as low pressure for them. It's their choice whether they pick up a gun or bow down the road. I didn't start until my 20s. Dad never pressured me to go but he was right by my side when I did start. Now he is one of the first I text when I see something. My husband also is supportive of my endeavors and is starting to learn to hunt too. It is important that as hunters we stick together. Empowering the new hunters and youth as we pass on the tradition. Teaching them its not about the kill. It's about the whole process. And enjoying every second of being in the outdoors. 19
rough and sometimes dangerous terrain. Now, Trixie isn’t the most bad ass coon dog around, she’s definitely not a competition hunter, but she’s the kind of dog that works hard for you every single time she’s cut loose no matter what the conditions (some nights better than others) and she will go all night long if she has to. The amount of heart & drive that these dogs have is truly unbelievable at times. The situations they manage to get themselves into just to get a coon leaves you feeling like “Are you kidding me dog?!” I mean have literally crawled into holes in the ground, climbed up and into sketchy brush piles, and jumped into freezing cold water to bail my dogs out of dangerous situations. Again though, it’s that grit and drive that I appreciate. My first hunt I was hooked from the get go. The dogs were so happy to jump in that dog box and seemed excited. I mean, that’s obviously a good sign right? We went out with his uncle, a slightly older man and an experienced coon hunter. I think he was a bit surprised by me, being a girl, and wanting to go out and walk 4+ miles through the woods…in the freezing cold, in the middle of the night, with smelly dogs, to hunt raccoons. None the less, he didn’t baby me or give me special treatment just because I’m a girl and like I said, I was hooked. He may not even know how much I appreciated that he let me experience every aspect of the hunt that night without doubting me simply because I’m a woman attempting a predominantly male sport. There are times though when we hunt with certain guys, which I have found it’s probably best to keep my mouth shut and let my dog (and my shot) do the talking.
My name is Bella France. I’m a 25 year old mother of 3 from a small rural community in Missouri called Wright City. Let me start by saying I have always been obsessed with dogs. My mom is a dog groomer so growing up we always had dogs at home and I was constantly around them. I obviously picked up a few things along the way because I too am a dog groomer now. I can remember when I was first introduced to coon hunting. I immediately fell in love. It was when I read Where the Red Fern Grows for the first time. I enjoyed playing in the woods and creek enough as it was and I loved tagging along with my dad when he went deer hunting. When I found out that this thing existed where I got to do basically all the things I liked to do, I begged my mom to let me get a coon dog. Sadly for me she always said they were too loud. I remember sitting at the edge of the creek looking up at this particular wooded hill we had on our property, and day dreaming about how awesome it would be if I could live like little Billy and his coon dogs Dan & Ann, and all the adventures they had. I envied that character in the book because he had such a strong bond with his dogs. I was fascinated by how he trained them himself and they were so much more than just “huntin’ dogs” to him. I wanted to experience that. Fast forward almost 15years to when I first started dating my now husband. I was snooping through his DVD collection and came across Where the Red Fern Grows. Trying to hide my excitement (because I assumed it wasn’t his) I asked him if he’d ever seen it. He said it was one of his favorites, and one of the reasons he had gotten a couple coon dogs over the years. I told him I had ALWAYS wanted to go coon hunting and he was gona take me come hell or high water. My husband and I drove over 4 hours down to southern Missouri near the Arkansas border to buy our first coon dog together, a 3 year old Treeing Walker Coonhound, i.e. my spoiled girl “Trixie”. She is a dog that I’ve gotten offers on a couple times and the answer has always been “Not for sale!” She’s chatty on a track with a bit of a squall mouth but a hard and fast chop on the tree. I’ve come to be pretty familiar with the certain tones and barks she uses when she’s moving in the woods. I can usually tell you what she’s doing and what she’s probably about to do. That’s a part of this sport I admire though. You aren’t just sitting there waiting for your dogs to bring you a dead raccoon. You are literally following your dogs voice through what can be very
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Having said that, we hunt every season with one of our closest friends on his farm in the next town over, and he has never made me feel inadequate. In fact, he even lets his youngest daughter who is about 9 or 10 tag along with us sometimes. It’s a cool experience to get to help teach a youth hunter, but it makes it just that much sweeter when that youth is a fellow female coon hunter who can out hunt any little boy I know. I am by no means an extremist over the top feminist, but when it comes to hunting, I absolutely believe that women have the same capabilities as men, and other men clearly agreed! That’s essentially why I started the “Women Coon Hunters” group on Facebook. I knew I couldn’t be the only woman that legitimately loved this sport. I wanted to give other ladies like myself a forum where they might feel a little more comfortable sharing from a woman’s perspective, without worrying about judgments from the opposite sex. The response I got was amazing, especially the response from the men that wanted to share my page with the women in their own lives. I have gotten to meet so many inspiring women from all over the Midwest since I started Women Coon Hunters, from housewives to competition hunters who do this full time and everything in between. My favorite part about Women Coon Hunters is the empowerment, positivity, and support we can offer each other. I love seeing these other proud moms and wives post pictures of their family with their dogs. It goes to show that these dogs are so much more to us, both men & women, than just a piece of hunting equipment. Our dogs are a part of our family and they mean the world to us.
