February 4, 2009 | Category: Women Who Inspire
Brenda Valentine - Behind the Scenes
 Brenda's family on Thanksgiving Day before the annual kids' hunt doing what they love most, spending time with each other in the outdoors.  Some people come into Brenda's office and see lots of dead animals. She sees many living memories as each deer represents a different state. |
In the 1990s, there was a popular trivia game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It was based on the concept that any performer could be connected through his or her film roles to prolific actor Kevin Bacon in less than six links. The hunting world version of that game would have to be Six Degrees of Brenda Valentine. I'd venture to guess that you - or someone you know - has seen or met the First Lady of Hunting at a Bass Pro Shop opening, a hunt, convention, conference or seminar, not to mention the TV shows she's hosted or appeared on. Though there may be less than six degrees of separation between you and her, what do you really know about Brenda?
As one of the brightest stars in the hunting biz, you probably know the high points of her bio. A host for Bass Pro Shops' REAL HUNTING program and a regular on Bass Pro Shops' "King of Bucks." First female inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame and a member of the Sports Hall of Fame for her accomplishments in archery. Spokeswoman for the National Wild Turkey Federation. And book author, photographer, radio personality, videographer and seminar speaker. But here's something you might not have known - that her house, nestled on 200-acres in rural Tennessee, started off as a tractor shed. Sure, the house has been converted and expanded, but at its core is the shed that Brenda and husband Barney lived in as they built onto it.
Or maybe you never thought of Brenda as a resident of a small community, population 600, which lays claim to a bank, convenience store and a post office. A place where everybody knows everybody.
"The lady who works at the post office is my hunting buddy. I taught the local sheriff at a hunter ed course and helped him find and drag out his first deer. That deer is still mounted in the Sheriff's office," Brenda said. "In this community, everybody hunts. They all know the season openers and who killed what. They even had camo day at school where all the kids wore their camouflage clothes. The lady principal there wore her camo, too."
Hunting has always been a way of life for Brenda. Growing up in "Johnson Holler," hunting wasn't done for sport. It was how the family kept their bellies full. So Brenda roamed the woods and learned woodsmanship skills from her father. And she passed that respect for the outdoors to her family as well.
"My daughter Scarlet was born in July and hunting season was opening in October. I couldn't afford a babysitter and besides, who would do it at 4 a.m. anyway? So, we just made a larger platform on my deerstand and took her with me. She spent the whole season that way at three months old. I drug both of my girls around with me. By the time they could talk and walk, they were keeping up with me and knew what was going on."
And what hunting meant for Brenda's young family was breakfast, lunch and dinner. Everything her girls had ever eaten had been killed, caught or grown in the garden.
"Melissa, my oldest daughter attended a sleepover party with a group of other girls when she was in 4th grade. She came home the next day all goggle eyed and drop jawed and said 'Guess what? You can buy meat at the grocery store.' That kid had never seen store bought meat before."
Brenda also told a story of how Scarlet had accidently upset her 3rd grade teacher by claiming one of her highest accomplishments was she had held more deer legs apart for field dressing than any other kid in school. While it may not have been what the teacher was looking for in a school assignment, Brenda said you can sure enough bet it was true.
Today, Scarlet and Melissa, both in their 30s, are avid hunters. Melissa has taken bear and deer with her bow. And Scarlet killed a huge 8-pointer just last fall plus two Merriam's in the spring. Scarlet and Melissa are also busy raising the next generation of hunters, and Brenda loves taking her granddaughter and three grandsons with her. All four of them had killed a deer with Brenda by the time they were five or six years old. The only person in the family who didn't start off as an avid hunter is Brenda's husband.
"Barney wasn't a big hunter when we first met and married. He grew up with small game but never hunted deer and turkey. Early rising didn't appeal to him. He also sort of knew that if he started hunting, he'd become addicted," Brenda said. "After our girls got up in age, he went with me once and killed a four-pointer. He just loved it. Thought it was the grandest thing that had ever happened. However, he still hadn't gone turkey hunting yet. Finally, he went one afternoon. He froze when the birds got close. Got that surge of adrenalin and caught the bug. Even though he didn't get a bird that day he practiced and went out with a vengeance next spring and made up for it. Now he probably prefers turkey over deer."
