Two Hearts, One Hunting Ground: Chasing Game While Expecting

The soon-to-be mother, Elisabeth, spends every spare moment outdoors in her hunting grounds — right up to the due date.

Hunting while pregnant? For Elisabeth, it never felt like a contradiction. In fact, she calls it one of the most meaningful seasons of her life as a hunter. The devoted outdoorswoman shows how expectant mothers can move safely and confidently through the woods — and she shares the lessons that helped her navigate this extraordinary time.

Elisabeth is in her ninth month. Yet whenever she can, she climbs into a familiar treestand in the Nock Mountains of Carinthia. Not just to take game. But to pass on something older than any rifle, any harvest, any shot: a love of wild places. Quiet. Tradition.

Why an Expectant Mother Still Hunts

For Elisabeth, being pregnant and being a hunter aren’t contradictions at all.

For Elisabeth, the idea of being pregnant and hunting isn’t a paradox — it’s balance.

When the 33-year-old hunter talks, nothing sounds like bravado or stubbornness. It sounds like grounding. “Hunting settles me,” she tells Schuss und Stille. “My mind clears. I slow down. Especially now, when everything in life is moving and changing.”

Of course, late in pregnancy she’s not scrambling across steep slopes or climbing shaky ladders. Instead, she uses solid, well-known stands — never more than 100 yards from the truck. Up there, wrapped in mountain silence, she finds what so many expecting mothers search for: a place where body and mind breathe in the same rhythm.

"I want to pass on what hunting has given me!"

It’s one of those sentences that says everything. Elisabeth carries more than a child — she carries values into the next generation. “Hunting grounded me,” she says. “It taught me respect. Patience. Responsibility. I want to pass that on, whether this little one becomes a hunter someday or not.”

And sometimes — when the woods hush, when a branch snaps or a bird takes flight — she feels something remarkable: “It’s like the baby’s listening. The heartbeat out here and the one inside… somehow they sync.”

Tradition, she says, isn’t handed down in books. It’s handed down in feeling. In experience. In silence. Hunting was placed in her cradle — and now she hopes to place it gently in her child’s.

Hunting was placed in Elisabeth’s cradle, and it’s a passion she’s determined to pass on to her child as well.

Safety: The Invisible Net Around Elisabeth

Heavily pregnant, alone in the woods? Not a chance. And that’s exactly the point.

“Before every sit, I check in with my partner Gregor, my dad, or my brother. Someone’s always on standby.” It’s responsible, smart preparation. Elisabeth knows her limits, respects them — the same way she respects the game she hunts.

The Belly, the Breath, and the Adrenaline

When game steps out today, Elisabeth feels it differently. Deeper. Softer. More deliberate. “Sure, you get a bit more nervous. You want to keep the belly calm. Breathe slow. Keep the adrenaline in check.”

She laughs — because hunting has always meant a racing heart. Now she just carries two of them. Still, she insists: “I’m more relaxed in the stand than anywhere else. Sitting. Watching. Breathing. It does me good.”

Misunderstandings Between Hunters and the Outside World

Elisabeth with her buck.

Yes, there are people — mostly those who’ve never set foot in a hunting ground — who ask: Why hunt pregnant? Are you trying to prove something?

Elisabeth just shakes her head. “I don’t need to prove anything. I need nature. Being outside helps me — it always has.”

Then she sums it up perfectly: “That a good buck happened to step out one evening — that was the bonus. I go to the stand to find calm.”

Elisabeth's Tips for Expectant Mothers in the Field

1. Stay close to the truck - it's your safety line

“Don’t be far from your vehicle. If something happens, you need to move fast.”

Short distances mean less strain, less risk, and a calmer mind. In pregnancy, easy access is pure gold.

2. Only use treestands you trust with your life

Wobbly ladders, unfamiliar platforms, improvised setups? Absolutely not. “I use stands I know by heart — every rung, every rail, every step,” she says. Sturdy construction, wide steps, a solid railing: these aren’t preferences. They’re mandatory.

3. ⁠⁠Keep the belly warm - always

“The belly must never get cold,” she says. Sitting still cools the body faster than walking. Elisabeth wears a soft, insulating layer over her stomach plus windproof outerwear. Better to peel off a layer than to shiver.

4.⁠ Choose the right rifle - minimize recoil and noise

Modern gear makes a world of difference. “A suppressor reduces recoil and sound — that’s better for me and the baby.” She uses lightweight systems, low recoil, and only shoots from stable positions. Heavy rifles and hard-kicking calibers stay home.

5.⁠ ⁠Control your breathing when game appears

With a baby bump, heart rate rises faster — and adrenaline hits differently. “When game steps out, nerves kick in. All you can do is breathe on purpose.” Her routine: deep breath in, slow breath out, relax the belly, steady the pulse.

It calms her. And it steadies the shot, if she decides to take one.

6.⁠ ⁠Always tell someone exactly where you are - never recover game alone

“Recovering an animal alone? No way.” Someone should always be reachable. Elisabeth shares: exact stand location, time she’ll check in, route back.

It’s safety — and peace of mind.

7.⁠ And most importantly: Trust your gut - literally

“If something feels off, I leave. No debate.” Every day of pregnancy is different. Fatigue, pressure, weather shifts, or a simple bad feeling are reason enough to head home.

“It’s not about numbers or pride,” she says. “It’s about you. About both of you.”

In just a few days, hunter Elisabeth will finally meet her little one.

A New Tradition Waiting to Be Born

Over the past months, she has sat in her mountain stand countless times — hands resting on her belly, eyes on the horizons of the Nock Mountains. And she knows something has been happening up there, something beyond hunting:

A bond has been woven.

A quiet passing of the torch.

A promise to the next generation.