Becoming Amanda Lynn: That Hunting Girl
Amanda Lynn Mayhew is a powerhouse in the hunting and firearms industry with seemingly boundless energy. She’s the founder of Just Hunt Inc., a hunter lifestyle brand that empowers and inspires hunters, new and experienced alike. Within her brand, she has a clothing line, hunting, fishing, and firearms outreach programs, and her signature business – That Hunting Girl TV show.
But that’s not all. In December, she started writing articles for the American Deer Hunter, Bow Hunter, and Outdoorsman magazines. And she runs a hobby farm where she raises chickens and sheep and tends to a massive garden.
While her daily schedule is packed, she has to navigate her life around a life-altering autoimmune disease that constantly threatens to knock her out. But with the inspiration and example of her dad, who raised her to hunt, fish, and stand on her own two feet, it’s hard to keep Amanda Lynn down.
Getting it Done
So how does she have time to run her business, film hunts, and serve as an advocate for hunting and the outdoors? It’s all in how she manages the same 24 hours that she, and the rest of us, have. Here’s a look at a typical day in the life of Amanda Lynn:
- Wake up at 6 a.m. to let the dogs outside and do farm chores.
- Grab a cup of coffee, look at email, and decipher what’s a priority for that day.
- Do a workout, get dressed, and get back to the computer.
- Spend 2-3 hours putting together items to ship out from her Just Hunt Clothing Collection.
- Then it’s on to sponsorship meetings, organizing hunts, getting together new sponsors, renewing contracts, getting ready for trade shows, and doing inventory.
“And then it’s lunchtime,” she laughs.
Sometimes Amanda Lynn’s on her computer until 10 p.m. working on her business. And her television production schedule can take her away from home for a week, or a month, at a time.
“I have not had a vacation in 15 years,” she said. “When I go somewhere, there’s a camera in one hand and a pen in the other. Everything is coming to life to inspire others one way or another, whether it’s on paper or through film.”
Navigating Grave’s Disease
Looking at the fit 48-year-old’s dizzying schedule, you’d think nothing gets in her way. But each day is a struggle to simply stay awake.
Amanda Lynn suffers from an autoimmune disorder called Graves disease. Its primary symptom is extreme fatigue, and no matter how much she works out and eats a healthy diet, it’s a constant fight to simply get through the day.
“It doesn’t matter if I slept for 10 hours the night before. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon, I could fall asleep standing up,” she said. “It wrecks you.”
She also deals with dairy and gluten allergies, so getting enough energy from food can be tricky.
“My diet is very restricted and hard to manage,” she said. “I need certain vitamins and protein to keep energy up, but I’m allergic to so much.”
Still, she manages to work hard every day, juggling her many activities and serving as an inspiration for people of all backgrounds and abilities to enjoy hunting and the great outdoors.
Hunting Roots
Amanda Lynn’s rise to the top of the list of hunting celebrities in North America has its roots in rural Canada. Her father, Alexander Mayhew, was a mechanic and an avid outdoorsman. He started taking Amanda Lynn bird hunting at an early age to help her mother get a break while caring for her newborn sister.
“My dad taught me most everything I know about the outdoors,” she said. “The rest I discovered on my own.”
Hunting was as much a necessity as it was a beloved pastime for the Mayhews. Amanda Lynn grew up in a trailer park in northern Ontario. Money was tight.
“We hunted and fished because we needed to put meat in the freezer,” she said.
The abundance of love outweighed the lack of material wealth she shared with her dad, mom, and younger sister. Her dad was the glue that bound them together.
“My dad worked his butt off his whole life to ensure we had a good life. Our family was super, super tight. The only thing that mattered was family,” she said.
A Family Tradition
There are pictures of Amanda Lynn hunting with her dad as a two and three-year-old. They started with bird hunting before graduating to larger game as she grew older.
“It was the easiest thing for my dad to get me involved in at such a young age,” she said.
Alexander introduced Amanda Lynn to rifles and different types of shotguns as a teenager. She also did a lot of fishing on their many family camping trips. When she became a mother, she carried the family tradition to the next generation.
“I had children at a young age,” Amanda Lynn said. “I learned everything at such a young age, and then all-of-a-sudden, I’m passing it on to my children.”
Staking Out Her Own Path
It wasn’t long before Amanda Lynn began walking the bush and scouting for animals on her own. This made her mother nervous — after all, a 1,000-pound bull moose can run 35 miles per hour in near silence through thick snow drifts. It doesn’t give a hunter much time to duck out of the way.
But the potential dangers didn’t faze her.
“My dad said, ‘You can do anything you want.’ I had a gun. I had appropriate tags for the animal in season. I have a reliable truck – I’m good to go!” she said. “I can take care of myself.”
In 2007, Amanda Lynn was working as a bodybuilder and fitness figure model. She got on social media that year and soon developed a strong following. Her hunting life soon spilled over into her social media world.
