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Lindsey Hayden How to hunt like a southern girl

Bruce: Welcome to another episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. This is your host, Bruce Hutcheon. We’re heading down to Georgia today, and we’re going to talk to a really great gal, Lindsey Hayden. She’s a hunter. Lindsey Hayden How to hunt like a southern girl. She’s a fisherwoman or fisherman, outdoors woman, and she loves to hunt ducks. She calls herself a shadow blade camo princess. Lindsey, welcome to the show.

Lindsey: Hey.

Bruce: Just share what happened. Lindsey’s sitting outside and she looked up in the air. How many geese just flew over your head?

Lindsey: Probably about 20 snow geese.

Bruce: Amazing. She’s down there in Georgia. So it’s going to be a great show, folks. So tell me about how you got into the out of doors.

Lindsey: My dad actually. My dad, he has been outdoors, because he’s from Alabama actually. And my dad started me out when I was probably five or six just like squirrel and deer hunting and things. And I remember my first hunt. There was a [inaudible 00:01:08] in my house, because we have about 11 acres. But he never pressured me to be a hunter or anything. It was just something that I always loved. My first whitetail that I tried to shoot at was just a spot because I was still five or six and I missed him. I remember him just telling me, “It’s okay if you miss sometimes. Everybody misses.” So that was my first real hunt.

Bruce: Who else in your family hunts?

Lindsey: Only my dad. My mom hates hunting. She’s not really big on it. My brother isn’t. So it’s really just me and my dad. That’s time for me and my dad to be together.

Bruce: Wow. What’s one thing that he taught you that you’ve never forgotten?

Lindsey: Always leave the land better than when you came. And if you don’t need it, don’t take it.

Bruce: Good wisdom. He also instilled a deep respect for the animals that you hunt. What does that mean to you?

When you shoot them, you try to do it one shot, one kill, of course.

Lindsey: To me, you don’t disrespect the animals in any way. When you shoot them, you try to do it one shot, one kill, of course. You don’t let it suffer. There’s no reason for any animal to suffer, and you try to use every part that you can. I try to no matter when I hunt. And I respect in that we try to give them food. Respect is making sure these animals are healthy. You want them to have a good life before you harvest them. That’s what I think that respect is. If you see a mess somewhere out where you’re hunting, pick it up. It’s not that hard.

Bruce: Do you put out food plots? You and your dad put out food plots?

Lindsey: We have a hunting club in South Georgia close to Fort Benning. We plant food plots, and we have a few up there some pretty big ones. We plant turnips and all kinds of grasses and stuff. I think we’re going to plant rice this year for ducks so they’ll have something to eat.

Bruce: I also understand that you’re a conservationist. What groups do you belong to?

Lindsey: I don’t really belong to any. I’m just a self-made conservationist. I preserve animals. I’m not really a group. I just see myself as more than that. When you see an animal that needs help, you help them.

Bruce: Explain that a little bit more because some people they think you belong to a group and that makes you a conservationist, but really it’s what you do by yourself and how you take care of your animals.

Lindsey: It’s almost like there’s some people who shoot everything they see. I don’t do that. That’s just something you don’t do. You’re conserving more animals by only taking exactly what you need. You help out the animals by providing them food, and you take out nuisance animals such as coyotes and other things to make sure that the more native animals are at a healthy population. Conversation is maintaining that you have healthy animals and a healthy population in the area.

Bruce: What attracts you to the outdoors? You’re a younger gal. You got a great dad that’s introduced you, but where’s the staying power come from?

Lindsey: Everything where there is manmade things, to me, that’s not beautiful. When you go outside you just sit there and listen and just have a moment to yourself and it’s just quiet and calm, it’s like you’re having a conversation with God to me. You get to have a moment by yourself and then you see everything that He’s made. Like the wood duck that I shot, people think he’s not real because he’s so gorgeous. People think the things that they make are the prettiest things. No, what God has made is the most beautiful thing.

Bruce: I agree right there. That’s for sure. You’re a young gal. What happens when you go to school, you’re at work or whatever and people say, or come up to you, other gals and they say, “You hunt?” What do you tell them?

Lindsey: I tell them, “Yeah, that’s just what I do. It’s what I was raised to do.” When I was in high school, it wasn’t very popular for me to be a hunter just because it was different. When you’re in high school and you’re different, you’re not very popular. But in college now, everyone’s like, “Man, you’re so cool. You go hunting? That’s so awesome.” It’s really hard finding other people to hunt with because mainly it’s other men. I’ve taken friends that are girls out hunting with me, but they never really like it. I’m just my own [inaudible 00:06:13].

Bruce: Why don’t you think they like it?

Lindsey: I just think they believe it’s a manly thing to do when really it’s not. It’s a unisex sport or activity. They think that mainly since men do it, then girls shouldn’t do it because it’s for men. Well, no, I’ve actually seen more women hunters who are better than men. I’ve out hunted many men.

Bruce: There are some mighty fine ladies out there that can out hunt me. I’ll attest to that.

Lindsey: [inaudible 00:06:43].

Bruce: She’s just one of many. I’m just thinking of Marty Davis. I’m thinking of Brenda Valentine, the first lady of hunting. I don’t know if you listen to her or read her stuff. She’s been over 30 years, I believe it is, that she’s been out there hunting and been very involved in the outdoor industry.

I want to help women get into it so there’s not that bias that only men can hunt because that’s simply not true

Lindsey: That’s what I intend to do is be like that, not to get famous or anything but to help the sport and just help it grow. I want to help women get into it so there’s not that bias that only men can hunt because that’s simply not true. I was having a conversation with my mother about how I had bought waders, and they didn’t fit me because they didn’t have women’s. She was like, “Well, you know, it’s not really a women’s sport.” I want to change that. That you can hardly find women’s hunting gear because women aren’t into it. I think that it’s for anybody.

Bruce: If you spent any time on the web at all, you know there’s a lot of great gear companies or clothing apparel companies for women. One that I know pretty well is Kirstie Pike and Prois Hunting Apparel. They’ve done a fabulous job over the last years that they’ve been in business. That’s why Kirstie got into it because she was sick and tired of wearing men’s’ jeans and coats and stuff like that. She developed a whole clothing line as other people have. The women segment is the fastest growing segment in the out of doors today.

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