NorCal Cazadora

Woot! I got my first woodie today!

2009-10-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

OK, now, everyone who clicked here hoping to find kiddie porn, buzz off. I'm talking about ducks.I went duck hunting with my friend Hellen the English Professor today at Little Dry Creek, which is probably the best public duck hunting land in the state - and this is a big state.Unfortunately, we ended up with the worst blind in the place. Read more... We knew it as we headed out to our spot at 5

Meat is bad for you? Oh YEAH?

2009-10-28T20:30:00.001-07:00

I spend a lot of time reading what anti-hunters say about hunters - particularly those who would like to see the whole world go vegetarian or vegan - and one of the most common arguments they make is that meat is bad for us. You know, all that stuff about heart disease and high cholesterol and clogged arteries.My response is always that it's not meat in general that causes those maladies, but

The newest member of Prois Field Staff is...

2009-10-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

... me! That's right: I'm very pleased to announce that I've joined the Field Staff of Prois Hunting Apparel.I met Prois owner Kirstie Pike at the 2008 SHOT Show and immediately took a liking to her and her women's hunting clothing line. The Prois motto is "Serious Huntwear for Real Women," which was a breath of fresh air for me after walking around the SHOT Show and seeing more camo lingerie and

Coming into my own: Why I don't care that I shot like absolute crap on my duck opener

2009-10-26T05:09:00.000-07:00

Heading into my fourth season of duck hunting, I've been pretty excited. My shooting's been getting pretty damn good. My confidence is finally rising. I'm growing as a huntress every season, and enjoying everything I learn, whether it's hunting tips or the deep thoughts about why we hunt.I've set some goals for this duck season: Shoot better. Learn to use the freakin' mallard call, which has been

Second Chance Buck: The Aftermath

2009-10-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

It's been more than 48 hours since I killed my first deer ever, and I'm still buzzing. Sometimes I'm calm and I think about other things, like work. Then I see a student who's into guns or hunting, and I say, "Wanna see my buck?" and the whole spazzing thing starts over again.This has been both a time of reflection and a time of work. I've reflected on how lucky I was that the buck did exactly

The great shock: I finally got my first deer!

2009-10-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

I GOT A DEER! I GOT A DEER! I GOT A DEER!I shouted the words into the cell phone this morning, struggling to share the news with Boyfriend as the bars kept disappearing from my screen. Redial. Signal lost. Redial again. Ring ring ring.I GOT A DEER!He got it that time. Read more... I went out this morning like I do on all hunts - simultaneously fantasizing about the perfect hunt and bracing for

Lessons in blacktail hunting with Phillip

2009-10-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

I went blacktail deer hunting with Phillip from the Hog Blog in the Mendocino National Forest this weekend and here's what I learned:1. There's something weird about Phillip's right foot. But you'll have to ask him about it. 2. If Phillip is walking down a ridge that has a terrifying 2,000-foot, 80-degree-angle drop to the creek below and he has a choice between walking right on the edge or on a

Seeking paradise in Mendocino County

2009-10-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

I was getting ready for my deer hunting trip to Mendocino County with Phillip from the Hog Blog this weekend when Phillip called."Bring your shotgun too. There's quail where we're going."Dang, I've never hunted quail before. I know lots of people who have quail on their land, but they always love them. They'll let you shoot anything but quail. Read more... A day later, on another planning call,

From NRA to NPR in less than a year

2009-09-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

When my friend Logan in Minneapolis was listening to National Public Radio this morning, he heard the announcer promote an upcoming story on women hunting and thought to himself, "They should have talked to Holly Heyser about that."Well, it turns out they did! Read more... Idaho reporter Doug Nadvornick called me last week because he'd seen my obsessive writing about the numbers of women in

These women want to hunt. Can you help?

2009-09-27T18:19:00.001-07:00

Hey hunters, there are women around you right now who would like to hunt. What are you doing to help them? Do you even know who they are?This thought popped into my head this afternoon at the end of an amazing California Waterfowl event at Birds Landing Hunting Preserve & Sporting Clays: Sixteen women paid $150 apiece to take shooting lessons, take their hunter safety course, get their hunting

Harlequin and El Raton

2009-09-26T12:54:00.001-07:00

I was out in the back yard today cleaning up the detritus of Boyfriend's wine pressing last night when Harlequin the Cat came trotting up with something in her mouth. Something BIG.I finished moving a piece of the wine press into our shed, then came back out to see if it was what I thought.Indeed. It was a rat!I was a little worried, because normally when Harlequin brings me a kill, it's not all

Got an interesting email from Cabela's

2009-09-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

When I get email from Cabela's, I'm used to something like, "Spend $150 and get $10 off," or, "Find one more damned huntin' thing to clutter your house with and get free shipping!"And I'm a sucker for that stuff too.But yesterday I got something out of the ordinary from Cabela's: an email urging me to contact my governor to tell him I oppose a bill that would ban mail-order and Internet sales of

