Female deer hunters run from rookie to veteran

It's taken 22 years, but Wayne Krystek has found a deer hunting partner.

He and Linda Krystek have four daughters, and the youngest, 12-year-old Lauren Krystek, has taken the hunter safety course and is ready to get out in the woods first thing Monday.

"I like the anticipation of waiting on the deer," Lauren said. "Winter is my favorite time of year, and each day I learn something from my dad. I like listening to all the different sounds in the woods, and each time you hear a twig snap, you think it might be a deer. I like learning patience, too."

Wayne said he took Lauren out in 2010 just to do some scouting and determine if it was a genuine interest before they invested time and money into the hunter safety course, hunting license and deer tags.

"I saw a deer the first time we went out, and that sparked a fever," Lauren said. "Some of my friends might hunt, but I can also see they'd get cold and say they're ready to go back to the house."

To help Lauren stave off the cold, the family went shopping recently at Woodbury Outfitters on South Second Street.

Sales Associate Pam Brightly helped Lauren select overalls and a jacket that not only are warm and water-resistant, but also tear-resistant. She knew she had to have hunter orange, and selected a cap and vest.

Lauren will use an heirloom of sorts to hunt with, a 20-gauge shotgun Wayne bought when he was 18.

"The first time I shot it, I had no idea what it was going to feel like," said the 95-pound sixth-grade student at Union Elementary. "It pushed me back, and it was loud.

"But I'm more of a tomboy," Lauren said.
Not afraid of the hunt

Facing down a bear on a hunting trip would be daunting for a man or a woman.

Tina Williams, of Killbuck, has done that and more in her eight years as an avid hunter. She got into hunting to spend more time with her husband, she said.

It worked, as she said the two not only hunt white-tail deer locally but have taken trips to tackle such game as antelope, wild boar, mule deer and bears.

"I was really nervous. It was kind of scary, especially the one day when I came back and there were fresh claw marks in the tree where I had been sitting," she said of bear hunting. "That was scary, but nine times out of 10 they're more afraid of you than you are of them."