High On A Mountain

By Lora Gene Young of GypsyNomadHunting

I stand on the steep slope of the mountain taking in the scene below. Lake Ohau looms a brilliant blue in the distance welcoming the glacier waters from the rivers that meander through the valley. I take a deep breath and inhale the cool, crisp mountain air. My heart is thumping in my chest, my mind is racing and I am giddy with excitement as we cross the thick scrub to my animal. 

This morning started the same as most mornings working for Southern Mountain Adventures in New Zealand. The kettle was on for coffee and tea, bacon and eggs in the fry pan, a hungry group at the breakfast table. I never dreamed that would be the day I would be standing next to my first tahr!

It all happened so fast. We had a few extra minutes, we had a helicopter, my boss, Croc Adams, asked if I wanted to give it a go on the top of the facing mountain, and we jumped in and away we went.

We spotted a group of bulls at the top of the mountain across from the cabin. We got in position on a flat spot looking up across a shingle slide. The plan was to get the group to run down the slide towards us. As goes with most plans, the animals did not cooperate. They ran across the ridge and behind us. I got one shot off at a big bull, but it went right over his head and he disappeared across the ridge.

One lone bull had run the opposite direction and was on the next ridge over. We radioed the helicopter pilot our plan and went to find this one. As we swung around the ridge, there he was, silhouetted on a rocky out crop. He was even bigger than the first one! He jumped over the bluff and disappeared into the tall scrub. 

We found a place to set up for a shot. We slip and slide across the shingle face and wade through the heavy vegetation to get to a good shooting spot. Many times I find myself sliding on my bum down the slope or grasping for bush branches as I step down into holes. But we have to move quickly into position.

My bull is in the brush below us. As he makes his way across the mountain face I try and get a shot, but he is moving fast and keeps disappearing in the thick brush. Finally, he turns and moves up the slope. He is within range, but he is moving away from us. 

All I see is his rear. I whisper to Croc, "Can I shoot him in the ass?"

The response, "Yes, shoot him in the arse."

So I squeeze the trigger.

We hear the thump of bullet connecting with flesh. I have hit him. But he is still running, tahr are such tough creatures. Another round is chambered. I fire again. Another hit and he slows. He is down, but still alive. One more shot and it is over. My heart is pounding in my ears. We scramble through the thick vegetation to his location. There is my bull. Full, thick mane and massive body, some of the biggest based horns I have seen.

Never did I imagine my fist bull tahr would be a seven-year-old, 12 1/2 inch with ten-inch bases! An hour later, after photos and skinning and packing the car, when we are on our way to leave camp, I realize, my legs are shaking and I am still grinning from ear -to-ear with excitement.

Croc still teases me about shooting my tahr in the the butt. I tease him about telling me to do it! He says, “Well, I didn’t expect you to actually hit him!” Guess he learned, do not tell this girl with a gun to shoot and expect a miss!

Alicia Meyer Interview

Here at Huntress View we are all about encouraging women to take up hunting & shooting. We feel one way to do that is for women to learn about it from another woman's perspective. With that concept in mind, we will be featuring 1-2 huntresses per month on our blog as a way to reach out to and educate even more women on hunting and the outdoors. The women featured can be new to hunting or well known in the industry, providing feedback on hunting from all experience levels and many different perspectives. So ladies, whether you are new to hunting or have been doing it for years, these blog features are for you! 
                                                                                                        -Andrea Haas

Our first huntress being featured is Alicia Meyer from Minnesota! Check out the interview below to get to know her a little better.

HV: What state do you hunt?
AM:  I hunt the beautiful land of 10,000 lakes, Minnesota.


HV: What types of animals do you hunt? Which is your favorite?
AM: I hunt all types of game. From waterfowl, turtles, upland game birds, small game and big game like deer. Being that Minnesota has so much water on it, you can just about bet you can find ducks. I find ducks to be one of the harder hunts for me up here. Trying to push and shove through the cattails and bogs with 5 layers of clothing on, because it's maybe 30 degrees that mornin'. Then of course come the freezin' hands once you get to the decoys. But, I'm not complainin'. Duck hunting is unique and more of a challenge, which is why it is so rewarding. Central MN offers a lot of farm land, so I do enjoy hunting geese as well, especially in the corn fields because I am able to get so close. It really excites me when they fly right over and I can hear their wings. I don't do a lot of pheasant hunting, being that I don't have a dog. But my boyfriend's family is very into it and they live in western MN where the pheasants are more prevalent. I harvested a great turkey last spring with my Hoyt bow and put a perfect shot on him. I love the fall for deer hunting and breakin' out all the blaze orange. My dad got me interested in hunting at 11 years old, because of deer hunting. 

But my favorite animal to hunt...Goes to the Snappin' Turtle. I have been huntin' turtle for a couple years now. And needless to say, I am hooked. And I would love to show and teach women how to turtle hunt. It's so different and that is probably my most favorite thing about the sport, nobody else does it. A lot of people will come watch me catch turtles out in the swamp and it sure is a good ol' time to say the least. I use my turtle traps, so no turtles are harmed in any way. I would love to show women about this sport and how fun it is.

HV: How/when did you get started hunting and who was your biggest influence?

