AUTHOR’S PHOTOSW
HEN THE STRING
slipped from her fin-
gers, she knew it was
a good shot. I know
a few readers just
stopped short and thought, W h o a ,
Fred! Did I just read the words “she” and
“ her?” Is this about ladies who hunt with
traditional equipment? Yup!
My wife, Michele, told me that when
she releases the string, she knows if it’s a
good shot. Te antelope she killed was
no exception. She had been sitting at a
waterhole in southeastern Colorado,
when the big Pope and Young-class buck
came to drink. One shot from her re-
curve, and the big buck was down in less
than 50 yards from where he drank.
One of my favorite stories about my
wife and her recurve happened on an
axis deer hunt in Hawaii. I had fnally
agreed to an exotic location for a week-
long vacation, but only if we could bring
our bows. Fortunately, my wife was in
total agreement, and we settled on theisland of Molokai. It is a really neat place
that doesn’t have all the people, trafc, or
big buildings that some of the larger Ha-
waiian Islands have. Even the small gro-
cery store had axis deer and hog heads
hanging on its walls.
Michele and I met a local who
charged us a trespass fee to hunt axis
deer. We were told they were hunted a
lot in the area we were going, and that
they were pretty tough to hunt. My
wife and I arrived the next morning in
the dark, and split up to go our separate
ways. Afer three failed stalks where the
sharp-eyed axis spotted me every time, I
decided that spot and stalk might not be
the way to go.
I sat unsuccessfully on an active trail
until it was time to go meet my wife. When
I got back to the rental car, Michele was
taking a nap in the back seat. She asked
how I had done, and I confessed that
the little axis deer had outsmarted me
all morning. I went on and on about my
close calls and failed stalks. I then askedhow she had done, and she nonchalantly
answered that she had taken a doe. I knew
she was busting at the seams, and it must
have taken every ounce of restraint she
had to hold it in until I asked. My wife
had done what I was unable to do that
day. And that was to sneak up and shoot
an axis deer with a traditional bow. Addi-
tionally, when I asked where her doe was,
she told me she had already recovered the
deer, feld-dressed it, and dragged it back
by herself and loaded it into the trunk of
the rental car.
Many young girls and women, like
my wife, are enjoying traditional ar-
chery. Traditional archery has seen a
recent surge in young women and girls
taking up the sport thanks to movies like
“Te Hunger Games” and “Brave,” where
the heroine of the movie is using a tradi-
tional bow.
I recently spoke with Randy Phillips,
owner of Archery Headquarters in Chan-
dler, Arizona. Randy has a good pulse
on the industry, and besides running a
successful archery shop, he also makes
and sells the popular Arizona EZ Fletch
fetching jigs. Randy told me he has seen
an infux of soccer moms who are bring-
ing their daughters in to get them a bow. ItThe Traditional Way
The Feminine Side
More and more women are enjoying traditional archery.
FRED EICHLER
Traditional Editor20 >BOWHUNTER APRIL/MAY 2015Michele did what I couldn’t in Hawaii —
stalk and kill an axis deer with her recurve.My wife, Michele, knew she had made a
good shot on this Pope and Young ante-
lope as soon as she released the string.