and shoulders into all these cuts before I freeze them. If you have your venison processed by a professional, they may or may not do this. You may find that you can talk to them and ask them how they cut up and package the cuts. If you tell them what you’re after they may be willing to process and package your venison according to your wishes.
Slow Cooker Mongolian Venison Recipe by, jason dendy
A slow cooker is definitely what I would consider to be one of the essential tools to have in the kitchen. Many things in the world of wild game cooking transform into delicious dishes after passing through the slow cooker while you’re away at work. And that is the beauty of a slow cooker, the ability to make delicious meals during the week. Many wild game dishes that I cook are geared around being quick and/or convenient and I use a slow cooker quite often. This dish is no different. The only thing to keep in mind is that this recipe does not call for the meat to cook for as long as many other slow cooker dishes do. Since the meat is sliced thinly, you only need to let it cook for about 3-4 hours. That could be a bit tricky to pull off unless you can start it around mid-day or early afternoon. If this dish cooks too long, it will take on a bit of a scorched taste due to the sugar, and too much of your liquid that makes the sauce will cook out. Other than that, this is a super easy dish to pull off and your family will love the delicious flavor of the meat and sauce. Not to mention you’ve now got a great new use for some of those venison roasts hanging out in your freezer. Speaking of the meat, let’s talk about what cut you’ll want to use for this dish. I prefer to use a roast from the hind quarter of the deer. You can use Bottom Round, Bottom Butt, Top Butt, or Top Round cuts, and even a shoulder roast. Keep in mind any cut you use will need to be boneless as you’ll be slicing the meat thin. My first choice would be the Bottom Round or Bottom Butt. Shoulder Roasts are great as well as all of these cuts are flatter than the Top Round which has a good bit of connective tissue and silver skin that you’ll need to cut out and get rid of. I process all my deer myself and break down the hind quarters
Now, on to the recipe. The beauty of most slow cooker dishes is that you simply dump all the ingredients in and walk away. When you come back, you have a delicious meal ready and waiting. Mongolian Beef is probably one of my favorite dishes form a Chinese Restaurant. The fact that you can make it at home using deer meat is just a bonus. This dish wouldn’t be complete without a side of rice, or maybe even a simple vegetable stir fry. Whatever you choose to accompany your meal the venison will be the main attraction and there likely won’t be any leftovers. INGREDIENTS: 1 Boneless Venison Roast- thinly sliced against the grain. (Bottom Round, Bottom Butt, or Shoulder Roast) ¼ Cup Cornstarch 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar ½ Cup Soy Sauce ½ Cup water ½ Cup Green Onions- sliced into ¼ inch pieces 1 TBSP Sesame Oil 2 TSP Minced Garlic 2 TSP Minced Ginger INSTRUCTIONS: To start, remove as much fat, connective tissue, and silver skin as possible from your venison roast. Next, slice the roast into thin strips about ¼ inch thick and about 3 inches long. Place the meat in a zip top bag with the cornstarch and seal the bag. Toss the meat with the cornstarch to coat evenly. Add the meat to the slow cooker. Add the sesame oil, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, water, and soy sauce. Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours. Stir in the green onions and serve over rice. Enjoy! 21
stronger, right? Fast forward to 2012 and I was fully recovered from the horse wreck accept some daily aches and pains that one would expect someone as hard on their body as I am to have. I was team roping regularly and had just ridden my spicy little mare Gypsy through a ranch horse competition that contained an extreme trail event. My husband Adam wouldn’t even come watch that part because he said he knew I would ride it like my ass was on fire and he didn’t want
Against The Odds By, Angie Kokes While I will admit to praying, and possibly begging once or twice for an easy button in my life, easy really has no place in the realm of Angie. Some call me crazy, say I need my head examined, or I should be put in a padded room. But the tougher the challenge, the more I am inclined to dive in head first. If something’s worth having, it’s worth the work to get it. But in the spring of 2013 I collided with a freight train of a challenge that derailed me and changed the course my life had been barreling down. A cowgirl, team roper, and told by many I was tough as nails I thought I could handle anything thrown my way. I’d been through multiple surgeries and a couple dozen broken bones all ready and in 2007 I’d walked away… literally, without going to the hospital or doctor from a horrific wreck with a colt that when months later I did finally have an MRI we learned I was lucky to be alive. The injuries revealed included a 4.5” skull fracture, 2 broken vertebra, C6 and C7, multiple tears in my right rotator cuff and a broken left foot. While this was a horribly painful and long recovery, it didn’t slow me down much. I had even roped in a USTRC roping 10 days after the wreck had taken place, and so I was feeling pretty invincible at this point in my life. What doesn’t kill you makes you 22
