Extreme Huntress 3 - Finalist Ulrika Karlsson-Arne

Many women nowadays are emerging to be huntresses, displaying their capabilities in what we think as “men’s world.” Sweden national Ulrika Karlsson-Arne, freelance producer, influencer and one of the finalists in the Ultimate Extreme Huntress™ 2019 competition, shares her passion for hunting to be an inspiration for people. Ulrika started hunting in her mid-twenties. She shares the importance of connecting to someone who’s been hunting for quite some time and learning from them. Ulrika adds we have to be responsible for taking care of our wildlife, nature, and animals as we are preserving and conserving for the next generation.

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Extreme Huntress 3 – Finalist Ulrika Karlsson-Arne

Welcome to a special episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. This is for another candidate, another finalist for Extreme Huntress 2019. We’re heading to Sweden and we’re going to talk with Ulrika Karlsson-Arne. She is one of the finalists. Ulrika, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

It’s exciting to be there. I see you have a ptarmigan and then I see you have a chamois. What’s the difference between the two?

I don’t know. I’m from Sweden. We don’t even have those animals in Sweden but I’ve been to Austria once and I had this project that we hunted some chamois but I do hunt a lot of Swedish animals.

We talked on Facebook Live, you’re a huntress but you’re also feeding your family. Let’s connect those dots and let people know why hunting is important to you.

First of all, it’s spending time outdoors and being in the forest picking blueberries, chanterelles and lingonberries. I am out all year round. To me, it’s collecting food. I started to hunt late. I was 26 or 27 because I didn’t have my mother or father taking me out. No one in my family is a hunter but I had this feeling in my body that I wanted to go outdoors. I didn’t know what it was until I met some people, some hunters and they took me with them. It was like, “This is me. This is my life. I want to get my own food. Bring my own food to my home.” I hunt all the species in Sweden like moose, roe deer, wild boar, fallow deer, ducks, everything. I cook them, take care of them and I skin them. I do everything to preserve a good meal.

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How do your kids like the wild game?

They grew up with it so they’re taking it for granted. My daughter said, “Mom, can we make some meatballs? Are we going to go for the fallow? Are we going to go for the moose?” That’s not ordinary. Her friends don’t eat wild game like that. They shop it in the grocery store. We have dinners when we eat moose and they tell me, “Mother, do you remember when you shot this moose calf, it was out in the field and you took two rounds to get it down?” We have some good stories when we have dinner together. They love it. We eat meat every day, the whole week. Maybe one day we can go for fish or something, but mostly it’s my own meat that I harvested.

When you think about Extreme Huntress, you came into the game later. I know one of the finalists, Jamie Belknap, was born into hunting. She says it was part of her DNA from the time she was brought up. What challenges did you face as an older person in your mid-twenties wanting to hunt? How did all that work out?

It wasn’t that easy because starting to hunt in Sweden, you have to know someone that has a hunting ground to be on. I had to learn it the long way and the hard way. I didn’t get it for free. I didn’t have anyone to help me out from the beginning also. I took my chances and after I took the hunting license, I started to work with Swedish Hunting Association. I was helping out at hunts and I also wanted to bring women and kids. I worked hard for free on the weekends and I did that for over ten years. I got a silver medal for doing that great job. All this time, my longing for being more outdoor was growing. I quit my work at Swedish Television and worked full-time with this influencer producing stuff like live broadcasting, hunting, TV shows and content for different brands. I have the time to be as much as 140 hunting days per year and I bring my kids also.

In your bio, you’re a producer and an influencer. You’re an authority and you’re highly credible in Sweden as an outdoor hunter.

This is a men’s world. We are not that many women. It’s important that women take place and show that we also can do this. For example, I had a little hunting get together for women in North Sweden hunting moose. It was one girl from Iceland and I invited one girl from Norway, to make content for different brands but also to show off that women can too. Those girls are only 20 and 25. They’re knowledgeable and they’re good at what they are doing. We made a great team. We can go up north hunting moose and take care of it all by ourselves. That is a good feeling. That’s what I wanted to have when I was 20 or 25 but I had to go the long way and the hard way. I want to give them something back so they can go out with me instead. We had a great time and it’s a lifestyle. This is more than life.

Who are some of the companies that you work for or represent in Sweden?

I’m in the Sauer Team Sweden. I use the Sauer rifles and I’ve been an ambassador for those Sauer rifles. I’m also working with Swarovski Optik. We use Burris at Texas. Burris Optics was nice. They worked in a great combination with the Winchester. It’s not only if you have a good rifle, a good scope or a good ammunition, it’s the combination that makes it and it’s up to you what you want to use. I’m also collaborating with Norma Precision. I’ve been using those ammunitions for several years. I also have Fjällräven. It’s a clothing brand with clothes and equipment. I also have a little collaboration with Volkswagen. They help me out when I have to travel a lot and Nordic Heat. They make that battery-heated underwear. Out hunting in Sweden, it could be cold in the wintertime, I need those brands to work with. They make my hunting days even better. If I don’t have to think about if I’m freezing, it’s going to be a better result on the hunting day.

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If somebody wants to vote for you, for Extreme Huntress 2019, how would they do that?

