#she hunts

A new school of social-media influencers are giving hunting a fresh and decidedly female face. Food writer RACHEL LEVIN joins two rising stars of“Instagram” in the Arizona backcountry to chase mule deer for her first photographs by Jen Judgetime. Can she stomach what it takes to be an omnivore?

- By Rachel Levin

It’s a dry January, which means two things on this girls’ trip to central Arizona: we’re all skipping the margaritas tonight, and the river will be low enough for our Tacoma to cross in the morning.

Crowded into a booth at a Mexican restaurant in a small town near the edge of Tonto National Forest, swapping names and where-are-you-froms, we are a motley crew: two millennials wearing camouflage and eyelash extensions, an overalls-clad photographer who lives in an Airstream, and me, a San Francisco food writer soon to be out of her comfort zone.

Our server, Penny, flower pen poised over her notepad, is confused. “I have to ask,” she says, inspecting us through rhinestone-studded spectacles. “What are you ladies doing here?”

Rihana Cary, 33, and Amanda Caldwell, 32, friends who met on Instagram, look at each other. They’re used to this question. “We’re going hunting,” Amanda explains. “What? Four ladies hunting? All by yourselves? Well,” says Penny. “This is rather interesting.” She wishes us luck.