My first two years of hunting turned out to be more of a learning and hiking excursion than actual 'filling of the freezer'. While I never even saw any deer that I could shoot at, let alone kill one, I did learn many valuable lessons. For instance, never run uphill behind someone who had chili beans for dinner the night before. Following my husband at a breakneck pace uphill while he fumegated the hillside left me with a deliemma... do I breath in through my nose and smell it or do I breath through my mouth and risk tasting it? I learned after that never to cook beans until the night AFTER the hunt. I also learned to limit my fluid intake so that while not risking dehydration, I could still avoid baring my more tender parts to cactus, flies, mosquitoes and rattlers, which never seem to bother the males of our species one bit since they can do most of their business from a standing position.

My first kill actually came during my 3rd season. I had gotten a 30.06 for Mother's Day that year, it was a much lighter rifle than I had used in the past with a synthetic stock which my husband felt would not agrivate my arthritis so badly... 13 minutes into the season on opening morning I dropped a huge cow elk from a distance of 206 yards. It was a sobering moment for me, taking a life like that, but there were no regrets for I knew that what I had done would feed my children for the next few months. I felt a great sence of worth, that I had actually provided for my family... not just meat that I bought from the store, but meat that I had harvested myself. I do believe though that my husband was the most proud. I also know that several other hunters to this day doubt that I actually kill and dress the animals, but that no longer bothers me. I know what I have done and why, and that is all that matters.

To date I have harvested 4 elk and 1 mule deer. My proudest moment though has to have been when I went hunting with my new .54 flintlock muzzleloader, which was a gift to me from some very special friends I had met online. I had bagged a real nice mule deer buck earlier in the season with the 30.06, and with the pressure to provide meat for the year lifted somewhat, I decided to take the flintlock out. It was my dream hunt, ever since I had been introduced to muzzleloading the summer before. I was not quiet about my desire to one day hunt with a flintlock, and my friends took it upon themselves to surprise me with the custom made rifle. I didn't get to practice as often as I had wanted before the season opened, but my more experienced husband felt that I was doing well enough to hunt with it, so I toted the flintlock out the second month into the season, turning down offers to bring the trusty old 30.06 along... just in case... There were a bunch of folk with me that misty morning through that rifle, good people who encouraged my dream, and who entrusted me with their own. They were from all over the country and I carried their well wishes in my heart. I can't begin to explain the pride that I felt that day when I informed them that our collective dream had come true! For me it was a great accomplishment, to set a goal so late in my life, for something so new in my life... and to attain it... And then to have such dear friends admit that they never had any doubts that I would...

My greatest accomplishment, far outshining my proudest moment, though is through my children. 4 of my children are active hunters, and my youngest daughter is so impatiently awaiting her turn to get up at the crack of dawn and roam the mesas and ravines with the rest of the family. All of the children are muzzleloaders, my girls are both very partial to my two flintlocks and have decided that they too will one day hunt with them. The children have all inherited my husband's and my love for nature, for our native culture, and for our heritage. They are just as happy in the woods, or on the powder range as they are at the amusement park or the mall. They have accepted the hunter's way of life as part of their own without question. They respect the land , all aspects of nature, the environment and life itself. Best of all, they are so enthusiastic and sincere about it that other children can't help but be encouraged to follow their lead. Its contegious, not so much the hunting but the love, respect and pure enjoyment of our natural treasures, and children are the key to its survival. For my children to believe that, to live it and carry it on to their friends and one day to their own families... that, to me is my greatest accomplishment as a hunter and a parent.

Over the years fewer and fewer people question whether I infact do my own hunting and field dressing or if my husband does it for me. And more and more people are seeking me out at my work place for advice on where to go or what to use. When I first began hunting many people didn't take me seriously, they didn't think I had it in me to kill and gut a large animal. Many women hunters I have spoken to had encountered the same reaction, but now, more and more we are being taken seriously and accepted as hunters, not just as 'women hunters', but just as 'hunters', right along side of the other hunters who just happen to be male. My husband once told me not to worry because I didn't have to prove a thing to anyone, and I believed him. That belief I think is what helped me to be accepted as an equal. And that is what I tell my children, both the boys and the girls. Hunting is not about proving that you can do it. Hunting is about knowing how to do it, and doing it right. (And just for the record, I HATE gutting animals, but we have a rule here, if you kill it, you clean it!)

Well, thats basically Dorn the hunter in a nutshell. The neat thing about my hunting is how well it fits in with my lifestyle. I am a muzzleloader, which started out as a hobby but now I have started hunting with my flintlock. I am a Native American dancer and plan on using the hides and other parts of the game we harvest into our outfits. I am also an aspirering chef and love experimenting with game meat in the different recipes I have collected. Hunting is a lifestyle, not just a hobby or a weekend activity. It is what and who I am.

Jody Navakuku