Woman Hunters

[Mort]

Not sure if this was ever brought up, but I'll go ahead with it.

Its great that most of you get your spouses, girlfriend, daughter involved with hunting, nice to see them get involved in something you like to do or they like to do.

My curiosity got me thinking of how many do more than shoot the deer/game, take a picture with it and walk away, let someone else do the dirty work? I don't thinks that right, I would love to just shoot my deer and let joe gut it, skin it and quarter it.

My cousin daughter got her youth tag this year and filled it, he made her skin the deer, he sets a good example to his daughters that its not all about going out and shooting the game, then go home and not get involved with processing of the game.

I'm all for getting the females involved with hunting, but think they should also be involved in processing the game, don't care how gross they think it is, hunting is not about just shooting.

 

[Vollmer]

My wife helps process the game all the way through. Butchering, processing, etc ...

I do all the deer gutting, though.

 

[fly2cast]

Well when you take your wife, daughter or girlfriend out hunting, make them clean it. It will learn them a life lesson I'm sure.

For me, I have my daughter or son help me but I usually do most of the work. I usually don't think twice about how much work I'm doing or somebody else is not doing. Just out there to have fun with the kids.

 

[Account Deleted]

My wife doesn’t hunt but she helps with the processing. She loves venison. Likes her steaks so rare she’d take a bite out of a live deer if I let her.

 

[DirtyMike]

I made my wife help skin her first bow deer. Might be the reason why she hasn't went hunting again.

 

[deleted]

If I choose to happily field dress my daughters deer for her, I truly don't know why anyone would give a shit about that. It is an awesome time we get to spend together every year, sitting in our blind chatting about everything possible. She gets to take her deer to the locker plant to provide some tasty treats for her family.

 

[savage270]

Nice original topic :;:thumbsup

For us, it just depends on the situation. If its decent out, my wife likes to field dress her own deer. However, if its cold/dark/raining there is not point in her suffering through it when I can gut one in about 3 minutes flat. (I think I set my own personal record last year when my son shot his youth doe beside a mosquito infested swamp)

My wife is also more than willing to help skin and butcher, but I usually prefer she just goes back to the camper to cook breakfast/lunch for us and take care of the other camp chores so that we can get back in the woods sooner.

When we get home, we process the meat together. We also have a good system for cleaning fish together.

 

[Rowdie]

I made my wife help skin her first bow deer. Might be the reason why she hasn't went hunting again.

Yea, Its a catch 22. My wife doesn't hunt, but will go fishing with me. If I made her clean the fish and bait every hook she wouldn't go. She can and does bait her own hook and will even through lines out when shore fishing, but would rather have me do it as I can whip them out farther.

My brother likes to take his wife and daughter out hunting, but I know he has to do the dirty work. Again, if he made them do all the gutting and skinning they probably wouldn't go. They do however help him butcher the deer into steaks, jerky and sausage. I know he's tried to make them gut it but I think he still has to do it. IMO it's whatever works for your family. You could say guys who take their deer to the meat locker without even skinning it are in the same boat as women who don't gut, and skin.

 

[db-2]

For me I like the fact that my son does all the dirty work. However it only happens once every five years. It was the same with my dad.

I came abound a father with his daughter and her first kill. He asked me what to do next as he had never process a kill.
Ok so we load the deer and take it to a place to gut. She gets the knife out. I would guess her to be maybe in her young teens.
So I told her the first thing we need to do is cut that their bag off between its back legs. It was awkward to say the least as this is the first time I met her. Did get a thank you note from her.
Took the granddaughter out for her first kill. At 15 she dug right in all the way including cutting the meat into bags. db

 

[eseamands]

I am not ashamed to say that my wife is a better deer hunter than I am. She grew up hunting with her dad, and it was the "2nd Youngest's Job" to gut the deer and "the youngest had to skin". So between her and her brother they did most of the gutting and skinning while they were growing up.

Since we started dating 10 years ago, she has gutted every single deer we have shot together. Her's or mine. She is way more efficient at it than I am. She also helps out with the quartering and clean up of the meat, which we take out to her Dad's and make into sausage around Christmas every year.

 

[SDMF]

Wife likes to fish, however I'm not about to tell her, "You gotta put your own leech on and clean your own fish if you wanna go."

I guess I think that if you foster and encourage the desire to go hunting/fishing, the rest will eventually take care of itself out of necessity.

As my kids grow, it's very interesting to observe how much boys and girls are alike in their actions and curiosities until someone tells them they should somehow act or think differently. Every kid prods and pokes at fish, bird, or animal carcasses, they all seem particularly interested/curious specifically about the eyes. Then, one day, some ass-wipe tells girls in particular that "boys do that", or "that's gross, girls shouldn't do that", or something similar and a quick off-handed comment by someone who wasn't thinking just about requires the kid to be enrolled in re-education camp to get them back on board with outdoors type stuff.

