Why a show about Women Hunting?

I’ve always been around hunting. I mean it, always.
…
My folks dressed me up in Camo when I was a baby and my dad would opt for taking me up into a tree stand for turkeys or deer way before he would hand me off to a baby sitter. It was a surreal experience for a child and something that I often took for granted. As an adult, I find people constantly discovering the outdoors later in life and for me, a bit of rediscovering it.
…
The philosophy of my family was simple but definitely not subtle. Engraved on the stock of my first shotgun – a Remington 870 Express Magnum are my parents hardy pedagogy –
…
“To Our Son Nicholas, May you always respect and appreciate the beauty of the great outdoors.”
…
And to this day, I have.
…
To be fair, probably not in the same ways my parents would have envisioned though. Like most arrogant, adolescent males – a journey of self-discovery was often littered with side steps, mistakes, and bumps. For me, the outdoors were a way to separate from the hassles that I had seemed to continually create for myself. From backpacking through the appalachian mountains in West Virginia to fishing trips with my best friends, from living in the wilderness to months on end to reading books in long 12-14 hour campfire sittings, from naps on my back deck to giant games of fetch with my two labs, the outdoors seemed to be the place I could unplug and take a break from the busting speed and tension of the production world I have grown accustomed to living within. Far away from Facebook and cell phones, distant from traffic and loud noises, separate from all the things that I’ve piled up or procrastinated in my life. For me, I’ve mostly traded the guns for a camera – and I can honestly say, love the experience of hunting just as much.
…
Low and behold a boy and the outdoors and his dogs often go together like peas and carrots… and then, a girl comes in. You’re not ready for it. You’re not looking for her. But like a deer in head lights – she blinds you, runs you over, and leaves you wondering where your ass went. My wife, the optimistic-enthusiastic-energetic-outdoors city girl. She loves where boots and flanel, but still has to make me ten minutes late so she can apply her makeup. She’s got no idea how to hunt, fish, or camp – and that has never stopped her from trying and then looking at me to put it all back together when it’s all a big damn mess. (Though in full disclosure, she put up the tent on our last camping trip.)
…
And oh, how quickly life changes. Within a few months, my dogs stopped being MY dogs and simply animals that occasionally paw me for food. They sit in my office while I work sleeping and five minutes before SHE gets home go batt-shit crazy and try to tear down the door to play. And that’s not the only thing that’s changed. My long quiet, introspective walks became journeys for two, and my hunting/fishing trips became something social. My clothes all seem to oddly match in a way they never did before and some of my favorite hunting vests some how have found their way into local thrift stores.
…
No man’s an island. And the women of our life often know how to row out and change the landscape of it. With all cheesiness aside, my wife Laura, showed me that the outdoors is something better when isolation is punted away. And since meeting her, I’ve never had more fun outside. Truth be told – when women AND men embrace the outdoors sports together, every one wins. Perhaps the best phrase I’ve heard since I researched the show (and something that definitely articulates my life) “When a man goes hunting, he goes hunting. When a woman goes hunting, the whole family goes hunting.” I can safely say, my dogs would agree.
…
As a production guy, I got to thinking, why don’t more shows celebrate the women of the outdoors? Where the stories of the other side of hunting? Why are there so many hunting programs with men and none with women? What kinds of women would I want to see and hunt with? And the genesis of the program began. I can safely say, in all my years of production, I have never crossed a topic that instilled so many interesting conversations and sparked the imagination of more interesting people. And my deepest hopes are that a show like ours will truly unite the two genders to embrace the outdoors together so that other families today can have the same positive experiences of the outdoors that my family and my wife’s family had growing up.
…
From my mom’s and dad’s philosophy thru the lessons in life I’ve learned thru my wife and my dogs, I hope that each and every one of you find out how truly passionate I am for this subject matter and join me for the ride.

Sincerely,
Nicholas Barton
Director/Executive Producer, Queens of Camo