Chrissy - Featured Lady Archer/Bowhunter

From Chrissy:
When I first was introduced to bowhunting by Brian Pullam of the YBC, I thought it was an awful sport. I was closed minded to the fact that anyone could want to hunt for fun. I had never been taught by my parents about hunting or anything like that. I had just conducted my own opinion about it and that was it. I told Brian that I was an animal lover and I thought hunting was mean. Brian recanted, and explained that he was an animal lover as well. He said anyone that would wake up before daylight, and step out in the bitter cold, on a day off, had to be in love with something. This intrigued me.

Brian didn't force me into bowhunting at all. He would just do simple things like show me how he could shoot his bow, and explain why he hunted, told me funny stories about things that happened while he had been hunting, and shared with me the experience of bowhunting, and his passion about it.

Then he asked me if I would like to learn to shoot. Archery seemed fun, I wasn't to sure about the hunting part, but archery I could deal with. So every weekend for 5 months I was over his house taking archery lessons. I was really frustrated at first, but Brian was patient with me, and though he didn't hold my hand the whole time, his help was there when I needed it.

He did some talking to my mother, and somehow, someway convinced her to let me go hunting with him in Texas at Robert Hoague's house. I couldn't believe I was actually going.

The weeks before were my preparation weeks. We watched hunting videos, went over shot placement, what to wear, the what if's of safety, ect ect. Until The day finally came.

I still wasn't quiet sure if I was going to be able to harvest a deer or not. Not that I didn't have confidence, I just wasn't sure if bowhunting was for me.

All week I had been seeing deer. Lots of deer. 10 yards away deer. I was in awe.

The day before we left I was up in my treestand and the deer were in my sights. A big bodied doe was fighting off another deer when all of a sudden my heart began to race, and almost on instinct I drew my bow, as she came back to feed and poke along on the ground, I set my pin, took a deep breath and I heard the pop.

It surprised myself, the arrow had hit it's mark and I had shot my first deer.

At that moment I knew why so many people bowhunted. One on one with the wild, your spirit, mind, and body are all in tune with each other and together, with nature, they harmonize.

You feel your place on this earth, and you know that your creator has made a work of art in everything he molded.

It's got everything to do with the things mother nature shows you when you are in her domain. The little critters she scurries up your tree, the melodies she creates as the birds sing, and the humbling factor of being in pursuit, the thrill of the chase, and being in the great out of doors.

What does bowhunting mean to me you may ask? Well I can't explain it. I don't know if any bow hunter can quite explain it, but experience it for yourself one time, and you will understand.

Chrissy Bruder
Chrissy@Bowhunting.net