Buck Fever Is Real: A First-Season Bow Hunter Gets Honest

She bought her first bow in December, knew nothing about it, and taught herself the rest from YouTube. By August, Staysha Smith was sitting alone in the dark on her very first bow season.

In Episode 37 of the Women Who Hunt Podcast, Northern California mum of three Staysha shares the honest side of learning to bow hunt: buck fever, a miss at fifteen yards, a sleepless night after overnight rain washed away any sign, and the sixty-yard shot she chose to let walk.

We also talk about draw length and draw weight explained simply, why practising at 40–50 yards makes the close shots feel easy, rucking and kneeling practice, post-season blues, homeschooling three boys outdoors, and the stepdad who handed her a bow and never stopped pushing her.

If you've ever thought "I could never do that" — this one's for you.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome Staysha Smith 0:44 Growing up in Northern California 2:58 The fish she refused to touch 4:58 Why she picked up a bow 6:35 Teaching herself on YouTube 7:48 Draw length and draw weight explained 11:29 Why practise at 40–50 yards 12:52 Her first bow season, solo 14:44 The stillness of the first morning 16:38 The buck that teased her all season 20:06 Buck fever and a sleepless night 22:03 The 15-yard miss 25:42 Talking about the misses with her boys 28:23 Archery season vs rifle season 30:02 Season prep: kneeling, seated and rucking 34:36 A new target buck and first game cams 36:51 The 60-yard shot she let walk 38:46 Post-season blues and why she goes back 41:45 Finding women to hunt with 45:52 Homeschooling three boys outdoors 50:06 What it means to be a woman in hunting 52:50 What's next for Staysha 54:05 The people in her corner 58:02 Where to find Staysha

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH STAYSHA

📸 Instagram: @staysmith26 https://www.instagram.com/staysmith26/

👗 Snny James Boutique https://sunnyjamesboutique.com/

CONNECT WITH WOMEN WHO HUNT

📸 Instagram: @womenwhohunt.au https://www.instagram.com/womenwhohunt.au/ 🌐 womenwhohunt.com.au 🎙 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & YouTube

Keep doing the things that light you up. 🏹