EliRawlings,

Unlike I suspect most everyone here, I didn't grow up with a home that owned guns of any sort, as my parents died in a car accident when I was about 4 years young & I was raised, until I left home at 18, by a lovely but very traditional & widowed grandmother.
(My grandmother believed that I should be "girly", 24/365 & said to me thousands of times: NICE Sicilian girls don't do those things. Those things are just for boys.)

When Tex & I met & started dating, I quickly figured out that I could either join him in his shooting, hunting, fishing & camping or I could "sit home alone" more than half of the year.
(Personal to other women here: Don't think that you can "change the personality" of an adult of either gender. - My advice is to accept them, with their faults or look elsewhere for company or a mate.)

As a result of my intent to "keep him forever", I set out to become an "outdoor woman".
First I joined the local Ladies Field Archery Club, then the TSRA/NRA & went with Tex on a few of his day fishing trips trips & finally told him that I wanted to try an overnight camping trip.
(Until that first overnight camping trip to one of our State's Natural Areas, my idea of "roughing it" was staying at a cheap motel, much less had I ever considered sleeping in a sleeping bag or a tent. - I was quite surprised to actually enjoy myself, as the spot by the creek that he picked was especially lovely when I woke up about 630 AM.)

Years later, I'm married & am learning every day more outdoor skills, that most of the members of this forum likely learned as a child.
I now have my own suitable outdoor clothing (that is made for & fits a woman of my small stature. - I wear a 2 Petite in a dress.), my own rod/reels/tacklebox & I "adopted" one of his pump carbines in .223 Remington, which is small & light enough for me to comfortably carry afield & shoot.
This year, Im going on a special "ladies only hunting trip", that is sponsored by TSRA this Spring for Axis deer & perhaps a feral hog.

By the way, if I ask ignorant or even ask "dumb questions" here, please be patient with the "new girl", as I'm still an eager beginner at hunting, fishing, etc..

By the way, my first gun is a Model 7615P police carbine.

Sincerely, DarlaG
Neophyte Outdoor Woman