BLAZE Magazine Special Edition 2006-2016 | Page 28

Travel & Trails
really like it, too. It’s also a .243, and I’ve been taking it hog
hunting. No hog—yet!
How did you come to found OWU?
It really started back in 1998, when I went to a Women in
the Outdoors event, hosted by the National Wild Turkey
Federation (NWTF). I just loved it. I fell in love with the wh
concept—women learning outdoor skills, being active in th
out of doors, gaining confidence as they learned.
The NWTF people there wanted me to become a coordinat
for a local NWTF women’s program back home in central
Alabama. I just didn’t feel I could do that. But I was talking
about it with this gentleman I knew, who was very involved
in the outdoors and putting on events, and he said, “I’ll help
you—you can do this.”
Ghost
Hunting...
So, we set up a one-day event for women. That’s where I
became inspired to work with women and to help introduc
them to the outdoors. Soon after that, I became the
coordinator for the Elmore County Central Alabama Wome
the Outdoors Program, part of the local NWTF chapter.
And that led to you forming OWU?
It’s not like I woke up one morning and said, Hey, I need to
develop this new group. And I have had a tremendous amo
of help along the way. But the more I worked with women
the more I realized their interest in the outdoors was really
strong.
We realized that these women needed to develop skills and
interests and confidence. But we didn’t want it limited to o
focus—to a particular game animal or one type of outdoor
activity. We wanted it to be unlimited—whatever the wom
wanted to try and experience. Outdoor Women Unlimited
How did the shooting sports develop within OWU?
We offer a lot of options for women to try out at our Classic
event, our annual membership event: kayaking, camping, a
throwing, fishing. Within a couple of years, we noticed that
the firearms offerings—at our Classic and other events—rea
filled up a lot faster than other offerings. They would take
the introductory firearms course at the Classic and then the
Shotgun Clinic in the summer, and then they’d be all about
wanting to go shooting and hunting.
Then, a couple years ago, we began offering NRA Certificat
courses, with a local firearms training business that’s been
behind the OWU mission 100 percent, and those courses
are full. And we’ve offered OWU sponsored hunts, and our
members are asking us for more hunts.
Have you seen positive changes in the firearms indus
concerning women and shooters and hunters?
There are more women than ever in competitive shooting, a
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| SPECIAL EDITION 2006-2016
Accept No Limits | outdoorwomenunlimited.org
Accept No Limits | outdoorwomenunlimited.org