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"I'm becoming an outdoorswoman, too" a
young male attorney from Anchorage told me at last spring's Becoming
an Outdoors Woman Weekend produced by the Alaska Department of Fish
& Game and the Hunter Heritage Foundation of Alaska. The event, of
course, is primarily for women, although a few guys like the attorney
above do attend, which says a lot about the benefits of the program.
Basically, the workshop weekend features a host of
educational classes that are designed to impart knowledge and some
beginning skills needed for participation in the many outdoor
activities available in Alaska. Choose beginner fly fishing or snow
machining or archery or Dutch oven cooking or shooting-and-dressing
big game. Some women attend repeatedly and take all the classes.
Several times a year, you can pay just $225 ($200
for early registration) and get a lot of knowledge from area experts
at the Becoming an Outdoor Woman (BOW) workshops. I attended the
winter workshop last year at the Victory Bible Camp (a couple hours
north of Anchorage), just outside of Chickaloon. As often happens ,
the program was sold out with a waiting list.
The workshops begin at noon on Friday. The weekend
is divided into four blocks of instruction, about three hours each,
and there are usually 6 to 12 courses offered over the the weekend.
You choose one session in each of the four time periods. In each
session, there are choices that focus on each of three areas: shooting
and hunting, fishing, and non-harvest activities. These might include
canoeing and kayaking, camping, outdoor cooking, orienteering or
survival. Content is focused on the needs of adult learners, with
classes being taught in a very "hands-on" manner.
Participants stay in lodges, dormitories or cabins
that may be rustic but have modern, basic amenities. Meals are
provided and cooked by the camp staff. The focus for the weekend is
learning in a comfortable atmosphere and a non-competitive situation
where each woman can learn at her own pace.
This year's winter workshop is March 16-18 and will
again be hosted at the Victory Bible Camp. The classes being offered
are firearm safety and handling, big-game hunting, trapping and
tracking, ice fishing, fly fishing from A to Z, pond to pan, pulk sled
building, map and compass, Dutch oven gourmet, cross-country skiing,
dog mushing, snow machining, bear safety and defense, field dressing,
skinning and hide preparation, fly tying, spin fishing 101, canning
and smoking, winter survival, snowshoeing, skijoring, intro to
shotgun, archery, chainsaw, GPS, rifle markswoman, skin sewing, intro
to bird hunting and salmon fishing.
Interested women can go online to the ADF&G
website to register. There are a maximum number of 125 spaces
available and women who have not attended a winter workshop will be
given priority to register.
This weekend is a ton of fun and educational and
gives you the opportunity to meet other outdoor women like you! Visit www.state.ak.us/adfg/wildlife/geninfo/
educate/bow.htm.
- Melissa Norris
Publisher
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