The Alexander City Outlook

QDMA hosts women hunt

By Fletcher Scott | QDMA

A slight drizzle was coming down Friday morning, but that did not deter seven adventurous ladies from experiencing, what was for several, their first deer hunt.

Marisa Lee, Hunter Education Coordinator for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, rounded up seven die-hard females for participation in an all women’s deer hunt held at Jerry and Genelle Brown’s farm in Pinckneyville, AL.

These brave females were: Kathy Railey, Stephanie Harrell, Tonya Campbell, Ann Harper and daughter Alli, Rhonda Cole and daughter Carly.

First, they were given the opportunity to fire .22 caliber rifles on shooting bays constructed for hunter education courses.

Shooting .22’s was helpful to those with little experience shooting rifles.

This allowed for instruction on bullet placement in order to make a quick, humane kill.

They all got to shoot several times with instruction from Lee Brown, Bob Battestella, Maron McConnell and Scott Railey. Then the women got out their real deer rifles and shot silhouettes again, but this time they experienced recoil and noise.

Finally they participated in a real shooting challenge. They were escorted up to an elevated shooting house with deer silhouettes placed at various yardages in a big clover field.

Doug Bice, the shooting instructor, helped them load their rifles.

At this point many of the women were feeling comfortable and eager to go hunting.

A delicious meal was served by the ever gracious Genelle Brown. After lunch, the hunters were paired up with one of our guides who were: Scott Railey, Lee Brown, Doug Bice, Stephen Bice, Marisa Lee, Bob Battestella and Maron McConnell. Ben Richardson, videographer from Collinsville was on hand to record the hunt.

Each hunter was taken out to a shooting house overlooking a green field, kudzu patch, or trail with scrapes.

After everyone was on stand, Jerry and I waited patiently for the sound of gunshots as the afternoon wore on. Around 5:00 p.m. we heard, “Bam!” “Sounded like a gunshot to me” I said.
Jerry replied, “It might not be far enough west, but we’ll soon know.”

We all met back at Jerry’s house when word came in that Alli killed had one.

We anxiously awaited their arrival since they had to load the deer and four wheeler.

Finally they drove up as we rushed out to congratulate the young nimrod and see her deer. A fat little four point was Alli Harper’s first deer.

Alli waited patiently for that perfect opportunity and when it came, she dropped the deer in its tracks.

Her deer was hung up, gutted and skinned with Alli helping, using a knife blade like a pro.

Alli has now followed in the footsteps of every successful hunter-completing one of the oldest rituals of mankind, hunting for food, making a kill and returning home with an experience she won’t soon forget.

In fact, all the women and their guides accomplished personal goals.

For the guides these included the satisfaction of helping to teach and instruct women who don’t often get a chance to experience a hunt and enjoy the outdoors.

Many of the women wanted to test themselves to show they could do what their male counterparts do equally well. So my parting thoughts are this: dads, uncles, grandads and boyfriends, take a woman (any age) hunting! Just don’t underestimate them.