This Lady’s Hunting Achievement Draws Criticism

Have you heard the name Michele Leqve (pronounced Lek-vee)? If not, you most certainly will in the months and years to come. This woman has accomplished more in just a few short years as a hunter than most of her male counterparts will achieve during an entire lifetime. I’m not kidding, this lady has a fabulous story to tell and it’s about time the hunting community recognizes her unique outdoor spirit and hunting talent.

You see, about a month ago Leqve did something no other modern-day woman has ever accomplished. She’s believed to be the first woman ever to shoot a polar bear with a bow. While most other women are more concerned with pastimes such as scrap-booking, hosting parties, going shopping, and the like…Michele was boldly doing the sort of things that only a handful of women have previously accomplished, let alone even attempted. Reading her story on how she first got interested in hunting should inspire each of us to never overlook who might have some hidden and yet undeveloped interest in hunting.

“When I was a little girl I never hunted or even dreamed of hunting, nor did any one else in my family! Living in the country, I had many pets… I then grew up, and at the age of 19, I started to date a guy with a passion for hunting & trapping. I didn’t really like it at first, but the more he educated me on the facts of hunting and trapping, the more I accepted it, and defended it to other people who didn’t like it. I remember he and his brothers coming home from a day of hunting and telling each other all their stories. I would listen intently and laugh with them. More and more I found myself intrigued and fascinated with hunting….”

Michele_polarbear Apparently so. On her own Leqve further developed an interest in hunting through co-workers and with a strong determination to learn and succeed as a hunter. Her hunting resumé over the past 15 years would leave most people green with envy. I know it sure does for me. To learn more about her life as a burgeoning hunter read her complete bio here.

But today this blog is not solely about Michele’s life story…rather, I want to focus on a recent event in her life. Namely, the accomplishment of her taking a record Pope & Young polar bear (see another picture by clicking here). Of course, this achievement is secondary when you consider she is the first female ever to record such a kill using archery equipment.

“I heard my guide shouting for me to wait until he got there, and I could hear him trying to get a shell chambered in his rusty old gun, but something was frozen on it and it wouldn’t work. Finally, he did get a shell in the gun and told me to shoot. I got close to the bear, but I had no idea what the distance was because my rangefinder froze up. The bear was so big that I just could not tell how far it was. I held on the bear with my twenty-yard pin, but missed because he was much farther than that. I got closer and used my thirty-yard pin. When I released the arrow, I watched arrow disappear behind the bear’s shoulder. I quickly got another arrow out and shot him again. This arrow went directly through his heart. I wanted the bear to go down before my guide had to shoot him with his rifle, because if he did, my bear would not officially be a bow kill… I was overwhelmed when the realization began to hit me that I had just done something that no other woman in the world had ever done,” she continued….”

Yet, in her home town newspaper the news of her recent achievement was somewhat overshadowed by reader negativity associated with the story. Unfortunately the local newspaper, called the Rochester PostBulletin, is a subscription-based paper or I would link to it with more of the reader comments…but a few of the many negative comments went like this:

“I thought this was in poor taste … what is newsworthy about some dilettantes spending lots of money to travel someplace remote to kill something? If you’re into pictures of dead animals, why don’t you publish some local roadkill pictures of the first animal a teenager has killed while driving?

“This story reminds me of the G.B. Shaw quote on foxhunting: ‘The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.’ Let someone else document the foibles of the idle middle class … stick to news.” or how about this comment from another reader;

“I read about the lady from Rochester that killed the polar bear with a bow and arrow in your paper on May 4. I was led to believe in some previous stories that I have heard that, because of global warming and other circumstances, the polar bear was becoming an endangered species. If that is the case, why is anyone allowed to hunt them?”

I suppose much of this criticism is to be expected because Rochester, Minnesota—home of the world famous Mayo Clinic—attracts a high saturation of citizens who believe they are part of the “intellectual class.” Truth is often times these “schooled” individuals forget where their boundaries of knowledge end. Take the first comment suggesting facetiously that the paper publish pictures of local roadkill animals. Sadly, this comment likely came from an individual whose awareness with things outdoors is driving to work and seeing the occasional roadkill along side the road…maybe that’s why he mentioned it.

Despite any negative feedback that Leqve might have garnered from the published news of her hunting accomplishment, it’s time the sportsman community stands up and gives this woman her just due. Michele, I don’t personally know you but even so your perseverance to succeed as a female hunter is nothing short of truly inspiring. This is the sort of role model that every young woman should be embracing to realize that any goal is possible if you set your mind to do it. Come to think of it, Michele Leqve is a pretty damn good role model even for us middle-aged men who sometimes need an inspiring figure to motivate us to become better sportsmen.