The Gear Gals: A new category and a fresh review about a gal and her first shotgun

Not long ago, my husband decided he was taking me bird hunting with him Labor Day weekend.  I was all excited to go with him.  I never went bird hunting before so this would be my first time going.  I thought this would be a nice way to spend time with Rick and also to learn something new.   The day before we were going to go hunting, I asked him if I would be using the gun in the pretty case or the one he uses for turkeys!  He responded, “I’m not sure … I haven’t decided.” Well, Saturday morning came and he went and we never got around to going out to shoot.

After that, we decided to go to the new sporting goods store that recently opened in our area. We went to look around to see what they had.  I was disappointed, because they didn’t have a lot to choose from in the store for women hunters.  They had all kinds of hunting gear for the guys, but nothing for us ladies.  I asked the female sales associate if they carried ladies’ hunting gear. She said, “No, but you can buy boys’ clothes and wear them.”   I was shocked and I looked at her and said no thanks!  I looked at the archery department, the camping department, the hunting department, and the sports section. We spent three hours checking out the new store.  We could’ve spent a lot of money in this store.  We were like little children in a candy store.

My husband decided to check out the gun department and I was going to look at the fishing department, which they do carry women fishing poles in pink.  I met up with him in the gun department and he asked, “Which shotgun do you want?”  He didn’t have to ask me twice; I set out to get myself a new gun.

I looked at a semi auto 12-gauge shotgun. I looked at a Benelli Nova 12-gauge pump shotgun.  I compared them both and I decided  on my own that I wanted the Benelli  Nova 12-gauge pump shotgun and I’m very glad I did.  It’s easy to load and not too heavy for me to hold.  The Benelli Nova also comes in a 20-gauge model and they both come in Black Synthetic, Advantage Max 4 HD and a new Realtree APG.  This shotgun also comes in a youth model.  It’s very versatile and handles anything from target loads to 3- ½” magnum.  It has distinctive grooves on the grip points on the stock, and it’s also weather resistant.  I’m very pleased with the Nova Benelli because it holds three shells at one time.  I took my shotgun home that evening and my husband disassembled my shotgun down to the bare parts and showed me all of the parts and how to clean it, load it and shoot it.

So, later we went to a dove field and I loaded the shotgun all by myself and he had me shoot a couple of rounds out of it just to see how it shot.  I only shot it three times just to shoot it. I love it! It shoots very nicely, and is easy to load.  In fact, I am very proud of myself for picking this gun out. It’s a very nice gun for women shooters and easy to load.   I shot a few more practice rounds out of it since we didn’t see anything else that evening.  We only saw three doves at a distance and six geese flew over and they were also too high.  But, we did our best and we had a fantastic time.  He is taking me again soon and I can’t wait to shoot my Benelli.

Georgette likes her new gun so much that she posed with it in front of the fireplace! Photo by Rick Wood.

Also, I’m very pleased with myself for going to a Women on Target Shotgun Clinic or I would probably not be doing this today.   I would like to thank the NRA for sponsoring the Women on Target Clinics.  They’ve been a wonderful help to me and taught me the correct way to shoot a shotgun and the safety involved in shooting a shotgun.  It was a very fun experience; and it also helped me to build my confidence up to go out there and try something new.  There are other women just like me who really want to learn how to shoot a gun safely, and have fun with it. The most important thing is that it taught me not to be frightened by shooting a gun — no matter what type.  It’s a great way to build friendship, encouragement, confidence and self esteem.   The most important thing is the safety involved in this sport.

My husband is an expert shooter who teaches and encourages me about the shooting sports.  He enjoys teaching me about the outdoors, and spending quality time together doing things we both love doing.

~Georgette Wood