REAL PEOPLE/Fair Game
Women in the Wild
For Donnelle Johnson and Lisa Thompson, hunting means facing a test—together
Donnelle Johnson, kneeling, and Lisa Thompson, right, track elk in northern Colorado with hunting party member Melissa McGarvin-O’Melia.
DONNELLE JOHNSON: Elk are notoriously difficult to track. It requires a lot of strategizing as well as physical fitness. You might be out in the backcountry and walking for 16 hours in a day.
Lisa Thompson: But that’s what we love—being out in the wild, challenging ourselves and learning what we’re capable of.
Donnelle: We first met back in 2000, at a lodge in southern Colorado. It was minus 18 outside. Everyone was wearing face masks. As usual, 99.9 percent of the hunters in the lodge were men.
Lisa: I looked across the room when she took her hat and mask off and thought, Oh, there’s another lady here! So we started talking.
Donnelle: Eventually we went on a hunt together. That’s when we really bonded. It’s like we were sisters from another mother.
Lisa: Our husbands are also hunters, but when the kids were little, the men would stay home so we could go out together.
Donnelle: Hunting has been a male-dominated pursuit for years, and many women don’t think it’s for them. But we knew that an outdoor encounter can change your world. We wanted to help other women have that experience.
Johnson and Thompson relax in a hunting cabin.
Lisa: We started a nonprofit called HuntNDivas that offers training and guided expeditions for women. We design and lead hunts for all kinds of game, depending on the season.
Donnelle: I love to help ladies connect to their unique talents and gifts. They often come to events as strangers and leave as family. Many are overwhelmed by the joy they feel after facing their fears.
Lisa: Our motto is “Find your wild.” To me, that means finding your passion in the outdoors, whether it be biking, fishing, hunting, photography. We love getting women out of their everyday lives to find their passion. —As told to Danielle Manion
Donnelle Johnson, 57, of Franktown, Colorado, co-owns a big-game mapping company. Professional hunter Lisa Thompson, 58, of Littleton, Colorado, works for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.