Barbie Gets A Buck!

My first buck!

My early memories of deer hunting were of my Dad and brother donning their red hunting jacket and leaving for the woods to go deer hunting. It was an annual tradition. I was never invited and the thought of hunting deer was appalling.  Who could ever shoot one of those pretty creatures? I kept thinking of the movie Bambi. When they achieved success and brought home the dead deer to hang in the tree, I was mortified. I think I even cried. 

Fast forward 40 years, I actually have friends that deer hunt. One friend named Holly, cooks delicious garlic stuffed venison roast. In the past I had only ate venison a few times but didn’t care for it.  However, the way she prepared it was fantastic, and I found my views of hunting changing. When the next hunting season rolled around, I got an invite to tag along.

The first year we headed out to the woods before sun up on opening day. We were hunting on my property out of a deer stand built in a tree. Soon after daylight we heard shots ring out in the distance. My senses perked up and I nearly held my breath.  I remember hearing the snap of a twig and my heart stopped. I think the squirrels were intentionally trying to sound like a deer walking in the woods. I remember it was very cold. I lasted about 4 hours and headed to the house to warm up. I put a pot of soup on the stove and a couple hours later saw Holly walking back towards the house. She removed her blaze orange and left it hanging outside before she came into the house. Seconds later I saw a huge buck saunter through the back yard. I yelled to her that there was a buck in the yard and just like that it was gone. Buckless hunts continued for several years after. 

My house faces the wooded area where I hunt and often see deer. I had never actually seen one while I was hunting until a few years ago. That year I was hunting out of a ground blind, and saw a doe and a young deer walk by. My heart started beating and I felt as if it was pounding in my ear drums. Should I shoot?  It was in range but I decided I didn’t want to shoot a doe. It had a young one with so I would have felt bad taking it. I wanted my first deer to be a buck. I still remember the rush I felt just seeing that deer so close. It was the only deer within range that season. I wasn’t giving up though.

The next year I invested in a Wicked Ridge crossbow and practiced until I felt confident I could hit what I was aiming at. I chose some Muzzy Rage broadheads and soon had everything I needed to give bowhunting a try. I joined other gals who hunted but no one I was with shot a deer. I never got to experience that part of hunting but I knew I liked being in the woods. I enjoyed  the whole culture of waiting for opening day and planning the hunt. I was hopeful my time would soon come. 

Last year I set up my ground blind and decided to put a little more time in. It was easy just to walk out of my house and into the woods to my stand. Each year I learned more. Scent control, blind placement, food plots  and pre season scouting. I even had a couple Hawke trail cams out so I had proof there were big bucks around. I considered myself a deer hunter, even though I had yet to pull the trigger. 

The next season came and I was ready. Bow season opened but somehow it doesn’t have the opening day urgency that gun season does. I got set up and went to my stand one morning. I was alternating rattling horns and using the buck snort call. I realized that my call sounded more like a kazoo or bike horn so I thought I would watch some YouTube videos to get some tips. That evening I went back to my ground blind to give it another go.

What I failed to mention so far is that I have absolutely no patience. After about 10 minutes, out comes my phone and I start looking at facebook or playing solitaire.  I was entertained by a blue jay out my window and even video taped it as it chirped and scratched the ground. I played the video back at the bird just to watch the reaction. Every 10 minutes or so, I would use my call to snort like a buck and this time I thought it sounded much better. I was enjoying myself and felt somewhat on edge knowing something exciting could happen at any moment. 

I developed a pattern, buck snort, a game of solitaire, a facebook check, buck snort, solitaire, facebook check. All while glancing out the window of my ground blind every 30 seconds or so. Buck snort, window check and HOLY COW a HUGE buck walking towards me. I was about 25 yards away. My crossbow was at my feet and I tried to pick it up while barely moving. I set the buck call down on the metal  table next to me and it made a noise when it touched. The deer stopped. I know he heard me. I knew I only had seconds to get a shot. I lifted the sight up to my eye, put the cross hares on target and squeezed the trigger. The deer reared up, turned around, and took off running. I thought I hit it but now its was gone.

My heart was beating out of my chest. It was about to get dark and I didn’t know what to do. I picked up my phone and went to Facebook and posted, “Holy Crap I think I just shot a deer!” Advice started pouring in. “DON’T MOVE”! they wrote. “Stay put and give it some time!” 

I fought the urge to panic. I kept seeing my crosshairs right behind the shoulder blade. I thought how could I have missed! I know my aim was dead on target.   People were messaging me like crazy. “ Are you sure you it it”? They reassured me that if it reared up, I probably hit it. 

As darkness quickly set in I began to get worried. I dreaded the thought of not finding it. I called my neighbor Chuck and asked him for some help. He was happy to come over to help and once he got there, we started looking. It was getting darker and we were looking for any signs of blood. None were found. I paced back and forth with a flashlight hoping to see at least a single drop of blood. I searched for any clue that I actually hit it.  I began to doubt myself. I hoped I had missed completely so there would not be an injured deer or one that had died and wasn’t found. 

