Born and raised on the outskirts of Huntsville, AL in a city called Athens, hunting didn’t find a way into my life until the age of 32, in 2007. With the New Year came a new adventure, one that I never would’ve imagined myself partaking in!

Until recently, my only experiences in the fields or woods were of me and my faithful stray Shepherd Mix ‘Goodwill’. She and I would leave out early in the day and return home several times to reassure my grandmother that I was safe. She and I were inseparable; spending our time wading in creeks, venturing through neighboring horse pastures and playing in the cotton field that surrounded our home. Being a Tom-Boy by all definitions, riding my three-wheeler or bicycle for hours on end, up and down a red dirt road, I usually needed to hose off before entering the house. When I wasn’t in the cotton field, I was in the creek, putting my water creatures into the jars my grandmother had collected from buying pickles and jelly. However, the creek was also my place of peace. Goodwill and I took many naps on a bed of gravel underneath an old bridge. I remember dragging some wood under there to make the perfect spot for sitting and allowing your feet to hang into the shallow water. Looking back, it’s a wonder that I didn’t dam the water with all of my creations!

Once, while visiting my great-grandmother, I was allowed to go fishing in a neighboring pond. What was unknown to her was that I didn’t know anything about fishing! But, somehow I baited a hook and caught a fish…but now what? I took that fish and reeled it all the way up to the end of the pole and jumped two fences running back for help. When I arrived at her house I was so upset! While I had planned to catch a fish, I didn’t have any plans about what to do with it. I didn’t want to injure it, I knew it needed to be released and now I had it out of water for a lengthy time. She took it off my hook and reassured me that the little fish would be okay and for me to run as fast as I could to put it back into the pond. And I did that and left, with thoughts of her reassurance that the small fish would be okay. Thinking back, that fish didn’t have a chance but my great-grandmother would’ve never told me that!

While my teenage years came fast around the corner, Goodwill and I still made our usual trips, but now we had a four wheeler. My creek and field time was rare now that I had a job, school was harder and boys found a way into my mind. Sadly, it was almost obsolete. I’d take her for brief runs on occasion but I worked a lot and had moved with my mom farther away from our home place that was next to my grandparents. In 1993, I graduated high school, my work hours continued to increase and I entered college. Goodwill died that following December, leaving such a hollow place in my heart. There’s never been another ‘Goodwill’ for me, and I believe it to be impossible.

Thankfully, my husband Wes has been reintroduced to hunting and has included me. I’ve never encountered any interest that has fueled my curiosity to this point. I’m enthralled by the Outdoor Channel and all of the literature that’s coming through our door! Being so intrigued by all that I’m learning, I find myself reading from link to link about other females that are involved in this male dominated activity. Now, being the blank slate that I am, I’m learning about how the wind affects your success, there are seasons by which your choice of game is decided, one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to guns, and that there is such a thing called a snipe (haha)!

I’ve had a lot of drastic life changes occur over the past 3 yrs. My older son started school, my younger son was diagnosed with Autism (a neurological disorder), I left a much loved position with Child Protective Services to be at home with my children on a full time basis, my husband had a career change and my life has been like the Daytona 500…very fast paced with the feeling of a restrictor plate pushing against the natural order of things. Hunting is a much needed activity for me; it’s something in which I am finding ‘nourishment’. It’s feeding my soul, providing me with an inner peace and serenity that hasn’t been around for years. I’ve yet to ‘bring home the bacon’ but the feeling that is present when I look through my binoculars, climb into the tree stand or crawl into the shade and listen to my surroundings takes me back to a much simpler time in my life when I was at peace, without the worry of what the future may hold, similar to the time spent with Goodwill. While I’m dressed in camouflage and carrying whichever gun my husband has handed me, I’m not ‘Nicole the mom, wife, therapist, Autism Advocate, referee, chauffeur, cook’. I experience a sense of tranquility and calmness, which for me has been an all too rare sensation. However, now when I start to feel the overwhelming anxiety of my life, I think of being in the woods and reflect on William Feather’s saying, “Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it”. I envision that great things will come to my family as a result of this world opening to me. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you and hope that you will find both humor and encouragement as I step out of my box. Applauding the women that came before me, and with encouraging words for the women that are beginning this pursuit along with me, I say proudly… let’s GITT’R DONE!