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"Who, Me?"  I was stunned.   That was my reaction when I read the nomination letter written by Judy Usnier of Big Grass Outfitters in Manitoba .  She accurately described both me, and the bear hunt we were on.  But, I never saw myself the way she wrote about me, especially the part about being patient, because I am not a patient person.  It took four years, and  over 31 hours and five days hunting to arrow my first bear.

I did not begin serious hunting until I was 41 years old - about ten years ago.  I had gone squirrel hunting before that with my son when I was 38 and he was 8, but I was a late bloomer as far as the true hunting addiction goes.  I have written about those origins in my articles here at WomenHunters, so I won't write about them again.  You can go to my bio page and click on those articles. 

Hunting - the entire wonderful invigorating frustrating sublime adventure of it, satisfies some very core basal needs in my inner being.

First, I have an obsessive personality and once I focus on a particular goal, I go after it with everything I've got.  I like goals that are a challenge.  Things that come too easily do not appeal to me, because for me, the greater enjoyment is more in the wanting than it is in the having.   I like a challenge, and I thrive on envisioning success.  Trying to figure critters out and outwit them in order to arrow them, is a great challenge.  I freely admit however that I am not a trophy hunter and don't know that I will ever be one.  When I teach Firearm Safety or Bowhunter Education, I reinforce to my students that I feel it is a misplaced priority for us average hunters to focus only upon taking trophy animals.  That might be fine for those who are professional hunters, but for the rest of us, it is a formula for disappointment.  Any animal taken with a bow, is a trophy.  I arrowed a porcupine last week, and was even proud of it.   This year, after running my own baits and hunting bears on my land for four years, I finally arrowed a small black bear... just two weeks after arrowing the small chocolate color phase bear in Manitoba .  I also arrowed a nice large doe on my land as well, and that was the only deer I chose to harvest, passing on several more bucks and does before archery season ended on December 31^st.  I had my Manitoba bear done in a full body mount and have already had one comment about his being so small.  My reply was "Ya, ain't it great? Much better eating to".

The second major appeal of hunting for me is being in the woods and in the outdoors.  I am very much attuned to the rhythm of nature and I am in my element in the wild, especially when alone.  There are no greater pleasures for me than farming my food plots, scouting and putting up stands, splitting wood by hand or simply sitting in my tree stand on a drizzly fall morning as the day breaks.  I love the smell of moist oak bark, the sound of my paddle in the water when I canoe in the swamp, the feeling of sweat on my brow when I work a chain saw, or the smoke of  the fire as I relax at day's end at my hunting shack.  I love to sneak up on red squirrels, watch garter snakes sunning on the trail and to stand late at night in the light of the moon and watch beavers skimming the water of the pond, slapping it with their tails.  Hunting, archery and being in the outdoors are food for my soul.

A third element of hunting, is sharing it with other seasoned hunters and in teaching new hunters.  I have the privilege of hunting with a number of ladies around the country various times during the year and also with other friends.  Being with like-minded predators is awesome.  It is a link that defies explanation.

To be recognized for something I enjoy so much and which is so effortless to love, is almost an undeserved honor.  I thank Judy for nominating me.  And I thank WomenHunters for providing a venue for hunters, new or experienced, young or old, female or male, to share this passion we have for hunting and archery.  See you in the woods!

Linda Kistler Burch