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She married Kinsley in 2004, 38 years after being high school sweethearts. Kinsley is co-owner of Industrial Gasket and Shim – a custom fabrication company in Meadow Lands, Pennsylvania. But while Cynthia had a previous life in the beauty business, Kinsley had another life as a re-enactor in French and Indian War battles.

Kinsley saw the opportunity for them to bond over his enthusiasm for firearms and helped her overcome her initial reluctance by letting her shoot a .22 long rifle at a beer can. She made a bulls-eye and the second shot made it into a figure eight. After moving the can out to 75 yards and Cynthia still hitting it, he said she is a “natural.”

That’s when Cynthia took her first baby steps on the path to becoming a shooter and meat hunter.

Being a small woman, Kinsley bought her a youth model Marlin .30-30 lever action rifle before the coming fall deer season and she had “no trouble pulling the trigger on a doe,” because Kinsley had prepared a marvelous venison loin for dinner and deer hunting turned from Bambi to dinner. “I was hooked through my mouth,” she quipped.

The following spring of 2004, they went on a black bear hunt in Quebec. Kinsley is a silent partner in Select Wilderness Adventures, and it was with their friends that she harvested her first black bear with the little Marlin .30-30.

August of 2004 saw Kinsley and Cynthia going to Texas to sell caribou and bear hunts for Select Wilderness Adventures, at the Texas Trophy Hunters Extravangaza. Situated next to the DIVA booth, Cynthia met founder Judy Rhodes and Cheryl Long who were there to promote membership. “It took me about two minutes to decide on joining DIVA WOW (DIVA Women Outdoors Worldwide). “Judy, Cheryl and I have been best friends ever since.”

Starting out as the Pennsylvania Liaison, Cynthia has evolved into Editor of the monthly DIVAnews. “Being part of DIVA WOW has been a blessing to me personally and has taught me much about being a hunter and shooter.”

With encouragement from the DIVAS, Cynthia was now on the fast track to shooting and hunting.

The following month, Kinsley took Cynthia to northern Quebec for caribou hunting. It turned out to be a breakthrough trip in more ways than one. When the guides saw her Marlin, they mocked it as her “little toy gun” but she was the only hunter in camp that hit a bull’s eye when sighting in their rifles. She then took a caribou cow and bull and along with Kinsley’s two bulls, they had a freezer full of caribou.

Kinsley, meanwhile, had no intentions of letting his high-school sweetheart, who turned into a crack shot, get away the second time around. Cynthia and Kinsley married six weeks after the caribou hunt. Their honeymoon? Deer hunting in Maryland.

With all this wonderful wild game in the freezers, Cynthia became infatuated with writing wild game recipes and had turned into an expert game cook – having written over 100 recipes. Her passion as a meat hunter was now totally fueled. Her recipes are based on fresh ingredients, herbs and simply delicious.

In November 2005, the couple celebrated their first anniversary with a buffalo hunt in Montana. “It was the culling of a herd on the Ft. Peck Reservation,” Cynthia said, “and because I was after meat, I took a young cow with a Sharps-Shiloh .45-70. The 500 grain bullet custom made by the guide’s father went right through the animal and ricocheted off the prairie.

The buffalo meat was processed there and shipped back to Pennsylvania where Cynthia incorporated it into their meals and was inspired to write even more recipes. “My husband has a very happy stomach,” she laughs.

Kinsley also taught Cynthia how to shoot clay birds, and in addition to sporting clays, they began going on yearly duck hunts in Arkansas – especially after she shot her first duck on a DIVA duck hunt in Arkansas. “We don’t take normal vacations like most people,” she said. “We go to cold places and shoot things.” They have returned to Arkansas each year for duck and consider it part of their vacation destinations.

Despite all the hunting trips, Cynthia’s passion is deer hunting on their own 60-acre spread in Southwest Pennsylvania. She described their property as “half wooded and half open fields and perfect for abundant hunting.” In fact she keeps a loaded rifle at her door, not only for deer, but for the occasional coyote, which she’s taken at 200 yards right through the ears.

In September 2007, they returned to northern Quebec for another caribou hunt. This time she came prepared for a long shot with a Browning .308 A-bolt – which she used to take a bull at 400 yards. Long shots like that are impressive for anyone, but Cynthia put it all into perspective: “I’m simply graduating from someone who knew nothing about hunting and shooting six years ago into an avid meat hunter.”

But they do have plenty of heads on the walls and hides on the furniture. “How else would a huntress DIVA decorate?”