The outdoor industry is extremely fortunate to have a female role model like Gina Brunson, co-host of Addicted to the Outdoors and Hawke Sport Optics, passing on the traditions we so vehemently hold on to. After speaking with Gina in a recent phone interview, I hung up the phone feeling both challenged and revived. Challenged in the perspective of giving back to the industry even just a portion of the passion Gina has for the outdoors and her family. Revived in my quest to pass on our hunting and shooting traditions.
Camo Mom: How did you get involved with Hawke Sport Optics?
Gina: Hawke came on board as a sponsor of our show recently, so it’s a very new relationship. Optics are an integral part of your hunting gear; they’re your second set of eyes. Every Hawke product we’ve used or tried out, we absolutely love.
Camo Mom: We know you’ve been hunting since you were young, but did you and Jon ever go on hunting dates? If so, can you name a memorable one?
Gina: I was raised in a foster home with 8 to 10 other girls, so we were limited on what we could do on vacation, so our foster parents took us on a lot of camping and fishing trips. I met Jon when I was 17, and he is the one who introduced me to hunting. Every weekend for our first 10 years or so together, we spent fishing or hunting and/or camping. We continued these traditions even after our first 3 children were born, so I was learning along with them.
Camo Mom: What are some of the highlights that we’ll get to see in your upcoming shows?
We’ve got a lot of incredible hunts coming up this season. On one of them, I missed the buck of a lifetime. He came in and I made a perfect shot, but he was a big, mature, smart buck and he ducked my arrow, literally to the point his chest touched the ground. Of course, I was terribly disappointed, but I knew I had done everything like I should have.
We try to do hunts that the average person can afford, because that’s our demographic. Last year we did a couple’s show, selecting random couples and filming their hunts. For each couple, the entire episode was focused on their hunt. This has brought a lot of positive attention to the show, so we plan on continuing with these types of segments.
Camo Mom: We love to see couples who hunt together. What have you learned about Jon that you might not know about him if you hadn’t been out hunting together?
Gina: Jon is so knowledgeable about hunting and the outdoors, and I think if I wasn’t out with him doing what he loves, I would have missed seeing how passionate and insightful he is in the field. When we started hunting together, he didn’t cut me any slack because I was a girl. He told me if I was going to hunt, I was going to be like one of the guys and learn to do it all.
Camo Mom: Why should a woman consider bowhunting, if she’s interested in hunting?
Gina: One of the main reasons is the challenge of shooting a bow, but also, it’s something you can do as a family event, even with age differences. The younger children can learn to shoot a bow at a very early age. In our family, it’s a great competition.
Camo Mom: Name the perfect weekend that has nothing to do with hunting!
Gina: I was born and raised in Florida, and when I wasn’t in the woods, I was in the water. So any time spent on the beach or fishing or spearfishing is the perfect weekend.
Camo Mom: Do you have any other comments you would like to share with our readers?
Gina: I would like to reiterate that we are very different than 99% of the other hunting shows. We love what we do and are blessed to get to do it together. It’s also important for women to know that if they are a mother, they don’t have to give up their dreams. My dream has always been hunting and that’s what I want to show my kids — you can have it all. You can have a family, a career and you can live your dream, you’ve just got to learn to balance it all.
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