Women Gone Wild

In celebration of female hunters, fishers and outdoor lovers everywhere, I wanted to dedicated a few posts, throughout the month of October, to these individuals and their importance in the overall support of these sporting endeavors. Frequently, these courageous individuals do not receive the tutelage and network of support that is more typically afforded males, for these reasons, they are challenged from the very beginning in their quest to follow their natural passions.

The introduction of children to the outdoors, hunting and fishing should never be reserved for only males. For these activities to continue to flourish, we must work to ensure that all children are included, for the exclusion of females from these activities is sure to push these pursuits to extinction.

If you know of any woman, regardless of age, who is interested in challenging herself to the rigors of the outdoors and experiencing first hand the beauty nature has to offer, please encourage and nurture that individual into their chosen pursuit. In this series of postings, my hope is I might inspire perhaps a single female to join the growing ranks of women who have gone wild.

To start this series, I wanted to better understand the mindset and ideals of female hunters to determine if they were similar or divergent from the male way of thinking. Though this experiment, I hoped to uncover vital information about the outdoorswoman. I had heard rumors through the years, that most women when trained, were better shots, more patient in the deer stand and better listeners when receiving instruction then their male counterparts, however, I was not totally convinced and need access to evidence. Specifically, I needed to attain cold hard facts and not word of mouth based conjecture.

To do so, I first needed to find a female hunter, a task not as easy as you would imagine. Complicating this process was the simple fact, this individual also needed to possess enough class and grace to put up with my barrage of questioning without wanting to punch me in the face. Considering all of the apparent variables, I finally came to the conclusion that there was only one type of female hunter in the known universe who would be able to fulfill all these requirements and also hopefully not break my nose.  Bottom line, I needed to find a Maine girl.

For those uneducated in Maine Women, you should know they are an off shoot of the female species known for their natural love of the outdoors, ability to get ready for a night out on the town in 10 minutes or less, tenacity and innate capacity to put up with as much $#%^ as they can give. Considering this impressive set of skills, I knew I had made the right decision BUT where would I begin my search?

After cruising around Craig’s list for a few hours, I did find a number of Maine girls BUT they were definitely NOT what I was looking for and most even wanted to charge me by the hour!! Finally after a long and exhaustive search, I stumbled across the blog of a kind lady named Erin at (http://andastrongcupofcoffee.blogspot.com) and asked her nicely if she might be interested in entertaining a few of my questions. Thankfully, she agreed!

Q and A Interview with Erin Continues 10/5/11