“I used to do posts that I was going up north to go hunting with my dad,” she said. “I was already in the media for fitness, so now I was also getting attention because I was a hunter.”
She would post photos of herself wearing her orange, out in the wilderness, and hunting with her dad.
“All of a sudden, people are like, ‘What are you doing? You can’t do that! You’re a girl!’ And I’m like, wait a second!” she said. “My dad never raised be to be a girl hunter. My dad raised me to be a hunter.”
Hunter, not “Huntress”
Amanda Lynn hadn’t heard the term “huntress” until a few years ago. A publication had done a profile on her and used the word in its headline.
“I thought, are you for real? You’re gonna call me a huntress?” she said. “I don’t know if it’s a compliment or an insult, but for me, you’re pointing out I’m a girl. Well, hi! I know I’m a girl. I don’t need a title that says I’m a girl.”
In the world of female hunting celebrities, there are those who do it because it’s in their blood – the Type A hunters, Amanda Lynn says. And some do it because they can make money off wearing camo and taking a million selfies in a tree stand – the Type B hunters.
Amanda Lynn says it can hurt women like herself who work hard every day because they love the hunting community and want to inspire more people to join.
“This is what I want to do because this is what I want to do,” she said. “I want to inspire others. I want to teach others everything I know. I want to be in the bush at 4 o’clock in the morning, sit underneath a turkey, and have it gobble over my head. I wanna do it by myself. I wanna drag home that deer.”
Not Just A Man’s World
Amanda Lynn’s reputation in the hunting and firearms industry is strong. It’s not because she’s a rare species in a male-dominated industry. It’s because she puts in the work day in and day out, serving as an inspiration to people who love hunting, male and female alike.
“I have not been treated differently in this industry because I’m a woman,” she said. “The people who know me respect me because I work my butt off. It doesn’t matter if I’m a girl or not.”
It’s those who don’t know her in real life – the strangers she meets along the way – who are most likely to question her hunting expertise.
She shared about a situation at a trade show a few years back. She’d been invited to lead seminars each day, and each day a man would show up and heckle her for being a female hunter.
By the end of the last day, she’d had enough. Amanda Lynn was leading a seminar alongside a male chef who was cooking the wild game Amanda Lynn had killed, skinned, and butchered. There were about 250 people in attendance, including the man who’d been questioning her hunting bona fides all week long.
“This guy was just heckling and heckling and heckling, so I called him out,” she said. “I asked him to come to the stage. When he did, I gave him a signed empty can of spaghetti sauce and told him to sit down.”
The audience went wild.
“I’m telling you; I have never heard louder applause in my life,” she said.
Amanda Lynn is not fazed by people who would underestimate her, as few and far between as they are. As an expert in hunting and firearms, she has knowledge to back up what she teaches.
“This is my life and everything that I know,” she said. “My dad taught me to stand your ground, know where you stand, and push back for what you believe in.”
If she does catch any flack, it’s when she posts photos of her kills on social media. And it’s not from PETA or anti-hunting activists.
“It’s because I shot a bear and someone comments that it’s too small,” Amanda Lynn laughs. “Well, I’m not a trophy hunter. I’m a meat-in-the-freezer hunter. My dad taught us, if you’re gonna shoot something, you’re gonna eat it. If you wanna come after me for shooting a 200-pound bear versus a 600-pound trophy bear, then let’s go. I will win.”
“Just Do It”
Alexander Frank Mayhew was the pillar of Amanda Lynn’s life. He passed away in March 2022 after a short and excruciating battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer with a bleak survival rate.
“My dad is my hero,” she said. “At the end of the day, listening to the strongest person, you know scream in pain? No — just no.”
He was diagnosed in September of 2021, and Amanda Lynn drove the six-hour distance from her home to his as often as she could while he was ill, then to her sisters’ – his main caregiver in the last months.
“I spent as much time with my dad as possible,” she said.
Amanda Lynn’s dad, her greatest cheerleader and strongest guide, helped her become the success she is today. In fact, if it wasn’t for her dad, her TV show That Hunting Girl would not have come to be.
Growing up, Amanda Lynn’s mom used to tell her daughters that one of them would walk the red carpet someday as a television star.
“Me and my sister were like, ‘Uh, yeah. No,” Amanda Lynn said. “And then it happened! All of a sudden, I’m going to be on TV.”
Amanda Lynn’s mom never got to see her show. While she knew it was forthcoming, she died six weeks before filming started.
“I almost didn’t do the show,” Amanda Lynn said. “It was my dad who was like, ‘You think that your mom would want you to give up? Look at this opportunity you have! You can’t just stop now.’”
Amanda Lynn’s mom never got to see her show. While she knew it was forthcoming, she died six weeks before filming started.
“I almost didn’t do the show,” Amanda Lynn said. “It was my dad who was like, ‘You think that your mom would want you to give up? Look at this opportunity you have! You can’t just stop now.’”
