I think I was born with the love of the outdoors in my blood.  Growing up in Door County, Wisconsin, my earliest and best childhood memories involve taking walks in the woods with my grandfather.  From there, it was a natural progression that he teach me how to shoot, then take me first squirrel and small game hunting, and as soon as I was old enough, deer hunting.   I was hooked as we spent one spring building a nice hunting stand so we could sit together.  I was twelve that year when I shot my first doe and haven’t turned back since.  I’m now twenty five and have picked up turkey hunting and bow hunting.  This September, I shot my first buck with a bow, and I was so excited! 

I now live in a small cabin in a 10,000 acre forest on the Machickanee Flowage, an area where I do most of my fishing and hunting.  Last year, I acquired a great lakes fishing boat, named it “Call Me Fishmael,” and am learning to captain that craft, as well as learning the art of trolling for Lake Michigan salmon out of the port of Algoma, WI. 

All of my experiences thus far have lead me to this point and I am proud to be a part of womenhunters.com and look forward to writing more articles and reviews.  I am an emergency medical technician and freelance writer by trade, but my B.A. is in creative writing, and poetry is my love outside of the outdoors.  My poetry has been published both here and abroad, in such journals as War, Literature, and the Arts; The Rectangle; and Bear Creek Haiku.  My first full-length book of poetry—Where Water Might Be Blue--was released by Wm Caxton Press in 2006.  To learn more about my writing, see my website at www.kristinalberts.com

For me, writing is very much like hunting.  The more I learn about hunting, the more I want to immerse myself.  In the future, I look forward to trying out guided hunts for larger game.  I’d also like to take up competitive archery.  Half the fun is knowing there are always fresh skills to learn and new challenges around the bend.  But for now, I count myself lucky to be a student of the bowhunting woods. 

With fall rolling around, I’ll be out in my little treestand with my bow, basking in the beauty of the forest and building each new memory for a lifetime, looking forward to each new hunting and fishing season to come.