to see me kill myself. I’m pleased to say Gypsy ran that course as crazy as I wanted her to and it was a wild ride! So shy of a couple freshly broken ribs that bit a little, life was barreling along my tracks
point. And that point had come, my stubborn was even exhausted with the relentless pain, to the point I really didn’t care if they just cut the arm off, and so the surgery was scheduled. Once under the knife the surgery did reveal damage to the tennis elbow nerve, but it also revealed a torrid of other damage. A bicep tear that assumingly caused the tennis elbow, and swelling from it also diminished blood flow to my forearm, atrophying an extensor there. Through a fog and shock in recovery I heard the surgeon say we had to remove a lot of dead tissue. And I guess in case I hadn’t heard him the first time, he followed it again with A LOT of dead
just fine. And then straight out of the blue
tissue. And sometime during the explanation of what sounded like the
one day my right arm started to hurt. It caught me really off guard as normally I remember what stupid stunt it is I’ve tried that has gotten me hurt, but I really had nothing for this one. I ignored it as much
no bow. My body was vibrating and numb all at once, I should have wanted to cry but all I wanted to do was puke. For the
as could, but this pain hated me, like it had a vengeance on my very being. Burning, throbbing, aching, biting like I’d imagine a big ole wolf bite would feel like. When I could no longer pick up a toothbrush without wincing in pain I went to the doctor and was told I had tennis elbow. What the? Are you kidding me? I don’t even play tennis! And what a lame injury to have disabled my arm, just stupid! These thoughts and more buzzed like a swarm of angry bees in my head non stop for days. Physical therapy ensued with no results, and my once muscular arm was shrinking. We tried as many rounds of cortisone shots as one can get in a year and while they did dull the pain, when it came back it ravaged me. Almost 9 months in what was left hanging at my side didn’t even resemble much of an arm anymore. More like skin hanging off of bone. The only way I could move it was to pick it up with my left arm, otherwise it was a dead stick. And I finally had to admit the surgeon we had met with a few times earlier had been right. When I had refused surgery a few weeks earlier, he simply turned to Adam and said, this is not a matter of if she has surgery, but is a matter of when she has surgery. Everything is set up, so just call when she is ready. And she will be ready at some
Hiroshima bomb went off in your arm I heard the words two years, recovery and
first time in my life something had slowed me down, heck as far as I was concerned at that moment, that something had just as well killed me. But I have Adam, a husband who while might be terrified of what kind of crazy ideas I’m going to come up with and pursue, still pushes me. And while angry I still had hope and hope a little drive is all I need to push me. Two days post surgery Adam filled the pickup with guns and stated simply you’ve got a left arm, we’re going to get this figured out. And so that is how the next several months went, figuring out how to be me left handed. Fortunately for me, but not so much for the turtles who had infested a pond on our place that summer, I spend hundreds of hours sitting on it’s banks and eliminating turtles one by one with a .22 long rifle, left handed. Every time I would get down Adam would come up with a new “project” for me to try left handed. Yet all the while September and bow season crept closer and closer, and the thought of not being able to shoot my compound bow consumed me. This was one thing that bothered Adam, not because I had a crossbow so I could still hunt, but because he knew I was going to push the envelope and do whatever it would take to shoot my compound bow again. What I don’t think
