“If you don’t get anything don’t bother coming back,” says Mamie Flinn to her husband of 30 years, Neil Kurtz. This stern directive is delivered with a wink and a smile, so Neil knows it’s probably going to be okay to return empty-handed just this once.

Neil is bundling himself up to face a crisp afternoon of fall weather in northwest Montana. He knows the temps will drop in minute increments, as degrees are tethered to the setting sun when it begins to dip behind the hills west of his 40 acres.   

His hunting partner is getting ready too, but she knows what to expect. Her periwinkle blue eyes can see what’s to come. She’s been hunting with him since she was 12 and helping to process deer younger than that.

Watch Neil and Abi enjoy “The Good Stuff.”

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Abi and Her Love for the Outdoors

Abi, now 27, has spent 15 years by her father’s side on cold, wet, snowy, and sunny days and loving every minute of it.

Abi has Down Syndrome and an aggressive eye disease that has left her legally blind, which occurred when she was about 16 years old.

Abi is Mamie and Neil’s youngest child of four children. Neil and his wife built an anti-freeze recycling company together and it did well. These days, the couple brokers deals for oil refining byproducts while working from home, allowing them to spend quality time with Abi.

Before Mamie and Abi came along, Neil was no stranger to hunting in Montana’s backcountry. He was a hunting guide in the Great Bear Wilderness and spent summers fishing and bartending, but his hunts today don’t require eight-mile hikes over rugged terrain.

As their family grew, Neil never stopped hunting. He’d bring home deer and elk and Abi would be waiting, ready to help process whatever was brought back. It never bothered her, the cutting, the gutting, the grinding, or the eating.

The family’s store of meat is all harvested, whether it’s wild-caught salmon or venison. Nothing comes from a grocery store if it can be hunted or fished.

As Abi got older, she got more interested in being part of the hunt itself, not just waiting around for her father to bring something back.

“I would take the other kids skiing and kayaking,” says Neil, “and it was just that she didn’t like being left behind. With hunting, she got to have a thing she and I did. We just had to find a place that was suitable for her. We now have our own property where we hunt, which is nice, but when we first moved up here we lived in town, so I had to find people that had access to some meadow or river bottom.”

Though Neil is as accomplished with a bow as he is with a firearm, Abi’s only and favorite thing to shoot with is her bow. It’s not a lethal bow, and she’s never taken her own animal, but practicing at a target nearly all year and having it along when she’s hunting brings her joy.

Neil and Abi primarily go out for evening hunts. They either share a ground blind or climb into their two-person stand, which was a gift from Mamie one Father’s Day.

A Mother’s Perspective

“I actually never liked hunting,” says Mamie. “I’m not a hunter. I don’t understand it, and at first I didn’t like the idea that Abi was going to go hunting. I didn’t want that for her.”

“But I saw how important it was to her, and to them both, for me to put my own discomfort and protectiveness aside and know that they got this. It was really important that I step out of the way.”

“I think that through that process of Abi having this kind of thing that’s exclusively her and Neil’s and me stepping out of the way,” Mamie continues, “I really believe Abi felt empowered and seen as an equal with the other kids, not Mama’s little girl. She is worthy of adult respect. If I would have continued to internally be negative about this thing they had going, she would have felt it and realized it and been shamed by it.”

“I still don’t want to see any pictures of dead deer though,” Mamie adds.

“I remember one year we hunted along a river bottom,” he says, “and a blue heron was sitting at a little hole in the ice catching fish. This went on for hours and Abi was just fascinated with that for that long.”

“I remember one year we had a big snowstorm. It was one of those that came in fresh, the first of the season. It was powdery so you could still walk through it. Just being out there with Abi with these big flakes covering our heads. Even though we didn’t get a deer, it was magic being out there with the snow coming down.”

Perhaps like any hunter, Abi’s especially proud when they’re successful at their hunt. She loves to pose for pictures and show those pictures to friends and family, claiming the harvest of course. And she especially loves to share the spoils of venison.

“She’ll help me cook,” says Mamie. “She loves burgers, making pasta dishes and roasts. Her favorite, of course, is the tenderloin. That never lasts long in our house.”

The family freezer stays as filled as possible with does, but as of late both Neil and Abi have been trying to only harvest larger bucks to bring more venison home.

“She calls the bucks ‘boys,’” says Neil. “‘Only boys now,’ she’ll tell me when we’re out. Though we still get does to come in close to our blind. It’s nice to have them come through. Since Abi can’t see far distances, she can have an interaction with them when they’re near.”

Peace, Quiet, and Teddy Bear Crackers

Rain, shine, or snow, both Abi and Neil are fueled both by the nature that surrounds them and the essentials kit that Mamie has packed for them. About every eight minutes or so, Neil guesses, it’s time for him and Abi to share some Teddy bear crackers and a piece of jerky while also quietly whispering about what they are doing and what they think the deer are doing.

“We both appreciate the whispering,” says Neil. “I’m a bit of a talker and I realized that when you’re hunting you’re listening to nature. You have to get comfortable with the silence. Abi’s very comfortable with silence at home. Hunting with her made me value that rather than trying to fix it.”