Archer opens her mind and takes up the hunt
Women and Hunting
By Tom Wharton
The Salt Lake Tribune

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Wendy Mair of Heber City poses with a buck she killed. She used to be anti-hunting, but took up the sport after getting to know her husband and his family. (Photo courtesy of Wendy Mair)

Wendy Mair of Heber City, a writer for Park City Magazine, took up bowhunting in her late 30s. She grew up near Washington, D.C., where she was anti-gun and anti-hunting. In a recent interview, she talked about her change of opinion, why she began hunting and what she has learned from her experiences.

When did you start hunting?
I started four years ago. I went with my husband Dewey a couple of years and then I started practicing with a bow and arrow. I enjoyed the practice and got to be a decent shot. My husband started shooting big bucks. I wanted tender, young bucks for their meat. So we came up with a system. He hunts the horns and I hunt the meat. We know whose deer it is when we see it.

What do you do with the game you shoot?
With the larger bucks, we make jerky and sausage. With the spikes and two points, we make deer steaks out of them. My first experience with deer steaks, I wanted to throw up after I ate them. But my husband made some medium-rare, juicy and wonderful. With four kids, we started running out. We wanted more deer meat.

What kind of success have you had?
The first year, I didn’t get a deer. The second and third, I did get deer, which was good for archery hunting. I got two points both of those years. I haven’t gotten one this year. But I hope to continue hunting on an extended archery unit and still get one. In archery, the percentage of success is low. I’m happy that was at 50 percent.

What attracted you to bowhunting?
My husband has been an archery hunter, so that is what I tried. You have to get pretty close and either stalk a deer or sit patiently and long enough. It is a fair game. . . . I don’t feel bad about it. It is the circle of life.

Were your friends surprised when you began to hunt?
I never thought in a million years I would support, or be, a hunter. But I got to know my husband and his family. I love camping and being outside so I started to go to hunt camp with them. I was watching the fathers, sons and grandfathers and the fun they had. There was also the respect and attitudes. I was surprised. It opened up my mind to looking at things differently. I thought you would have to be cold-hearted to hunt. These are nice people, not cold-hearted killers. Everyone who knew me before is still in shock that I hunt and shoot. My boss just can’t get over it. I have made some newer friends in the women and the outdoors programs.

Is the hunt only part of the reason you enjoy being out?
Just being in the outdoors, even if you didn’t get your

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deer, is fun. This year’s hunt has been totally awesome. I have seen moose and elk, bugling elk, bull elk, mother elk and baby elk. I have seen a badger, foxes and, the coolest thing in my whole life, a big black bear on Labor Day, right in the road as we came around the bend. Even if I don’t get a deer, I am totally satisfied.

Are the women in the outdoors programs (available through the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and other groups) helpful?

They have been helpful. . . . They give women not just the tools to try these things, but the confidence. That is the biggest part of it. For instance, my husband introduced me to shotgun hunting. I got banged up and, while I still liked it, I was not successful. I took a shotgun clinic and finally got it. I wish I had known that when I started. It would have been a lot more fun. I stopped getting banged up and hitting the targets. Many of the women who come have never fired a gun in their life. About half of them love it. I took a six-week shotgun clinic and got a feel for it. You can’t learn in one outing. The National Wild Turkey Federation’s women in the outdoors program is good. My daughter and I attended a weekend workshop. We rode an ATV, went canoeing and horseback riding. There were four or five activities in one weekend. There were lots of mothers and daughters. It’s a nice getaway and there is a lot to laugh about. I took an ice fishing class at Rockport Reservoir and it was hysterical. I’d gone ice fishing with relatives, but never done it myself. The first time, I was reeling in the wrong way and the reel flew off. I was screaming at the lady next to me, who fell of the buckets. It was like dominos catching the reel. Next time, we’re going to bring a video. But when you have inexperienced women trying new things, there are zany things happening. There are a lot of women who took up shooting and hunting in their late 30s, their 40s and even their 50s. It’s pretty cool.