I clean an awful lot of fish and birds that I didn't catch/shoot while other folks are tidying up the boat/pickup, tending to dogs, or getting the rest of supper ready to go.

 

[deleted]

Yea, Its a catch 22. My wife doesn't hunt, but will go fishing with me. If I made her clean the fish and bait every hook she wouldn't go. She can and does bait her own hook and will even through lines out when shore fishing, but would rather have me do it as I can whip them out farther.

My brother likes to take his wife and daughter out hunting, but I know he has to do the dirty work. Again, if he made them do all the gutting and skinning they probably wouldn't go. They do however help him butcher the deer into steaks, jerky and sausage. I know he's tried to make them gut it but I think he still has to do it. IMO it's whatever works for your family. You could say guys who take their deer to the meat locker without even skinning it are in the same boat as women who don't gut, and skin.

And I would say the guys that sit back and judge others are in the same boat as the church basement ladies.............#$%^&>

I try to bring as little deer hair home on my clothes as possible. My wife is seriously allergic to deer hair. First time we found that out we were at a petting zoo in I think it was Park Rapids Minnesota. She came out of that looking like she had the living crap beat out of her she swelled up so bad. Fortunately she understands my passion for deer hunting, and I always try to change all clothes in the shop and then run stuff through the washer when she is out.

 

[Retired Educator]

I have hunted with a couple men who can't gut their own deer. Well, they can, it just takes longer because they have to take time-out every so often to barf. Wife doesn't hunt but granddaughter and daughter in law do. There is so much more to hunting than cleaning the animal as others have stated. Gutting an animal is no problem for me so I'll do it if the shooter doesn't like that part. Was on a guided elk hunt and even cleaned the elk I shot. Guide offered but I told him I could easily handle it. When finished he commented "I've never seen an elk gutted that fast." Practice helps.

 

[Captain Ahab]

That would be the last deer she shot. She doesn't even eat the thing if it isn't jerky.

 

[Obi-Wan]

Get them hooked on hunting a few years before they have to deal with the gutting

 

[Coyote Hunter]

If I choose to happily field dress my daughters deer for her, I truly don't know why anyone would give a shit about that. It is an awesome time we get to spend together every year, sitting in our blind chatting about everything possible. She gets to take her deer to the locker plant to provide some tasty treats for her family.

I agree completely. As long as they are out hunting, that is great.

My wife and daughter will/would gut their deer, but I generally do that for them. They help, but I do most of the work, and I don't mind it. My wife helped pack my Montana buck out on a frame pack... and she was excited to do it!

 

[Petras]

My wife won't touch venison (except I did get her to admit she'd probably be ok with it mixed with pork and made into meatballs) but she likes to go hunting with me. She gets a tag and fills it because she knows that our son and myself love deer sausage. She has only killed a couple deer so I go ahead and do all the gutting/skinning/processing.

I look at it like this.. the more deer sausage I have to make, the more beer I get to drink.

 

[BBQBluesMan]

About 6 months into dating my Fiance, I took her out to Wyoming for pronghorn hunting. She let me shoot off her back for one of the does haha, and helped me skin and quarter the two does and the buck I got. I did all the knife work, but she held the legs and helped pull hide and haul meat out. Never complained once. That's when I knew she was the one! She also will bait and unhook her own fish, but I still will do it from time to time. Good woman. I never would make her gut or skin a deer, I am just glad she enjoys the outdoors almost as much as I do.

I just proposed this weekend while out deer hunting after a year and a half. We hiked up a high butte and I think she was ready to kick my ass. I had her stand facing away from me looking some awesome scenery while I said I was taking a picture when I was actually fumbling with the ring and got down on one knee. Started playing a song and when she turned around, she wasn't so tired from hiking anymore. The rest is history! Now we just need to fill some deer tags

 

[Kurtr]

And I would say the guys that sit back and judge others are in the same boat as the church basement ladies.............#$%^&>

I try to bring as little deer hair home on my clothes as possible. My wife is seriously allergic to deer hair. First time we found that out we were at a petting zoo in I think it was Park Rapids Minnesota. She came out of that looking like she had the living crap beat out of her she swelled up so bad. Fortunately she understands my passion for deer hunting, and I always try to change all clothes in the shop and then run stuff through the washer when she is out.

I used to be so allergic to deer that i had to wear dust masks and if the hair even got close to me i swelled up. Eyes would close and get black and had snot from my nose to the ground. When i first met my wife she though i was crazy dealing with it but to me it was normal. It sucked but in the last three years the allergy had gone away. She deer hunts now but i gut and skin and eat the deer i am not about to tell her she has to do it as it would end the out door time together.

 

[Shockwave]

Really don't care. I hunt with my wife and two daughters and do most of the gutting and skinning. One of my daughters and my wife try to to gut and skin their deer but it's painful to watch so I do it. They do, however, help with the processing which is a big family event in our house. For me it's quality family time without electronics and other junk and I am always a proud husband and father when they fill their tags and have smiles ear to ear.