iloveto4x4innc

I grew up hunting and will continue to hnt until I die. However, I' m married to a woman who has no interest in hunting at all. I' d love to get her interested in it, but don' t know how. She' s not comfortable around guns, but I think that may be because her mother was a gun-hating-nut. I can' t even keep my guns at home, I have to keep them locked up at the office(the boss' s wife won' t let him keep his at home either). How can I get her to see guns as something to be enjoyed, not feared? She is nice enough to not get ticked-off when I go hunting but refuses to go with me. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks

Brad

hntngirl

That might be kind of tough if she' s dead set against it! Does she like hiking and spending time in the woods at all? If so, I' d start there. Take her out walking around and let her experience the peaceful feeling of being out there. Later, if she doesn' t object, see if you can take along a .22 just to target practice. At that point, you might see if she would like to try shooting at some paper targets, or pop cans. If she does, and enjoys it, maybe you could get some friendly shooting competition going, to make it even more fun. How set is she against shooting game? If she' s not totally against it, start her out with the small stuff, squirrels for example. Once she gets comfortable with that, you could move her up to a shotgun and bird hunting. If she can make it to that point, she will probably go all the way to the big stuff! Remember to be patient, don' t talk down to her, and make it as fun as possible! Good luck!

BareBack Jack

Thank God my wife likes the outdoors.
The only things I could suggest is mabey one of the outdoor programs for womem.
......or you can beg alot,or try the ol' " if you realy love me" ploy' s.

Best of luck to ya,they are fickle sometimes.

firsttimeelkhunter

I' ve tried this as well, But my Wife has no interest at all. I asked my uncle the same question and he told me to leave it alone. " It' s time for you, with friends, let it be" I took the advise and dropped the issue. Now the kids (6 & 5) that' s another story

bigbulls

iloveto4x4innc, No offence, but I assume that the guns were there before she was? Just like mine were here before my wife was. They will also be here after she is gone. I hope thatnever happens but the guns aint going anywhere. Don' t mean to sound rude but you and your boss need to grow a couple. They are your guns so keep them at your house.

In all seriousness, actually that was serious, my wife grew up never being around guns also. I got her to shoot .22 rifles and hand guns and she was able to see for herself that they were actully really fun to shoot. She has begun wanting to move on to bigger and better things since then and I am going to be getting her a rifle here fairly soon. Get her shooting the .22 rimfires first and make sure that you make it fun. Some proper instruction from you or an actual instructor will do wonders for her confidence. If she likes shooting and likes the meat that you bring home it will be a natural progression toward hunting but it may take a while and let her do it at her own pace. Just make sure that you offer her the chance to come along and shoot any time that you go.

AceHand

There' s different strokes for different folks. While everyone here' d like to see her go hunting with ya, don' t push it too far. Darned if I know why, but some people are just set in their ways, and you might be stirring up a hornets nest if ya ain' t careful. You' re lucky to have her and your hunting at the same time. Good luck, and good hunting with or without her. lol. My wife used to go with me, now she don' t cause of a bad shot (when I wasn' t there). I guess, like they say, " girls got a right to change her mind" .

Power

I woulnd' t push her or try to sway her. All you can do is take lots of pictures while you' re out enjoying the great outdoors and make sure to talk about it a lot with your buddies and how much fun you had. She' ll listen and hopefully garner some interest to maybe go with. Heck she might even want to come along to camp but not hunt and that would be a great place to start.

If she isn' t interested at all probalby not much you can do. If she is willing to try it " for you" start her with one of the Women' s programs to introduce women to the shooting/hunting sports. A lot of other women with the same background as her would sway her 1000 times more than anything you or I can say or do. Plus, I' ve heard they are a ton of fun to attend. Either contact your local range or the NRA for a location in your area. Maybe if they have one in a town a couple hours away you can mix it with a weekend shopping spree. That way you both get something out of it.

Duffy

Pick one of those beautiful days in Oct.(if your grouse season is open then) when the sky is blue and the leaves are all aglow. Pack a picnick lunch and take her for a walk in your favorite grouse hunting woods(without a gun). If you see a grouse you can casually mention that, had you been hunting, you could have harvested the bird for a tastey, healthy, low cholesteral, supper. That is of course if you could have hit it, She may be amazed that you are capable of shooting a bird on the wing when she sees a grouse flush. Maybe next time she would like to see if you can actually hit one on the wing.

As others have said make the first trip out as pleasent as possible. My wife hunts some with me. However I once dragged her out of bed very early and we went out to a muddy stubble field and set out goose decoys and crawled into a muddy pit blind and sat there with snow and sleet hitting us in the face as the sun sky got a lighter gray and no birds came in sight. I had a great time but she was not too impressed with waterfoul hunting.

Robin

rather_be_huntin

What I' d do is ask her to go shooting with you once and tell her if she doesn' t like it then you' ll never bother her again about it. I' d tell her its important to you and you want to share it with her and if she loves you she otta at least try it once. Its obvious her problem lies with guns and not the hunting aspect of it all. Which brings me to a question, are you " allowed" to keep the meat from your harvested animals in the house? If she agrees take little guns like a .22 rifle. If she' ll give it a chance she' ll probably enjoy it and get passed her reservations about it and agree to try hunting with you. If she doesn' t accept then you' re probably be better off just leaving it alone.

Just something to think about, I used to want my gal to go with me all the time. She had never shot a gun in her life until she met me but agreed to shoot them. She loved it instantly and she was very good at it, in fact she can out shoot me with a pistol. Well she took hunter ed and started going with me on every hunt. I like it but now the issue is I want to spend some time with the boys and I have to find a way to tell her I don' t want her to come everytime. But I' m very grateful she loves to hunt.

I agree with bigbulls, how in the world are you not keeping YOUR guns in YOUR house? Any woman thats with me knows she accepts me for who I am or she doesn' t accept me at all. I don' t mind breaking a bad habit for my gal but NEVER will I bend when it comes to hunting and being a gun owner, thats who I am. I would strongly suggest finding a compromise on that issue, like buying a gun safe or something. There must be way she will allow them in the house if they are secure enough. Course you' re a lot nicer than I am, she wouldn' t have much say on the issue except where in the house they' re stored and how secure they are. I think you and your boss need to grow a pair.[8D]

I mean no offense and I hope the situation works out for you. Let us know what happens.

noway

I agree with the " let it be" philosophy.
My wife has no interest in hunting either.
She uses the time I am gone hunting to catch up with her girlfriends and do the things she likes to do.
Is she is supportive of your hunting and doesn' t nag you about it you have a better deal than most.
If keeping your guns at the office is part of the deal to keep her supportive then you made the right choice there as well.
It is not about having a set or not, a good marriage is one big negotiation and you have to choose your battles. When mama ain' t happy ain' t nobody happy!!

She is probably glad that you have hunting to get you out of the house from time to time.
Try to see it from her perspective.

My wife likes to go out once and a while to shoot with me and enjoys it but that is where her interest ends. I never ask her to go, she just knows she is always welcome to come along and sometimes she does and we always have a good time shooting.