Estimated read time: 8 min.
Hunting is a wonderful hobby, and it becomes even more fascinating if you experience it with your partner. At Pulsar ambassadors’ team, we have a few hunters lucky enough to share their passion with their loved ones. Danish Claus S. Andersen, who currently resides in Sicily, often goes out with his wife Freya; German Theresa Anheuser hunts with her partner Jannik, while Samantha Wendel, our Austrian distributor, discovered hunting through her now-fiancé Horst – and they all agreed to share more with us.
How did you guys discover that hunting was a mutual passion?
Claus: When we met 20 years ago, neither of us had tried hunting in the traditional sense. Because of my military background, I had, technically, hunted, but it was only for my survival courses. A few years into our relationship, we started visiting Arizona, and there, our love for being in nature together became apparent. We participated in a couple of hunts with our American friends and decided to get our own licenses. However, because of my deployments, the time only came up in 2017 for Freya to get her license, and half a year later, I got mine.
Claus and Freya
Theresa: When we met each other, we both hunted already. While we got our licenses separately, it happened at a similar time – Jannik got his only a year earlier than I did. Although we both have hunters in our families, so we have been familiar with it since childhood.
Theresa and Jannik
Samantha: I’m a pistol shooter in the Austrian National Team, and I met my partner through a competition. Having grown up in Germany, I didn’t have any contact with hunters back in those days. However, Horst invited me to visit him in Austria, and I found out he was a passionate hunter. When he invited me to his hunting grounds, I thought the idea of hunting and harvesting your own best-quality meat could be quite exciting. However, I’m not a patient person, so simply sitting and waiting wasn’t very appealing to me. And then, Horst pulled out a Pulsar device – it was a Helion – and for me, it was like I explored a whole new world. Suddenly, I could see everything. From the mice right around our high seat to the deer up at the top of the mountain, slowly walking down in our direction. You could say Pulsar really helped me find passion in hunting – and made the beginning of our relationship much smoother.
How do you think hunting benefits you as a couple?
Theresa: Through hunting, we collect memories together, we can combine our free time with our greatest passion and experience hunting together – that’s a lot of wonderful mutual experiences.
Samantha: It allows us to share some quality time together without being on the move and full of adrenaline like we are all the time while we are pistol shooting or driving off-road. We spend many evenings sitting next to each other in the high seat, having deep conversations or just enjoying each other’s company and nature.
Freya loves to skin and butcher the animals, so she’s always ready to do that. I love the more technical and gear-related aspects of hunting, so I am always looking to improve our gear and training level. But we both agree that the sharing of experiences is by far the best outcome of hunting together.
Claus S. Andersen
Claus: We quickly found out that hunting together makes a lot of things easier! By hunting together, we share so many experiences in nature, and we are there for each other if any of us need help or support. Freya loves to skin and butcher the animals, so she’s always ready to do that, no matter who shot the animal. I love the more technical and gear-related aspects of hunting, so I am always looking to improve our gear and training level. But we both agree that the sharing of experiences is by far the best outcome of hunting together.
We also learned to respect each other’s decisions – we almost never discuss or question the other person’s actions during a hunt. We both know that it’s up to the other person to decide how to stalk or hunt the animal and if the other person is willing to perhaps take a challenging shot. But we both believe that it is always better to be sorry about the shot you didn’t take instead of the shot that wounded an animal.
Claus and Freya
What are the best things about hunting with your partner? And are there any challenges?
Samantha: We are on the road nearly every weekend as we compete all over Europe. Our lives are very stressful, and we don’t have much time left to go hunting at the moment. But if we can spend some time during the summertime in our hunting area, it’s really a relief, and we enjoy slowing down in our busy lives. For us, hunting is a great way to reconnect with nature, harvest high-quality meat, and spend some relaxing quality time with each other without the busyness of our day-to-day lives.
