John’s Note: Eva Shockey can’t remember a time that she wasn’t around hunting. Eva’s mother, Louise Shockey, was a ballerina. Following her mother’s lead, during the early part of her life, Eva leaned heavily toward dance. She was a ballerina, she competed in ballroom dancing, and she taught dance. She went on hunts with her dad, well-known outdoorsman Jim Shockey, but never really wanted to take an animal until she was in her early 20s. Today, she’s one of the most recognized lady hunters in the hunting industry. She co-hosts “Jim Shockey’s Hunting Adventures” (www.jimshockey.com) TV show and hunts all over the world with and without her dad.

 I really like to hunt with my dad, but I thought my dad asking me to do a solo hunt by myself was a good idea.

While I was on my hunt in Saskatchewan, my dad, Jim Shockey, was in Africa hunting and videoing. I guess he knew that I would learn a lot more about hunting deer and also about producing a TV show, if I didn’t have him as a backup. He realized that, if I had a question about any part of the hunt or the TV show, I’d have to answer that question myself.

When he’s on a hunt, Dad doesn’t call me every day, but he does call my mom every day. I asked my mom to tell Dad to call me the next time she talked to him, but not to tell my dad why I wanted him to call me. I just told her to tell him, “Eva’s in Saskatchewan, and she’s really having a tough hunt. She says there are no deer there, and it doesn’t look like she’s going to be able to take a deer and get the TV show.” On the 10th day of my hunt, after I had taken the big buck the afternoon before, Dad called about 10:00 am.

The weather is so hot that we’re not getting any pictures of deer on our trail cameras, we’re not seeing any deer, and we’re having a real hard time.” Dad started laughing and said, “Eva, there may be a very good reason that you’re so successful when you’re hunting with me. Maybe the reason you’re so successful is that I’m such a good hunter.” I said, “Well, Dad, we did see one buck. He came within bow range, and I took him.” Then, I went ahead and told him the story of the hunt, the buck I’d taken, and the TV show we had gotten. He started laughing again and really got excited for me and with me. He was very, very happy. We were there to film an episode of “Jim Shockey’s Hunting Adventures” for the Outdoor Channel, which I co-host with my dad.

I had gone on numbers of hunts without my dad before and had been in charge of all the production, but this was the first time I had hunted in Saskatchewan without Dad on our family ranch. My mother, my grandmother, my brother, my dad and I all get together each year on the ranch for this hunt. I was the only family member at the ranch for this hunt, even though I did have the cameraman and Wojo with me. Earlier in 2014, I was in the Yukon for a moose and caribou hunt. I took a moose and a caribou on that hunt with a gun.

To learn more about deer hunting, you can get John E. Phillips’ Kindle eBooks and some print books, “How to Hunt and Take Big Buck Deer on Small Properties,” (John’s latest book), “How to Hunt Deer Up Close: With Bows, Rifles, Muzzleloaders and Crossbows,” “PhD Whitetails: How to Hunt and Take the Smartest Deer on Any Property,” “How to Take Monster Bucks,” and “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro,” or to prepare venison, get “Deer & Fixings.” Click here to get these books.

Next: Taking a Mountain Caribou with Hunter and TV Host Eva Shockey