Finally, duck hunting TV worth watching

2009-09-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

I've made no secret of the fact that I find most duck hunting TV repulsive.It's not the low production values or cheesy music. Hell, that's endemic to 99 percent of the hunting shows out there (and it is, of course, the reason we call it "horn porn").Nope, what I really hate is this: kill shot after kill shot after kill shot. Read more... With deer hunting shows, you only have to look at a

The unpleasant task of dressing Pear Jack

2009-09-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

This is not going to be a pleasant story, so if you're eating breakfast, or you're squeamish, or you just don't feel like thinking too hard, you might want to come back another time.The tale begins where the story of my Sept. 1 Dove Opener left off. There were so few doves flying that morning that we turned our attention earthward out of boredom and made a discovery: The pear orchard we were

Doves: The First Feast of Fall

2009-09-09T09:17:00.001-07:00

What's not to love about dove season? It's your first bird hunt of fall. You get to hunt with lots of friends. And if you actually hit any doves, you get to eat one of the yummiest birds around... Mmmmmmmmmm. Food. Read more... If you're looking for dove recipes, I should direct you to this article I've got in the Sacramento Bee today - it has three tasty recipes with it. This story was actually

Br'er Rabbit and the dove hunt gone awry

2009-09-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Boyfriend and I went down to the Delta with some friends on Tuesday morning to see if we might get a little early morning dove action. I've done precious little dove hunting (two attempts), and even less dove hitting (uh, I've never exactly gotten one), so I was kind of excited about the prospect of a glorious opener.Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ha.Glory? Read more... There was none. Staked out along a

Hunters get some love from a metro paper

2009-09-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hunters never expect to get much positive attention from city newspapers but they're getting a lot today: The Sacramento Bee has a Fall Hunting Preview! And yes, I did a lot of writing for it.This is a big leap for a major metropolitan newspaper, because I guarantee you they're going to get grief from anti-hunting readers who'll demand to know why the outdoors section today is devoted to

How a rabbit hunt turned into a hissy fit

2009-08-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

I went rabbit hunting this morning to satisfy my increasingly itchy trigger finger, and to see if perhaps I could collect enough bunnies to perfect the recipe I tried with the fruits of my previous labors this summer.NOTHING was moving.The air was heavy and thick, and I did not see one little white tail bouncing into a thicket. Usually I persevere, but something told me it would be useless today,

Alien abduction and the other duck season

2009-08-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

My summer vacation was killing me. I was working my butt off on freelance assignments, getting into that morning-noon-and-night slavery mode. I needed a break.So what did I do? I drove five hours north to - you guessed it! - do more work.And it turned out to be one of the best vacations I've ever had. Read more... Last fall when I went duck hunting a couple times with my friend Brent up at the

Vultures, smelly trash and lessons learned

2009-08-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

The coolest thing happened this afternoon: A vulture landed on the wall at the back of our property! This is my amazingly bad photo of the event. Sorry, there was a lemon tree in the way.Why am I so excited about this? The answer will either surprise you or leave you absolutely convinced - if you weren't already - that I am insane. Read more... The vulture's landing today grew out of two

Great news for chicks who dig hunting

2009-08-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

It must be the Year of the Woman Hunter, because there's a lot of cool stuff going on for us these days in terms of hunt opportunities and clothing options.Check it out (even if you're a guy - there may be something in here for a woman you know): Read more... The 2009 Cabela's Waterfowl catalog has finally hit our mailboxes and if you look on page 209, you'll see me and my friend Sarah and the

Even a fishing story brings out the antis

2009-08-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

When I wrote a story for the Sacramento Bee about that fishing trip Boyfriend and I took on the Trinity River last month, I wondered what the reaction would be.I'd had two pieces in the Bee - a commentary last year about why I hunt, and a story earlier this year about spring turkey hunting. Both pieces brought the usual comments from anti-hunters, but I wondered if a fishing story would be any

Rabbit hunts, video games and good advice

2009-08-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I found myself heading out to the Feather River to have a go at those rabbits again, and it struck me that hunting and video games actually do have something in common, and I’m not talking about the shooting.I went through a couple phases when I played video games a fair bit. I never had it in me to be like some of my students (or ex-boyfriends, for that matter) who’d play video

Cazadora and the wascally wabbit hunt

2009-08-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so I know all my hardcore hunter friends are out hunting deer this weekend, because tomorrow is the last day of archery season in California's huge "A" zone.But me? Oh, no, I can't do what anyone else is doing. I went rabbit hunting this morning. (And trust me, that won't be the weirdest thing I do today. But I'll get to that later.)I've really been itching to go on a rabbit hunt. Our

A familiar outdoors voice returns!

2009-07-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

One of the first people I got to know when I joined the blogosphere was Kristine Shreve, a leader in the Outdoor Bloggers Summit who wrote the Hunt Smart Think Safety blog for her company, Gun Safety Innovations.I loved her GSI blog and was really bummed to learn earlier this summer that the blog was being discontinued because the GSI branch of her company was closing. This was the second loss of