Alex Mamer crosses the gates and becomes a true hunter

A MidWest Outdoors Podcast Extra

If you’re looking for a ray of hope surrounding the future of hunting, you just might find it in Alex Mamer. She has the instincts of a hunter, the soul of a hunter… she is a hunter.

MidWest Outdoors editor Mark Strand was matched up with Alex in spring of 2013, during the mentored youth hunt put on by the National Wild Turkey Federation, and Minnesota DNR.  By cruel fate of the draw, they had to deal with cold, wind, and fresh snow.  Despite promising sign detected during a scouting mission, they saw and heard essentially nothing during that first hunt.

Fast forward about three years, and an email with photos comes from Kris Mamer, Alex’s mother, a proud parent describing her daughter’s developing passion for turkey hunting.

So we set up another hunt, a follow-up to the mentored hunt, so we could ask Alex what it is about hunting that captured her interest, and drives her to ask for her own permission, do her own scouting, and call up birds on her own. As we ponder why some people become lifelong hunters and others don’t, hearing directly from Alex helps us understand why one new hunter has no plans to ever give up the pursuit.

After hunting about half a day run-and-gun style–with a few bird encounters but no shot opportunities–the scene shifts to a blind in a small patch of grass right out in a newly-planted corn field that turkeys like to use.

Let’s listen as a young hunter describes her own path through the gates and into the chase… 

Oh, and stick around for the end, because something big happens.