Brenda also loves to turkey hunt and said one positive aspect is gobblers take out the trophy element of hunting. It may come as a surprise that while Brenda has taken plenty of big deer and every other species of big game, she never scores them. As an official scorer, she's perfectly capable of it, but just doesn't believe in the notion of trying to outdo someone else.
"Hunting is not a competitive sport for me," Brenda said. "Focusing on the score takes away too much from the other important aspects of the hunt. I want to remember the experience. I like killing big deer and elk, but I'm not into measuring the experience by the quarter inch"
It's that responsible behavior afield, her love of sharing the hunt and her commitment to conservation that led to the National Wild Turkey Federation to ask Brenda to serve as the organization's spokeswoman.
"As NWTF's spokeswoman, I want to create greater awareness of conservation. NWTF's partners and volunteers have done a good job restoring turkeys. Now the overall need is to manage the land for all wildlife," she said. "NWTF gives everyone who treasures wildlife and habitat a chance to participate in conservation. People realize if we are to keep what we have; it's our responsibility to give back. It's the key to our future."
Brenda is especially passionate about involving women in conservation and hunting.
"I love sharing that first experience, especially with kids and ladies, seeing that light come on. And women who enjoy the outdoors are generally sincere about what they do and staunch in their beliefs," she said. "I would like to see unification of women who enjoy the outdoors, though, not fragmented communities. With all women coming together, I see strength in communicating the same ideas, wants and needs with one voice."
One thing Brenda doesn't have any patience for is seeing sexual portrayals of women or female behavior that permits condescending treatment.
"It cheapens the image and takes away everyone's credibility as skilled and serious outdoor women. We've been fighting to take this image away. You can go to hunt camp and not be stuffy. You can have fun without playing the female card."
While Brenda spends about 200 days a year on the road filming for TV and attending shows, she cherishes her time at home. Never one to be idle, she spends her time on physical, everyday work such as taking care of dogs, horses and other critters, growing roses, canning tomatoes, scooping out the barn, putting out hay or on her tractor planting food plots.
If your link in the Six Degrees of Brenda Valentine game is limited to watching her on TV, you actually do know her because you're seeing the real deal. What you see is what you get whether you're talking to her in person or seeing her speak at a seminar - she's always a woman who is warm, strong, opinionated, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and down-to-earth. That's Brenda Valentine, our First Lady of Hunting.
As one of the brightest stars in the hunting biz, you probably know the high points of her bio. A host for Bass Pro Shops' REAL HUNTING program and a regular on Bass Pro Shops' "King of Bucks." First female inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame and a member of the Sports Hall of Fame for her accomplishments in archery. Spokeswoman for the National Wild Turkey Federation. And book author, photographer, radio personality, videographer and seminar speaker. But here's something you might not have known - that her house, nestled on 200-acres in rural Tennessee, started off as a tractor shed. Sure, the house has been converted and expanded, but at its core is the shed that Brenda and husband Barney lived in as they built onto it.
Or maybe you never thought of Brenda as a resident of a small community, population 600, which lays claim to a bank, convenience store and a post office. A place where everybody knows everybody.
"The lady who works at the post office is my hunting buddy. I taught the local sheriff at a hunter ed course and helped him find and drag out his first deer. That deer is still mounted in the Sheriff's office," Brenda said. "In this community, everybody hunts. They all know the season openers and who killed what. They even had camo day at school where all the kids wore their camouflage clothes. The lady principal there wore her camo, too."
Hunting has always been a way of life for Brenda. Growing up in "Johnson Holler," hunting wasn't done for sport. It was how the family kept their bellies full. So Brenda roamed the woods and learned woodsmanship skills from her father. And she passed that respect for the outdoors to her family as well.
"My daughter Scarlet was born in July and hunting season was opening in October. I couldn't afford a babysitter and besides, who would do it at 4 a.m. anyway? So, we just made a larger platform on my deerstand and took her with me. She spent the whole season that way at three months old. I drug both of my girls around with me. By the time they could talk and walk, they were keeping up with me and knew what was going on."
