Live With Extreme Huntress Finalist Melanie Peterson

In this special episode, Melanie Peterson, finalist of Extreme Huntress talks about preserving the outdoor heritage by creating positive role models for women who want to participate in hunting. Learn why it’s important for women to get in the outdoors and everyone in general. By joining Extreme Huntress, Melanie shares her love for hunting and her urge to promote women in hunting with her strong background as an outfitter with her husband in Daniel, Wyoming.

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LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE:

Live With Extreme Huntress Finalist Melanie Peterson

We’re joined by Melanie Peterson of Daniel, Wyoming. Melanie asked me to do a promo for her for the Extreme Huntress contests for 2018. She ended up down in YO ranch with the other five finalists. Melanie is going to share with all of us why it’s important for women and for anybody to get in the outdoors and also why she chose to enter the contest.

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I’m heading up to Daniel, Wyoming. I’m chatting with Melanie Peterson. She’s an Extreme Huntress finalist and she’s been guiding and outfitting up in that country for a long time. She and Kirby run a great organization but we’re not talking about their outfitting business. We’re talking about why Melanie got involved with Extreme Huntress. Melanie, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me.

Months ago, we found out that you were entering in the Extreme Huntress. Tell us a little about the journey.

I entered the competition and I initially was selected as a semifinalist and I appeared on your show shortly after that asking for votes to make the six finalists. Thank you with your help, I did. I competed in a series of skills challenges and hunts at the legendary YO Ranch in Texas. That was filmed in the middle of July in that lovely Texas heat. We’ve produced 26 individual episodes that showcase the competition and the other five ladies that were in the competition. It makes it fun watching and it’s all for a great cause. We’re all here together to promote women in hunting.

For the readers that don’t know your previous show or watched the film, the video on Extreme Huntress, why did you get into this contest?

My journey began at the Dallas Safari Club Show. I had the opportunity to see the previous contestants. I got online and learned a little bit about the organization. Quite honestly, I stay in my own little bubble here in Daniel, Wyoming and had not spent a lot of time following this competition. I realized that their intent was to get women involved who are going to get their children and continue our proud heritage of hunting in this industry. They’ve been producing the show for years and quite honestly, the advances and their contribution to women in hunting has been unbelievable.

They’re going to crown the Extreme Huntress in Dallas Safari Club, is that correct?

Yes. We’ll be crowned at the lady’s luncheon on the Dallas Safari Club. If you all are interested in watching and finding out who the winner is, I have no idea who the winner’s going to be. We have not voted on that yet. We all know the outcome of the competition itself as far as the skills challenges. We do not know the judges’ final voting and that’s going to remain a secret. We’re all trying hard to win.

Who were the judges of this contest?

We have some straight-up celebrities. We had Olivia Nalos Opre, who was the Diana Award winner. We had Brittany Boddington and the legendary Larry Weishuhn.

For the people that don’t know about the Diana Award, what does that represent?

It’s an award given to a female hunter through the Safari Club International. It’s rewarding a hunter for her accomplishments for African species, several different species. It’s quite an involved award and it takes quite some time to win that. If you get on Safari Club International, it can tell you all of the species that are included in that award process. It’s quite a feat if anybody’s ever tried to chase that award.

Melanie is humble and she’s been hunting for a couple of years. Have you taken all of the North American 28?

I have not, but I hope to.

How many do you have left?

Extreme Huntress is all here together to promote women in hunting. Share on X

I have a tulle elk that I need to get. I need to get a grizzly bear and a polar bear if that ever is an option again. There’s quite a number of animals that might take a bigger checkbook than what I have.

I understand completely. I’ve made a couple of trips here and there and taken a few critters here and there and I’m nowhere near the North American 28 and people do it. In the hunting community, somebody goes after it, some do it DIY, some people do it with their muzzleloader, crossbow, stick and a string, rifle. It’s quite a feat and it’s a lifetime journey. That’s the only thing I know about it. It’s a lifetime journey of pursuing game in their backyard and it’s quite interesting, that’s for sure. Extreme Huntress has for the first time ever providing awards for the voters. How’s that work?

This was a surprise to me as well. They announced a top sportswoman award and the voters can get involved and vote for their favorite top sportswoman based on what they saw in the videos or maybe one of the contestants personally. What’s cool about this is the producers and the sponsors of the show have put together a separate prize package. One lucky voter gets to win the same prize package as the top sportswoman.

What kind of gear or swag are in that basket?

I’m sure that this is probably a partial list but you’re going to win a knife by Thomas, which is the custom hunting knife. We received that during our competition and I got to tell you it was my favorite gift. Otis Technology has a cleaning system that they’re providing, Ripcord Earth Shield, Aguila Shotgun Ammo, and Riton Optics. I’m assuming that’s probably a set of binoculars, which we used also during the competition. I have one of my guides using those binoculars and he loves them. Hornady Ammo and some swag from the various sponsors. The additional sponsors that we had during the competition, I’m not sure if that will be part of this prize package, but Ruger Firearms and High Hill Huntress to name a few. Quite honestly, ALPS OutdoorZ has provided a backpack and I’m not sure what else is going to be involved in the package itself, but I can guarantee you’re going to love it. All it’s going to take is participating in the vote and getting online. Get on ExtremeHuntress.com, click on voting and you will have an opportunity to vote for your favorite huntress which I hope is me.