he could have ever imagined or even dreamed I’d want to try to do with a rotten arm was spear hunt. But when you’re knocking on the door to impossible you just as well kick that baby down. And so that’s what I told him. I want to spear a bear! He never asked why or discouraged me, just built me a spear and said let’s get through the next few months first okay? And so began the excruciating therapy to rebuild my arm. There were days I thought for sure I was sweating pure blood, days I would do way to much and then consequently pay dearly for most of the next week, but ever so slowly my muscles, minus what was removed were coming back along with my strength. A few months prior to surgery in my mind I guess I knew what was coming so I had turned the poundage on my bow down to 40 and sighted it in to be ready to hunt after a tennis elbow surgery, but not counting on all of the other damage. Still, my bow was ready and waiting for me that fall. To make Adam feel better I did carry the crossbow and my compound bow, just in case a monster would walk out and I couldn’t draw. I hunted all season with both but never pulled the trigger on the crossbow and I only drew my compound bow back and shot one time to tag a doe. Mentally and physically I don’t think I could have forced myself through the pain of drawing a bow again that season. I threw up and almost passed out in the tree stand from just that one draw and I wasn’t in any hurry to do it again. Even so, I was elated to have accomplished that one shot and I knew it would only get easier and I would only get stronger with each passing day. One thing that never came back great was my ability to swing a rope. And in the summer of 2017 I got the news that no cowgirl/team roper wants to hear. From the repair done to my forearm in the last surgery and the subsequent rebuilding of my muscles there, a different nerve had become entrapped and damaged. Most nerves are supposed to look plump and white, mine is thin like a hair and black. I was told the chance of it severing are extremely high and if it does the game with my right arm is over. What you might ask would hurt this nerve… swinging a rope. And so just like that I was no longer a team roper. A path my life had gone down for so long, had just vanished with the breeze. It gutted me, I won’t lie. But my arm still works and hunting has begun to take me places I never could have imagined. Like Alaska in the spring of 2018 where I speared a bear with it, just like I told Adam I was going to do five years earlier. I always say, failure is only an option if you quit !
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Meet the Ladies of Paramount Outdoors EHG Tribe Pro Staff"
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Brandy Bennett, the foremost whitetail and turkey hunter in the Keystone State and Northeast corridor and a staunch 2A supporter and conservationist.
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Amy Ray, owner of the Sisterhood of the Outdoors organization that introduces women and girls to hunting and stages biggame, waterfowl, and turkey hunts across North America.
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Kristy Kellick, known within her industry as "Crossbow Kristy" and one of the preeminent whitetail hunters in the Southeast.
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Tina Henry, the highly respected big game and hog hunter from Texas, who is a pro staff member for a number of different sporting goods companies.
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Hannah Hatch, this season's of the unique "For Love Or Likes" competition show on the Outdoor Channel and a revered whitetail hunter and freshwater/saltwater game-fish angler.
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Brooke Benham-Wright, the incredibly talented big game hunter and bow-fisher who’s also a double-black belt in Taekwondo and champion of Discovery Channel’s #1 hit show, “Naked & Afraid”
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DAKOTA PRAIRIE TAXIDERMY Waterfowl Tips from Taxidermist Mike Bakke Great hunts don’t always end with bagging the most extravagant of birds, but you were fortunate enough to harvest one worthy of a spot on your wall for all to admire for years to come and reminisce of the memorable hunt. What you do with it after the harvest can make or break the outcome of your mount. Here are some helpful tips to keep your bird in the best shape possible.
PHOTOS BY MIKE BAKKE
• If youre thinking about having your bird mounted, retrieving the bird yourself and not sending the dog will help keep the feathers intact and decrease the risk of broken feathers. Do not “ring the neck” if the bird isn’t full dispatched, I recommend carrying a T pin or other related product with you to push into the base of the skull to humanely and quickly dispatch the bird with minimal damage to the neck and feathers. • Keep the duck separate. Find a cool, dry spot for the duck that is out of the sun, and away from any other possible feather damage. • Lightly dab away any excess blood, but do not wash the duck in the water. • If the temperature is below freezing, make sure your duck isn’t resting on metal, wood or the ground. Tuck the duck’s head against its chest or back, and gently smooth all of the bird’s feathers. • Tightly double-bag the duck and promptly freeze until you can deliver it to the taxidermist. Proper field care from the moment of harvest will give you the best results from your mount for years to come and your local Taxidermist will thank you.
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