And what hunting meant for Brenda's young family was breakfast, lunch and dinner. Everything her girls had ever eaten had been killed, caught or grown in the garden.
"Melissa, my oldest daughter attended a sleepover party with a group of other girls when she was in 4th grade. She came home the next day all goggle eyed and drop jawed and said 'Guess what? You can buy meat at the grocery store.' That kid had never seen store bought meat before."
Brenda also told a story of how Scarlet had accidently upset her 3rd grade teacher by claiming one of her highest accomplishments was she had held more deer legs apart for field dressing than any other kid in school. While it may not have been what the teacher was looking for in a school assignment, Brenda said you can sure enough bet it was true.
Today, Scarlet and Melissa, both in their 30s, are avid hunters. Melissa has taken bear and deer with her bow. And Scarlet killed a huge 8-pointer just last fall plus two Merriam's in the spring. Scarlet and Melissa are also busy raising the next generation of hunters, and Brenda loves taking her granddaughter and three grandsons with her. All four of them had killed a deer with Brenda by the time they were five or six years old. The only person in the family who didn't start off as an avid hunter is Brenda's husband.
"Barney wasn't a big hunter when we first met and married. He grew up with small game but never hunted deer and turkey. Early rising didn't appeal to him. He also sort of knew that if he started hunting, he'd become addicted," Brenda said. "After our girls got up in age, he went with me once and killed a four-pointer. He just loved it. Thought it was the grandest thing that had ever happened. However, he still hadn't gone turkey hunting yet. Finally, he went one afternoon. He froze when the birds got close. Got that surge of adrenalin and caught the bug. Even though he didn't get a bird that day he practiced and went out with a vengeance next spring and made up for it. Now he probably prefers turkey over deer."
Brenda also loves to turkey hunt and said one positive aspect is gobblers take out the trophy element of hunting. It may come as a surprise that while Brenda has taken plenty of big deer and every other species of big game, she never scores them. As an official scorer, she's perfectly capable of it, but just doesn't believe in the notion of trying to outdo someone else.
"Hunting is not a competitive sport for me," Brenda said. "Focusing on the score takes away too much from the other important aspects of the hunt. I want to remember the experience. I like killing big deer and elk, but I'm not into measuring the experience by the quarter inch"
It's that responsible behavior afield, her love of sharing the hunt and her commitment to conservation that led to the National Wild Turkey Federation to ask Brenda to serve as the organization's spokeswoman.
"As NWTF's spokeswoman, I want to create greater awareness of conservation. NWTF's partners and volunteers have done a good job restoring turkeys. Now the overall need is to manage the land for all wildlife," she said. "NWTF gives everyone who treasures wildlife and habitat a chance to participate in conservation. People realize if we are to keep what we have; it's our responsibility to give back. It's the key to our future."
Brenda is especially passionate about involving women in conservation and hunting.
"I love sharing that first experience, especially with kids and ladies, seeing that light come on. And women who enjoy the outdoors are generally sincere about what they do and staunch in their beliefs," she said. "I would like to see unification of women who enjoy the outdoors, though, not fragmented communities. With all women coming together, I see strength in communicating the same ideas, wants and needs with one voice."
One thing Brenda doesn't have any patience for is seeing sexual portrayals of women or female behavior that permits condescending treatment.
"It cheapens the image and takes away everyone's credibility as skilled and serious outdoor women. We've been fighting to take this image away. You can go to hunt camp and not be stuffy. You can have fun without playing the female card."
While Brenda spends about 200 days a year on the road filming for TV and attending shows, she cherishes her time at home. Never one to be idle, she spends her time on physical, everyday work such as taking care of dogs, horses and other critters, growing roses, canning tomatoes, scooping out the barn, putting out hay or on her tractor planting food plots.
If your link in the Six Degrees of Brenda Valentine game is limited to watching her on TV, you actually do know her because you're seeing the real deal. What you see is what you get whether you're talking to her in person or seeing her speak at a seminar - she's always a woman who is warm, strong, opinionated, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and down-to-earth. That's Brenda Valentine, our First Lady of Hunting.