A quick shout out to Colby Smith from Alps OutdoorZ. It’s a great company and great product. We haven’t taken a look at them. Check them out. They’re all over the web and great products. They support contests and events like this because they want to give all the contestants the best gear they can get and use it. How does somebody vote for you for top sportswoman award in Extreme Huntress?

You can get on ExtremeHuntress.com, you’re going to click on voting. This is a little side contest that the producers put together at the last minute and did something to get our voters involved. It’s not all about us, it’s about you too. I’m thankful that they did this. It gives us an opportunity to see what our online presence is. This contest for me personally could not have come up the worst time of the year because I am busy with elk hunters. I want to give a big shout out and thank you to all of my followers who stepped it up. As of the fifth day of the contest and the voting, I was at 5% of the votes. These men and women got together and got online and said, “This is not going to happen.” They’ve made a big vote push and I’m not kidding you, within 48 hours, I went from last place to first place.

Where is your social media reach?

My social media is predominantly Facebook. I do have an Instagram account. My younger friends are all over Instagram and they’ve done a lot of sharing on Instagram. Quite honestly, I’m probably not computer savvy enough to learn that program well, but I’m trying hard. I do spend a lot of time on Facebook when I can. I’m doing some live feeds to give people a little bit of insight to what I’m doing on a daily basis. It’s hunting season for us and I don’t have a whole lot of time to be on social media. I truly appreciate all your help for getting my votes up.

That would be Melanie Peterson on Facebook, correct?

Yes, I have a Melanie Peterson personal page and I have a Melanie Peterson Extreme Huntress Finalist page. You can reach me at either one of those.

Let’s give a shout out for Kirby and your outfitting business up there in Daniel, Wyoming.

We started this business years ago and I guide on a daily basis. Most people find it ironic that my husband does not hunt. He is an excellent guide and he does help out when he needs to. He’s perfectly happy staying here at the ranch, running things here and saddling horses for all us guides in the morning and wishing us good luck. He’s thankful he doesn’t have to be out there for 60 days in a row.

He’s got a rodeo background, doesn’t he?

Yes, he does. He hails from Southeastern Colorado. For a number of years, he was a pro rodeo cowboy and rode bareback horses.

Maybe that’s one reason he says, “I’ve had enough of that.” No more train wrecks in his life, that’s for sure.

Hopefully, we don’t have any of those. We’ve been fortunate and we don’t keep junk horses around. Most of our stuff is horseback and it’s always fun to watch hunters that show up and think they want to do these backcountry, high-country mule deer and elk hunts and then realize they have to ride a horse for twelve hours a day. I wouldn’t change this life for anything.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to come up there and catch some of your trout. Kathy and I would enjoy that for sure.

We’ll do it, just make a plan.

Let’s recap everything and tell people where to vote, why to vote and the deadline when they have to vote, then we’ll wrap the show and you can give some shout outs to whomever.

You want to get on ExtremeHuntress.com to vote and watch the episodes and you can also get on GetZone.com and watch. You can binge-watch all 26 episodes if you’d like. If you get on the 2018 voting link, it’s going to pull up all of the contestants that you can vote for. You’re going to have to enter an email address and I promise you will not get inundated with spam. This is an anti-cheating preventative, so you’re going to end up getting a confirmation email from PollDaddy.com. You must confirm your vote in order for it to count. It’s simple, it’ll take you 30 seconds to do it. It’s been fun for me to watch the journey as well. The episodes, you’re going to see some exciting stuff and the competitions. I’d like everybody to watch the episodes. Some of the stuff that happened and the skills challenges that they put us through are fun to watch and definitely a challenge for all of us.

I like to thank our sponsors, thank you YO Ranch. Thank you, all of the individual sponsors that provided us with quality gear during our hunt. Thank you, Extreme Huntress, the judges who donated their time and all you voters. This has been fun, especially I’m not a contest person, and it’s been a fun journey for me to get all of my friends and family involved. I had people sign up Facebook accounts that never said they’d have one. They have absolutely enjoyed watching the show and rallying behind their favorite. The girls that competed, they were the six top semi-finalists that ended up making the show and I enjoyed spending a week with them and hopefully, we can all together make a difference in this industry.

Melanie Peterson, thank you so much for sharing a little bit of insight into your journey in Extreme Huntress 2018. I hope you’re standing on the podium at Dallas Safari Club at the lady’s luncheon there and you get a lot of people cheering for you. Well done and wishing you all the best.

Thank you. Don’t forget Extreme Huntress for the grand prize award. This contest is all about you, voters, and the top Sportsman’s Award. You may have me on your show again and we’ll be talking about the final award.

Let’s do it.

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About Melanie Peterson

I live in Daniel Wyoming. I’m the mother of 2 adult children. And I’m living the dream.
My story began 50 years ago when my parents married on opening day of hunting season 1965. They spent their honeymoon in deer camp and I was born a short 9 months later.

So one might say…. that I was conceived to be an extreme huntress!