By Liana Jacob
MEET the glamorous hunter who has received death threats telling her she should turn the gun on herself.
Middle-school teacher, Felicia Strom (25), from Kil, Sweden, became fascinated with hunting when she was 16-years-old while accompanying her boyfriend who is now her husband and his father to shoot a moose.
The experience thrilled her so much that she decided to take it up as a full-time hobby and received her hunting licence in July 2012.
It has since become a way of socialising with her friends and a form of exercise, but the main reason she does it is to eat the meat, knowing where it has come from and how it is processed.
While she has received constant support on social media, she has also been faced with negative feedback that has gone as far as threatening her life.
“The first time I was ever out on post, my father-in-law shot a moose and I got so thrilled by the whole experience that I really got into hunting,” Felicia said.
“I really think that hunting brings a bunch of great things to my life; everything from the nature experience to all of my hunting friends and being able to eat meat that you know have lived and died in that etic way.
“I eat almost every animal that I hunt; moose, deer, wild boar and so on. If I hunt animals that you don’t usually eat, I can always take care of other parts like the skin, tail or teeth.
“The biggest animal I have shot so far is a wild boar that I shot last autumn. Hunting is never easy, but I think that’s part of the charm that comes with it.
“You never know exactly where the animals are and which direction they are going to take. You must consider sound, the direction of the wind etc. It’s all in the small details and that’s what makes it so rewarding when you finally get lucky.
“Most of the people who visit my Instagram profile are so nice; they share my interest and the hunting lifestyle.
“I’ve gotten so many nice comments since I started posting my hunting on social media, which I’m really happy about.
“But with everything you do, comes a bad side. From time to time my account has been flooded and attacked by anti-hunters who have stalked me and sent me a lot of awful comments.
“The hate for hunting has gone so far that I have received death threats both on Instagram and email; but also, people who have called me on my mobile phone and that’s been a very tough thing to go through.
“I fully understand that not everyone likes hunting, not everyone eats meat etc but what I don’t understand is why some of those people think that it is okay to look me up and write really rude comments about me being a horrible person, deserving to die and so on.
“I have had people writing that I deserve to die instead of the animals, that I should turn the gun around and shoot myself instead and that someone would be happy to find me, kill me and bury me.”
Despite these negative comments, Felicia has received an overwhelming rush of support over her mistreatment on social media and has no intention of giving up her hobby.
“Since I’ve always been very open with how I have been treated and what I have experienced on my account, I have gotten so many nice comments from people who really support me with everything,” Felicia said.
“People have told me that I’m doing a great job handling it all with both the hunting and media attention I’ve been getting. That is of’ course really honouring and heart-warming.
“I know that I hunt for a good reason and that we have a great management of our wild animals here in Sweden and we only shoot as much as the nature can bare.
“However, I do always feel a great respect for the animals I shoot and for being able to live this kind of lifestyle.
“What I’ve always said about the anti-hunters is that no one will love everything, for example, some people are vegetarians and some people hunt; that’s totally fine by me, everyone has the right to live their lives by their own choices.
“What is not fine by me is all the criticising and hating. If you dislike something that someone is doing that doesn’t give you the right to threaten them to death.”
For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/huntingbyfelicia/