They should start by going to the ExtremeHuntress.com website. All the people voting for me, I want them to vote because they’ve seen what I’m doing at the competition. Not only that they knew me and stuff like that, I want them to look at the episodes because this is going to be a good show. We have launched three episodes and the fourth is coming up. It’s a good competition and it’s no drama. It’s only hunting and having a good time. Four women doing what they love. Of course, I want to be the winner. At the end of the day, I want to be a role model and be in front of the others.

You can go to ExtremeHuntress.com and there’s an online voting up in the right corner. It says, “Online Voting.” You click on that one and that comes up, four women with our pictures and names. You click on my name and you’re going to put in your email address. Make sure there’s no space in front of the first letter because a lot of people text me about that. They’re not getting valid emails but it is because there’s a little space between the first letter. Make sure you start writing your email address and you press the button send. You have to go and confirm it in your email, Polldaddy, and they will count it. Otherwise, if you don’t confirm it, it’s not going to be counted. They have a lot of votes that are not being confirmed and that’s a big problem.

I heard that there are over 600 votes that are not confirmed. That’s a lot of votes.

That’s a lot of votes and it could be all of us. Maybe it’s not going to matter but if it’s only one of us, it’s going to matter. I want some votes.

When you think about hunting and you think about the woman’s role, you said in Sweden there isn’t that many. I know in the United States, it’s the fastest-growing segment in the outdoor sports for everything. It could be from rock climbing to rafting to snowshoeing, hunting, fly fishing, all the outdoor sports, women are the center of attraction. Women make excellent people in the outdoors. They’re very good at it. You had a couple of friends and you went up, harvested a moose and took care of the moose and did what you need to do. What do you think are some of the barriers for women to get into hunting?

You have to trust in yourself. If you have an idea that you want to be a huntress, go for it. If you don’t know everything, you can learn from others. Don’t be afraid to ask for help but deep inside, human beings we are hunters from the beginning. It’s in our DNA. Even if you’re not born into a hunting family, you want to harvest your own food and you want to collect things. There’s a little hunter in every one of us. As a woman, it could be difficult to come into a hunting team. If you’re a woman and you want to start hunting, contact other huntresses. Make friends with someone that has been into the business for a while. I take with me young women that want to start hunting. To me, it’s the most natural thing to do. I spend a lot of time outdoors, why shouldn’t I help them so they don’t have to go the long way I had to go?

That’s well said. If I met you and we’re traveling, you introduced yourself and I did the same and you said, “I’m a finalist in Extreme Huntress, would you vote for me?” Why should I vote for you?

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You should vote for me because I’m very conscious about what I’m doing. I don’t want to be the winner, I want to be the one inspiring people to do stuff that you believe. Believe in yourself and do what you think is right for yourself. It’s our responsibility to care about wildlife, nature and animals. If we don’t do it, who should do it? The next generation, they grow up. I see only on my kids that if I don’t take them out and show them this, who’s going to do it? We have a lot of anti-hunters that don’t understand what we’re doing. We are conserving and conserving. Hunters are important. In Sweden, we have a lot of car accidents with animals and hunters take care of that. They go with their dogs.

In Sweden, we do a lot of hunting with dogs to make sure we find the animals after an accident with the car or something like that. It’s not an industry. It’s more like a lifestyle. Preserving and taking care of nature is important and it’s up to us. Women who want to start hunting, I want to be a role model. I want to be someone that they can look up to and listen to and say, “She’s living her dream, having a good time, she’s out doing what she loves, eating good food, taking responsibility, teaching her kids what’s right or wrong and being outdoors as much as she can.” That’s the kind of woman maybe you want to have as a role model. That’s why I want people to vote for me because I want to inspire.

Once again, if somebody wants to vote for you, how do they do that?

They go to ExtremeHuntress.com and there’s an online voting. You can click up in the right corner. I don’t know what the text is but it’s like “Online Voting.” It’s going to pop up four pictures and names or finalists. It’s me and three more women. All four of us are great women but in between, I’m going to be the winner. You have to vote for me, Ulrika Karlsson-Arne. Press the button on my picture, you put in your email address and then you have to go to your email and confirm it. It’s like Polldaddy. You need to confirm it, otherwise, it’s not going to be counted. I want my votes to be counted or else, I don’t have the chance to win.

It’s been a pure pleasure to meet up with Ulrika and talk about her hunting traditions and her lifestyle, which is inclusive of all things hunting. With that, I want to thank you so much for being a gracious guest. I wish you well in your quest to be Extreme Huntress 2019.

Thank you.

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about Ulrika Karlsson-arne

Hardcore but also conscious! My passion is the outdoors, to explore nature, forest and of course go hunting. I hunt 2-3 times per week year round. Love to know where my food comes from. I make the most out of my life and I´m always positive. I´ve been hunting for 18 years but only the last three years this much.

I quit my job as a producer at Swedish Television and are now freelance, film, and content in the hunting business. But nowadays more of an influencer with sponsors like Sauer and Swarovski Optik. My whole life is on Instagram @swedishvenatrix – I´m a proud hunter and to me, success isn’t always a game with me back home (but I for sure love to pull that trigger)… success can be helping the next generation, a nice day by the fire, meeting friends and see new places.

And being mentally strong makes you achieve what others say you can´t do. Makes me wanna try harder and go further. Of course I want to win and of course, I´m gonna give you something extra in that Extreme Huntress-show! I mostly hunt in Sweden but I have also been to Alaska, England and the Alps in Austria. Love the mountains, love the challenge of hard work before you find the animals. Cause life is right here right now and it´s up to you what you wanna do with it.