When they’re not entertaining the masses with their unique talents, there are a few celebrity hunters out there. Though some of the following individuals may not surprise you with this hobby, others simply don’t fit the description.
Celebrity hunters you probably didn’t know about.
Jewel
It’s probably not quite as surprising to see Jewel Kilcher (known by most people by only her first name) on this list, as she grew up in Homer, Alaska; about 300 miles south of former Governor Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla. The 40-year-old singer and actress has always been proud of who and what she is, particularly her famous “crooked smile.” Though she sported a set of prosthetic teeth for her role as June Cash Carter in the Lifetime biopic by the same name, she’s made clear that a perfect Hollywood smile is something she’s simply not interested in.
Jewel learned how to hunt at a young age from her father Atz, who was featured on the Discovery Channel reality show “Alaska: The Last Frontier.” Their home did not have indoor plumbing when Jewel was a child and gardening, hunting and fishing were all essential tasks for surviving off grid through Alaska’s harsh winters. Although Jewel identifies as a feminist today, it’s conceivable that she still gets in the occasional hunt, being her husband is a former rodeo cowboy and they live in Texas.
Bo Jackson
Bo certainly knows football and baseball. A serious hip injury ended his professional football career and hampered his pro baseball career. But the former All-Star in both sports was still named the greatest athlete of all-time by ESPN. Bo now had more time to perfect his other passion, bowhunting.
Jackson was featured on the web series “Relentless Pursuit” in 2012. He showed off his archery skills by tracking a large doe and taking it down with a pretty good (but not perfect) shot. What most hunters seem to love about Bo is his utmost respect for harvested animals. He not only remained cool after the shot, but immediately dressed and cleaned it right in the field.
Bo confirmed to Dan Le Batard in 2012 that rumors of him shooting apples out of his Kansas City Royals teammates’ hands in the locker room before games was true.
Avril Lavigne
The French Canadian pop star first made it big in 2002 with her debut single “Complicated,” but her recreational life is actually quite simple. Cliff Fabri, Lavigne’s first manager who discovered her performing at a Kingston, Ontario bookstore, told Entertainment Weekly that her looks and voice aren’t what sold him. Instead he fell in love with her attitude.
Fabri said Lavigne frequently hunted with her father and brother, despite looking more like a punky teenager who would get upset over a broken nail. Six No. 1 singles and four Billboard Top 10 albums in less than 10 years forced Lavigne to broaden her horizons further. She started her acting career in 2006 with voice-over work in “Over the Hedge,” and also has a clothing line and three perfume brands.
Shaquille O’Neal
Its no secret that “The Big Aristotle” would likely have been a police officer had he not been gifted with his 7-foot-1-inch, 300-plus pound frame and unstoppable inside moves on the basketball court. Shaq was a former deputy for the Maricopa County Sheriff Office and also volunteered for the Tempe Police Department when he was a member of the Phoenix Suns. Most recently Shaq applied to be a reserve officer for the Doral, Florida police department.
O’Neal has referred to his goat and wild boar hunts as “Shaqfaris.” All he needed while a members of the Los Angeles Lakers was a hunter safety course and the proper tags to take advantage of some of the best mountain goat hunting in California up in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Eva Longoria
The beautiful Eva Longoria is best known as the former Miss Corpus Christi and as Gabrielle Solis in the ABC comedy-drama “Desperate Housewives.” But Longoria told entertainment website Dark Horizon that her roles as Detective Vanessa Cruz in “Dragnet” and as Secret Service Agent Jill Marin are far closer to the real Eva than Gabrielle ever will be.
The self-described Texas tomboy grew up hunting deer, turkeys and wild hogs with her dad. Longoria has even been “honored” by PETA as the worst-dressed celebrity of 2008 because of her affinity for furs. The animal rights organization also criticized Longoria after she bragged about skinning, gutting and cleaning the animals herself during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2006.