Samantha and Horst
Claus: We both love hunting and spending time in nature, so we cannot afford not to be in a good mood as soon as the rifles are packed and we are heading out the door. For us, hunting together is the best couples therapy you can get.
Our biggest challenge, probably, is that both of us are perfectionists. We both live by the motto, “Train hard, hunt easy.” When either of us discovers something that’s not as expected, we support each other in solving the problem. This also means a lot of training on the shooting range. If the shot placement is not within our standards, we train, train, and train again.
Theresa: The best part is that Jannik understands hunting, and I don’t need to explain myself when I say I’m spending the evening in the forest. He is also just as happy for me when I have shot something.
Of course, there are times when we don’t agree, especially when it comes to choosing who goes on which seat. But that’s about it – we love hunting together. We help each other when someone has harvested something. Sometimes, we also go to a seat together and have dinner there. We also like to go driven hunting together. Jannik usually stays on the stand, and I walk through with the hounds. Everyone experiences something different, and we always have something exciting to tell each other.
What about the equipment? Do you share it, or do you each have your own favorites?
Theresa: We both have our own equipment. Although, sometimes I borrow a jacket from Jannik because I get cold quickly. I used to take his thermal imaging equipment for hunting from time to time, but now I have my own from Pulsar.
My favorite device at the moment is the Axion 2 XQ35 Pro. A super light hand-held device that fits in any pocket and also delivers superb image quality. It’s more than sufficient for our distance in the forest. I am someone who needs equipment that is portable and easy to care for. With the Axion 2, I have a flexible, lightweight, reliable, and high-quality companion for hunting.
Samantha: A year ago, when I finally got my hunting license, my fiancé and I leveled up our Pulsar game quite a bit. Coming from that one old Helion – on which we used to fight all the time – we now both have our own spotting devices: an Accolade 2 LRF XP50 Pro and a Merger LRF XP50. Also, we both have an Axion 2 LRF XG35, which we use while we are walking up to the high seat to check the surroundings. My fiancé mounted a Thermion Duo DXP50 on his hunting rifle, which I now definitely prefer over my own hunting rifle with the standard daylight scope. Therefore, we will have to place an order soon to keep the peace in the relationship!
Claus: At the beginning of our hunting adventures, we had our separate rifles and riflescopes but would share binoculars and rangefinders, depending on who had the biggest need on a hunt. Now, after some years, we both have our own equipment, but we will, of course, lend things to each other if needed.
After I became Pulsar ambassador, Freya became very keen on sharing thermal equipment. The first time she looked through the Axion 2 XQ35 Pro spotter, she was sold. I had the chance to test out the whole range of thermal devices in the ambassadors’ meeting, and I’m sure that when Freya uses some of the other devices, she will like them even more. My personal favorites were the Merger LRF XQ35 due to its small weight and the Krypton 2 because of its versatility. Honestly, I think Freya and I will be fighting over them.
What’s your favorite memory from hunting together with your partner?
Theresa: We once had wild boars in the maize and went after them at night. They came to me first, and I was able to shoot one. When I was just about to leave, Jannik called me on my mobile and said he had shot two. So, we had 3 wild boars that evening and successfully defended the maize. That was a nice experience.
Claus: Probably from our hunt in South Africa – that trip was definitely an adventure of our lives. We saw so many different animals and had the chance to hunt those we both dreamed of. Freya hunted kudu, oryx and springbuck. I hunted a sable antelope and eland. Both of us spent a long time tracking the animals and actually almost wore out the PHs because we wanted to continue tracking the animals without taking longer breaks, no matter how much weight we were carrying.
We both had very emotional and humbling experiences when hunting the large African animals, and the best part was that we knew exactly how the other person felt at that moment.
Claus and Freya
When my boyfriend invited me to his hunting grounds, I thought it could be exciting. However, I’m not a patient person, so simply sitting and waiting wasn’t very appealing to me. But when he pulled out a Helion, it was like I explored a whole new world. Suddenly, I could see everything.
Samantha Wendel
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