AM: I got into hunting when I was young. My dad would go out and bring back these gorgeous deer, it was amazing to me, to see them and touch them, as a little girl. I didn't turn away from the blood and guts at all. My dad put me into the Hunter Safety Class and I had so much fun. I remember that I did very well on my exam even. I still do some of the things that those old instructors taught me way back when. I kept asking and asking my dad to take me hunting through out the whole year and he got so tired of it I remember... But my birthday came in July and my dad bought me my very first own gun, a 243 Rifle, bolt action. I don't have anything from my dad anymore but that gun and I treat it like a baby and will always have it and think of him. 

My dad was my influence.

HV: Tell us about one of your most memorable hunts

AM: One of my most memorable hunts is of course with my dad... I was much younger then... My dad and I would wake up in the early mornin', he'd have his coffee and cereal and I'd just have my cereal. I would put all my blaze orange on. Hunting in a rifle zone, my dad always made sure I was orange head to toe and then some. He would walk to the stand with my, coffee in hand. And for some reason there was always a skunk smell around us, I've now been sprayed 4 times, but that's a different conversation... The sun was just comin' up yet still a bit dark. We could see a deer jumping over the corn field rows about 300 yards away. My dad asked my 3 times quick if I wanted to take the shot, as a good dad would. Being new, I said, "No, you do it dad"! I was very excited! 

My dad lines it up and shoots his 270. I see the deer do 2 full flips in the air before it hit the ground because he shot it while it was jumping. We could also tell it was a good size buck. I sit there with my dad so excited and anxious to go see it! We get on the ground from the awesome deer stand he built. We had a little ways to walk, but I ended up finding the blood trail and I was so dang proud of that. 

No matter what I did my dad always kept in front of me as we are walking through the corn. He told me probably 3 times to "stay back" but I was pumped and full of adrenalin. We find the deer and it had a huge clearing around it, there was no standing corn at all because he hit the ground hard. My dad tells me once again to "stay back", my eyes were huge, it was an 8 point buck. The biggest deer I've  ever seen at that point. My dad puts the flashlight on his face and I stand by the rear of the deer. My dad walks around him 3 whole times and keeping the light on his face. 

That 3rd time he walked around the buck. Before I could get out a word. I see the eye ball follow my dad, in a circle. If that ain't scary! About a second or two after, it's on his feet! Snortin' and stomping the ground with his head point right at me! The buck moved so incredibly quick, he was down then more alive then ever. 
It all happened so fast I remember I lost my breath because I was standing in front  of a very very angry big ol' 8 point buck. As he jumps to his feet just like that, he snorts and stomps, shakes his head and lowers it at me. This all again took a second or two. At that moment, everything seemed to be in slow motion. I don't know what it was, I know that this happened very quickly but as he was gearing up for me, I remember seeing all the muscle this deer had and how strong he was. I remember the sound he made when he jumped to his feet and stomped the ground. 

While I'm seeing the buck lower his head and shake it, I froze. I didn't have my gun with me... As the deer charges me, bang! My dad grabs his 44 Mag Smith n Wesson and drops him and he was about to charge me as I stood 10 feet maybe from the deer. Again, this was about 2 seconds. The deer drops right in front of me! I look at my dad and he is wide eyed and in shock. The first thing I do is run up to him and give him a hug. 

I drug that deer back home through the corn field...That is my most memorable hunt. It still don't do it justice.

HV: Do you have any hunting related goals for this year?

AM: My hunting goal this year is my usual. To have a blast and get close to nature. I would love to get a 50lbs or more Snappin turtle this year!

HV: -Do you have any advice for women who are new to hunting?

AM: My advice for new women hunters....

          -You won't always get "the big one" so keep your chin up. 

          -Practice makes perfect. Especially for archery. Keep your skills sharp and try new things. You'll be surprised at what you can pick up easier than others. (Another great reason to hunt diff. game)
          - Know the land you hunt on. Know the wildlife. Set trail cams! 

          - ALWAYS keep your side arm on you! 
          - Hunt with the people you love.

Know Your Gear

By Andrea Haas

Whether you hunt with a bow, rifle, muzzle loader, crossbow, or shotgun, it is important to know your gear. When I first started rifle hunting I started by getting familiar with handling, loading and shooting the rifle I knew I would be hunting with. Safety is the most important thing in hunting and being comfortable with your gun is half the battle. Second, to me, is being confident that I can make as clean of a kill as possible. That is why practicing is so important.

Although you definitely need to practice shooting your rifle, once I started bow hunting I found that rifle hunting did not require quite as much effort. I put in countless hours of shooting practice for months before deer season even starts and am now even more comfortable with a bow than any other weapon.

No matter what weapon I am hunting with, I make sure that what I practice with is what I hunt with. I don’t mean that I go bow hunting with my field tips. I mean once I have sighted in my weapon & know what I will be hunting with, I start practicing with that! There is no way that I would replace my field tips with broad heads & go hunting the next day. You have to shoot them first, find out how they fly, and sight in accordingly.

It is also important that all of my equipment is the same. My bow is sighted in using a 100 grain broad head, all the same brand. All of my arrows are the same brand and weight and the fletchings are all the same on each arrow. I want to know that no matter what arrow I use in my quiver, each one is going to shoot the same way.

No matter what type of weapon you use, practice with the gear you know you will be hunting with and make yourself familiar with it. Hunting is already a huge challenge, even when using gear that you have practiced with thousands of times!