YORKTON - Hunter Frankfurt has been hunting almost as soon as she was old enough to stand on her own.
“I was just a little gaffer. I was maybe two years old setting up tree stands and baits and out shed hunting with dad,” she explained.
Soon Frankfurt was shooting a bow, following her father to the field of hunting, although he was not initially a bow man.
“He (Shawn Frankfurt) was a rifle hunter,” she said, adding that eventually he picked up the bow and hunts with that now.
In terms of hunting Frankfurt was a pre-teen when she scored her first successful hunt.
“I was 12. It was a whitetail buck,” she said.
Asked how detailed her memory of that buck is now, the 24-year-old said, “It is very vivid.
“It was a long season and sitting in a blind with my bow.”
Not surprisingly the buck became a mount.
“It’s in my mom’s basement,” said Frankfurt.
With her initial success, Frankfurt became a dedicated bowhunter.
“Every chance I can I get out hunting,” she said. “. . . I just love being out in nature – just seeing the animals, hearing them, it’s just so calming being out in nature. There’s something therapeutic about it.”
It helps too that through the years Frankfurt has had her share of success with her bow having taken whitetail and mule deer, black bear, moose and elk.
Among Frankfurt’s dozen or so years of hunting the 2022 season easily stands out as the best.
By season’s end she had taken a mule deer, bear and moose, all three earning Pope and Young honours.
Pope and Young is a bowhunting dedicated organization which awards recognition to successful hunts meeting established size criteria.
The mule deer was taken in the Saskatoon area, with the help of Frankfurt’s friend Cody Robbins, in what really seemed like an easy hunt.
“It was only one day. We spotted them in the morning and watched them bed down,” she said. “We crawled in.”
Ultimately the buck showed “thrashing his antlers on the willows.”
The animal was still some distance away, but Frankfurt took the shot.
“It was a fair shot, 65 yards, maybe 70,” she said.
Noting the buck had “nice chocolate antlers” it measured well – 165 6/8 -- and is now mounted and on her wall.
The buck would ultimately earn Frankfurt the Saskatchewan Bowhunters Association award for ‘Best Typical Mule Deer’.
Frankfurt said she knew it was big.
“But I wasn’t sure. You don’t know how successful everyone else was,” she said.
While it was a big mule deer, Frankfurt will continue to hunt them “to try and beat it. It’s just going out and creating those memories with whoever you might be out with.”
Then there was the bear taken near Kamsack scoring 19, and Pope and Young recognition.
The moose scored 136 for its award.
“Dad was calling him right past me. I shot him at nine yards,” said Frankfurt, adding they were looking for their moose about three days.
With three Pope and Young hunts under her it was not surprising the SBA would name here Lady Bowhunter of the Year, and then also Saskatchewan Bowhunter of the Year, and then adding a North America Bowhunter of the Year award to the accolades.
So, does Frankfurt have a ‘wish list’ of what she’d like to still hunt?
“A wolf hunt,” she said. “It’s something I really want to take with my bow.”
And while she has taken elk, they have not measured up for Pope and Young recognition.
“I shot my first and only elk two years ago. It wasn’t close,” she said, adding she wants a Pope and Young with an elk one day.