Right after we found him!

We split up. Chuck went across the fence line onto the neighbors land and I checked the wooded area towards where the deer ran. I realized I had to invest in a much brighter flashlight as by now it was really dark.  A trail separates the wooded area and the neighbors property and soon I saw Chuck walking towards me on the trail. My heart sank for a moment as I feared the worst. As he got closer I could tell he was dragging something and I ran over to help. When I got to where he was, I saw it. It was the biggest deer I ever saw. A 10 point buck! Chuck confirmed, “Yes it’s a nice buck!” I helped him drag it onto my property. I ran to the house to get my gutting gloves and my Real Avid Revelation X4 buck knife. I had this knife for a couple years and had never used it. It has a special  built in light that illuminates the area you are cutting. 

Real Avid Buck Knife

I got back to Chuck and the buck. I told Chuck, “I’m gutting it”. With Chucks guidance, I slowly cut thru the deer. Chuck was giving me some direction. I was surprised at how calm and not grossed out I was. I had visualised this part of the process as being much worse. When that was done I got my Honda Rubicon ATV and pulled the deer over to the woodshed where a pulley system for hanging deer had been in place for a number of years. It was the first time I was able to use it.   We hooked up the rope and the ATV pulled the deer to hang in the air. I was still in awe at how big it was. It was time for a beer! 

I called my original hunting mentor, Holly, and she told me I had to go cut out the inner loins so they didn’t get dried out. She told me how to do it and I went right back out and completed that task. The rest could wait until morning.  

I posted a picture on Facebook and the congratulations started pouring in. My friends who lived close by came over to see the big buck and I felt like I was walking on air. The next morning we took more pictures in the daylight and my friend Gary came over to help me skin it and cut it up. Once again I was surprised that it was not a horrible task as I had envisioned it would be. We fried up some backstraps and onion and they were delicious. 

Just like the fishing industry, Women are getting more involved in hunting than ever before. Finding a mentor is the best way to get started. I will never be an expert hunter, but I don’t have to be. Enjoying the hunting culture, harvesting your own food, and keeping the tradition alive are all benefits. I hope to invite a new hunter to join me someday. That is what it is all about and I will forever be grateful for all those who have taught me. Even if it’s just with a facebook message. 

Barb Carey is a USCG Captain and a Co-Host on The Woman Angler and Adventurer. She is the founder and President of WI Women Fish and is a member of AGLOW.

My 10 point buck mount.

Hungary for Fishing

Team USA and Coaches

The horn sounds. I swing the 12 foot pole in a giant sweeping motion flinging a delicate float into the water 25 feet in front of where I sit. I wait for the slight twitch of the float, and with a single lift of the rod the 4” fish that took the tiny bait, swings right to me. I unhook, toss the fish in the net and cast again, all in one motion. It’s a rhythm I have been practicing for months. To my right there is a woman from Russia. To my left there is a woman from England. The three of us, along with 85 other women from 17 countries, are on the bank of the Tisza River in Szolnok, Hungary. We are fishing in the 17th Annual World Championship Match Fishing Tournament. If you would have told me one year ago I would be doing this, I would not have believed you. 

The tournament consists of 2 days of fishing, four hours per day.  I have four teammates who are also on the river bank. We all are wearing red, white and blue fishing jerseys that represent Team USA. We’re all sitting on a “seat box”. The legs adjust for the slope of the river bank giving us a stable

Kristen Monroe on her seat box.

platform. The tray at the side of my chair holds 12  baseball sized balls of bait made from an assortment of “fish food” that get tossed into the water every 20 minutes. Another container holds a paste to be flung into the water every 30 seconds for the entire match. This is done to attract and hold fish in your area.  An inaccurate throw can send fish to your neighbor. The recipes for the bait are guarded like national secrets.  Live bait containers hold bloodworms, jokers and maggots, ready to place on the tiniest of hooks. 

Bucket of Bleak

Small fish are plentiful. It’s a time consuming struggle to thread thin bloodworms onto the tiny hooks due to what seems to be my oversized fingers. I feel my coach’s anxiety behind me and I know I am taking too long for this part of the game. I switch to a longer pole, hoping to get out further to get to the bigger fish. It works! Soon I am swinging back stout Catfish. Catching them as they pendulum swing back towards me on the 14 foot pole is a challenge. More than once I feel the pick of the dorsal fin stab me in the hand. My hands and shorts are covered in blood, but I am not fazed. My stress mounts and I try not to watch the woman next to me operate an even longer pole like it’s an extension of her body. She is swinging fish after fish out of the water like she is participating in an ancient fishing goddess dance I have never seen before. 

