Hunting

Friends Karrie Kolesar and Kamille Martin have known each other for almost three years. They met through the Dallas Safari Club, where they work.

“I’ve worked here for more almost three years and I’ve never been hunting,” Kolesar said. “The only opportunity I’ve had was to go on a dove hunt with DSC. It was a little intimidating because there was nowhere to learn about dove hunting before the hunt. I wanted to be able to learn and feel comfortable before I went out and did it.”

When Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation found out about this, the two friends jumped at the opportunity to introduce them to hunting.

The young women have volunteered for several years at the LSONF Wild Game Supper at the Beretta Gallery and have gotten to know the board members.

“There were people going on hunting trips all around us,” Martin said. “We aren’t the type of people to just flat out ask someone to take us hunting.”

Martin’s father and brother both hunt, but she had never had the opportunity to go with them. Kolesar, who was raised on the East Coast, didn’t know anyone who hunted until she moved to Texas and got a job in the hunting industry.

Arriving at the ranch Friday afternoon, the girls were eager to get prepared for the hunt.

Ranch owner Steve Hudson and LSONF board member David Sweet coached the pair on proper form and handling of the rifles they would be using for the rest of the weekend.

“I had shot guns before at the DSC safety event, but never felt comfortable until now,” Kolesar said.

After firing off a few shots at the shooting range, the women were ready for their first sit in a deer blind.

Even though they had never hunted, the pair was prepared in the clothing department. Martin came bearing a trash bag full of her brother’s hunting clothes, and there were plenty of other clothes to go around.

Each woman had her own guide. Sweet took Martin, and they instantly bonded over their admiration of their alma mater, Baylor University. Hudson took Kolesar.

Neither team saw much action, other than seeing a three-legged coyote.

A chilly Saturday morning kept the deer bedded down. The hunters came in from the field for a breakfast feast including homemade cinnamon rolls. After chatting around the campfire, Hudson took the friends around the ranch to run the trapline.

At each stop along the way, Hudson shared a different fact or technique for setting the snares. Trapping is part of the ranch’s predator control and management program. They caught a coyote and three raccoons.

“I learned so many things that I had never thought about or considered before,” Martin said. “It makes you realize how much goes into all of it.”

For the afternoon hunt, they switched up the guides. Sweet and Kolesar saw a young buck chasing a doe with two fawns. The rest of the hunting party got to enjoy a beautiful sunset. The deer were just not moving.

Stories were shared as the fajitas sizzled on the grill. After dinner, Hudson turned off the lights around camp and pointed out visible constellations as the sky was clear and the stars were bright that night.

They hoped that with another change of guides, the girls luck would change, but after no action near the blind, the tactic changed hoping to spot and stalk a deer.

Kolesar watched two bucks bolt out of a bedding area, with no opportunity to shoot.

The guides were in disbelief, disappointed that they couldn’t get either young woman a chance at a deer.

As they packed up to leave the ranch, the smiles on the new hunters’ faces showed they had a great time.

“We had such a great experience,” Martin said. “It was nice to get to know everyone in a different setting, and I look forward to going out next time and experiencing what happens after the harvest.”

They may not have shot a deer, but they learned about how to hunt them.

Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation seeks to create hunters for a lifetime, and prides itself in giving people the whole hunting camp experience. The campfire, good food, sharing stories, exploring the ranch, is all part of it. The harvest is a bonus.