Amanda Lynn’s dad knew how badly her mom wanted her to be successful. So, he would keep pushing. In fact, she keeps a birthday card from her dad on the bulletin board in her office where he’d written a hashtag (#) with the words “Just Do It” inside. The phrase has become Amanda Lynn’s motto for life.
“All my friends, the people I film with, the producer, the cameraman – no matter where we go, no matter what we do, if I’m having a moment, they’ll poke me, or they’ll look at me, and they’ll say, ‘Just do it.’”
Always There for the Hunt
Amanda Lynn’s dad was a regular on her show. Every time she shot a big animal, she would call him on speakerphone and tell him about it.
“It was a tradition for the people who watched That Hunting Girl to hear my dad’s voice on the show,” she said.
He recorded every episode, too, and would call her to discuss the hunt and give her friendly advice. But the feedback she cherished the most was this:
“Every time he watched an episode, he’d call me up after, and he’d be crying,” she said. “You could hear it. He’s a big, strong, tough guy, you know? And he’s crying and saying, ‘I’m so proud of you.’”
Amanda Lynn feels that her dad is still there for her when she’s hunting. She shared a story of how her dad came through for her on a hunt last year.
It was December 2022, the last week of muzzle-loader deer season, and Amanda Lynn joined her friend Rob for a hunt on his property. She’d never hunted with a muzzleloader before, though she’s shot them many times.
All week, Amanda Lynn and Rob would go out to the blind and wait for deer to show up. Rob’s uncle, also named Alexander, was there, too. Uncle Alex, as they call him, is 83 years old. He shot his first deer on that same property when he was 15 years old. Uncle Alex shot a beautiful 8-point buck on the Wednesday of the hunt.
“He was so excited,” Amanda Lynn said. “Now, Uncle Alex has Parkinson’s Disease. He shakes like a tree. But if you put a gun or a guitar in his hand, the shaking stops.”
Amanda Lynn and Rob were not so lucky with the deer. By Friday, they’d almost given up hope of seeing one. But not quite.
When they got to the deer stand that afternoon, Rob looked up to the sky and prayed to his dad, who’s name was Frank. Frank passed away three years before, and like Amanda Lynn, Rob prays to his dad while he’s hunting.
“He’s like, ‘Dad – Frank. Listen to me right now. We have seen nothing all week. We just want a doe to come out so Amanda can shoot it.’”
Amanda Lynn looked at Rob and laughed.
“I’m like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second here,” she said, “If we’re praying to our fathers, then, Dad [Alexander], I want a buck to come out, and I’m going to shoot him at 4:03.”
She couldn’t explain why she picked that random time, but she’d done it, and it was recorded on camera. At 4:02 p.m. Amanda Lynn texted a friend that she was going to shoot a buck at 4:03.
“I sent the message, and I looked back up through the window at the front. There’s a deer in the field!” she said. “No way! I didn’t even know it was a buck because I’d just seen his bum go behind a tree.”
The deer was 149 yards away, and the wind was blowing in their faces at 20 miles per hour. With a muzzleloader, winds of that speed and direction can throw off a bullet’s trajectory. But Amanda Lynn was optimistic she could make this shot.
It was 4:03 p.m. Amanda Lynn shoots the buck, and it goes down. She’d called it.
According to the tradition she’d started with her dad, Amanda Lynn phoned her sister.
“I tell her what happened, and you know what she says? She says, ‘The power of the Holy Spirit is stronger when two people pray at the same time.’ Then she started crying and hung up on me.”
Lifting Up the New Generation of Hunters
Amanda Lynn became a name in the hunting and firearms world through a combination of hard work and tradition. She wants people to understand what a monumental person Alexander Frank Mayhew was for the hunting and firearms industry and remember his legacy.
It was the elder Mayhew’s passion for hunting that led him to take his little girl out into the wilds to shoot game, to fish, and have a lifelong love for the outdoors. Because of his devotion to bringing the next generation into the hunting world, Amanda Lynn now has a platform to reach thousands of people and pass that passion along.
Amanda Lynn puts that passion to work every day in spite of huge obstacles. And it has paid off.
“People always tell me I’m the hardest-working person in the industry. I hear it all the time. I get feedback – you’re always smiling, always ambitious, always ready to go,” she said. “I think a lot of us are the hardest working people in the industry. We don’t give up. We all have our struggles and our ailments. People don’t realize what struggles I’m dealing with, but I still perform what I need to perform to inspire others – it doesn’t matter if it’s men or women in the outdoors.”
Watch Amanda Lynn on That Hunting Girl on the Sportsman Channel.
Jeremy Mallette is co-founder of International Sportsman. An avid hunter and outdoorsman, he has spent more than a decade in the outdoor industry, from hiking and camping to silencers and hunting. His father taught him to shoot at age six, and he received his first firearm at age eight — a 1942 Colt Commando .38 special revolver. He enjoys yearly trips to Kansas for pheasant hunting, spending time with his children at the deer lease, and collecting unique firearms.