Rewind 9 months...I am talking to Mike McNett, board member of the US Angling Confederation. Mike was telling stories about his experience fishing in the World Championship Ice Fishing Tournaments. “There is nothing like it”, he says. I see the dreamy look in his eyes as he recalls the fond memories of fishing for the USA and winning the World Championship. I had heard of “Team USA” and had been following the Ice Fishing Team over the years. 

Our conversation took a turn and the subject of women anglers competing in World Championships came up. The US had never sent a team. The only competition for a women only event is Match Fishing, which is not well known in the US. Being an advocate for women anglers for the last 14 years, my mind began to race. My conversation with Mike unlocked the door and opened the floodgates.Team USA was assembled. Our team, consisting of  professional angler Shelly Holland, outdoor writer and avid angler Kristen Monroe, two experienced Match Anglers, Penny Smit and Elise De Villers, and yours truly. We would make the trip to Hungary along with our coach Mike McNet. Hannah Stonehouse Hudson was the alternate in the event something happened and one of us couldn’t attend.  Another coach, Atilla, Agh, was already in Hungary visiting family and he would be meeting us on arrival.

We set our focus on practicing this finesse style of fishing and needed to raise money to finance the trip. Penny and Elise reside in Florida and practiced on their own. Their prior experience representing South Africa in another World Championship put them way ahead of the rest of the team. Shelly, Kristen and I, travelled to Chicago to meet our coach, Atilla Agh. Atilla is a Match Fishing Champion, originally from Hungary who now coaches sports in the USA.  His coaching experience along with his Hungarian connections would be a great asset to the team. His help with logistical issues and obtaining high quality bait was invaluable. Mike rounded off the group as Team Captain. His experience with US Angling events would be a huge benefit. 

We met in Chicago to practice. A municipal pond held carp and bluegills with plenty of shoreline to fish.We sat at the picnic table which was filled with an assortment of Match Fishing gear. 

Practicing in Chicago 

Size 22 hooks, weights the size of pinheads, special floats and fishing line as thin as a human hair. Total finesse fishing...which is not my strong suit.  We each were issued four telescoping Trabucco poles from 8 to 14 feet long, which are basically high tech cane poles. A crash course in technique was given and we hit the water. 

The practice was interesting. We lost a lot of fish and had a lot of hooks in the brush, but managed to land a few. One pole was pulled in the water by a carp and Atilla jumped in after it. Shelly broke a rod and I fell in the mud. We laughed a lot and it was humbling, to say the least. I quickly went from being a confident angler to feeling like I had never fished before in my life. We left that practice thinking, “What have we gotten ourselves into?”.

Kristen Monroe with her catch net

Our practices continued. We shared videos and pictures and put in as much time as possible. We needed to raise $3000 per angler to attend so the fundraising was quite a burden. In addition to reaching out to fishing companies, we held a fundraiser in Oxford, WI, small town USA. The support from the local community was overwhelming. It seems as if the whole town came out, most wearing USA shirts. They cheered us on, donated money, sold brats, and rallied behind us like we were headed to the Olympics. It made me feel so proud and happy. The big fishing companies I work with really came through with donations. Clam Outdoors, Hot Spots Maps, Bast Durbin Advertising, World Wide Marine, Vexilar, Jiffy, Badger Sportsman, Off Shore Tackle, Stormy Kromer and Two-Way Fillet. Gemini Jerseys provided our Team USA jerseys and Frogg Toggs gave us rain gear. We looked like the real deal!

Team arrives in Hungary

Before we knew it, we were on a plane headed to Hungary. The first week there would be more practicing. It paid off as we doubled our weight in fish daily. We all caught lots of fish including catfish, carp, roach, bream, and skimmers. We were optimistic. Finally, tournament day arrived. Elise beat others in her peg. Penny caught over 300 bleak in one day. Shelly and Kristen both caught hundreds of fish.  At the end of the 2nd day, we didn’t catch enough in weight to beat anyone. We were exhausted, our fingers were bleeding, and we couldn’t have tried any harder.

After the tournament, we got cleaned up and went to the awards ceremony where we were treated to dinner and celebratory toasts. One by one, teams were being called up to the stage to be introduced. Due to all the chatting and laughing, I didn’t even realize this was happening. Then I heard the announcer call “Team USA”. Just then all heads turned towards our table and they began to stand and clap. They were giving us a standing ovation! This did not happen to any other team, not even the winners. It gave me chills and I was never more proud to be an American. The other teams witnessed our efforts, skill improvement, our hard work and dedication, which left an impact on them.  All the other countries were happy see that the USA sent a team. I felt so honored. It was an extraordinary adventure. 

While I am happy to be back home and fishing out of my boat, I was honored to have been chosen. I made memories for a lifetime and I am proud to have represented our country. US Angling has many teams that compete and I challenge you to go their website. You may find a team that you would like to try out for and create an experience you will never forget.  www.usangling.com