My First Fly Fishing Adventure with my Spouse

My husband and I never went fly fishing before, and I was so excited about it! I could hardly wait to go fishing with my friend, Katherine Browne, whom I met last year at SHOT Show.  We talked about flyfishing together on Facebook and how so much fun we would have together. Read more

Following the Flyway … According to ‘Duck Junkie’ Gretchen Steele

When most of my hunting friends begin their early October “Buck Fever” phase, I’m  getting ready for life on the flyway highway. I know that soon the birds will start to appear and soon I’ll be chasing north and south, following the gaggles of geese, flocks of ducks, and piles of pelicans.

I’m a duck junkie and I will readily admit it. My normally busy schedule goes into full tilt boogie mode  when I hear the honking and cackling and quacking that tells me the birds are their way.

My husband sighs a lot. He mutters things like – “Reckon you’ll be home by March?” and “Don’t forget to change your oil. How many miles did you put on this week?”

My hunting partner gently reminds me, “Baby doll, you need a nap; your’re dragging your foot and your face is getting crooked!”

I live on endless cups of bad coffee and crummy convenience store food, gobbled down as I roll from one batch of migrators to the next. I cruise up and down the Mississippi flyway, in the snow and darkness so that I can have my boots on the ground long before daylight.  Most days start at 3 a.m. and  rarely are  finished by 10.

I feel that it will be July before I am actually warm and dry at the same time. I’ve forgone cologne, because there’s none that can quite mask the smell of gunpowder, wet dogs and dead ducks. Mud, cornstalks, paw prints and bloody feathers litter  hatch back — empty cigarette packs, candy car wrappers, coffee cups, chapsticks, and tubes of hand lotion litter the passenger side floor.  Soon I’ll have to scoop shovel out all the flotsam and jetsam that settles in my vehicle during waterfowl season.

I break ice on frozen lakes and rivers, lie in snowy fields for hours on end. I wade icy water that’s waist deep and slug through heavy wet mud negotiating a soft cornfield.

Those first honkers I heard back in October were calling me  –  to three solid months of being cold, wet, tired and hungry. My body screams back at me on a daily basis;  my neurologist and immunologist fret and still I go on — chasing birds, racing the flyway highway.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well,  here’s a chapter or two – some images from this years season so far.  There’s still a while to go.  We’re band hunters … we’ll see you when the birds go home.

http://youtu.be/lIrxAiAM7RI

To see Gretchen’s photography, click here.

Ono’s Eyewear Now on Facebook — Pop In and Say ‘Hi’

New WOMA member LeAnn Schmitt, of Enjoy Outdoors, writes that her client, Ono’s Eyewear, invites you to join them on Facebook.  Ono’s offers the outdoor enthusiast high definition polarized sunglasses in plain, bifocal, and prescription lenses.  Currently, Ono’s Facebook page offers  a  “sunglasses 101″ discussion.  Several new product lines will soon be announced, and Ono’s wants to hear what you think of their products if  you already wear them, and also it wants to see your photos in the “Ono’s on You” category.

Ono’s were featured in the Women’s Outdoor News last September.

The Outdoor Challenge Being Met By Kansas Wildscape Foundation

Earlier this fall I had posted about some of the challenges of getting people to engage in outdoor activities. I have to give kudos to the Kansas Wildscape Foundation for their answer to this problem. They have a program that meets the challenge of getting kids outdoors by, well, challenging them! It even has a computer component. Children engage in a wide variety of activities — from erecting a tent to having a picnic –and can participate at their own levels of skills, abiltiies and comfort.

You can check it out at http://kansaswildlifer.com/. Perhaps this will give you ideas for a similar program for civic groups, Scout troops, or even your own family. Then let us hear about the challenges you develop for your group!

Waterfowling community rocked by Jeff Foiles indictment

Jeff Foiles, one of the most widely recognized names in waterfowling, professional duck hunter and caller, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Illinois, on 23 counts connected to alleged illegal waterfowl hunts.

According to the indictment, from 2003 to 2007, Foiles, 53, of Pleasant Hill, sold guided waterfowl hunts where hunters regularly violated daily bag limits of ducks and geese. The hunts took place at the Fallin’ Skies Strait Meat Duck Club in Pike County, Illinois.

As a co-owner of the Strait Meat club, Foiles guided commercial waterfowl hunts at the club and elsewhere, including Canada, the indictment says.

The indictment further revealed that some of the allegedly illegal hunts were shown in videos featuring Foiles, including the “Fallin’ Skies” video series. Foiles had sponsorship arrangements with sporting goods companies that paid him to use their products in his videos.

Also noted in the indictment, “The killing of migratory birds in excess of daily bag limits . . . was crucial to achieving these purposes. Not only were guided clients able to kill more birds during their paid hunts, but the overlimits also allowed Foiles and his employees to capture more and better-quality hunting video footage, and thus to produce and sell high-quality commercial waterfowl hunting videos, which was a very important component of Foiles’s promotional activities.”

In one Canada hunt, a cameraman, “upset at the number of geese being killed,” turned off his camera, but Foiles ordered him to continue filming. The footage later appeared in the video “Fallin’ Skies 1,” authorities said in the indictment.

Undercover officers participated in four of the hunts for which Foiles is charged, according to the indictment.

Foiles and his associates also allegedly falsified hunting records, waterfowl hunting area records and picking shed records at the club in order to conceal the excesses. Additionally, it is alleged that Foiles created false game custody tags. Fallin’ Skies Strait Meat Club staff members reported that birds had been killed by people who not only had not hunted, but were not even present at the club on the days in question, the indictment says.

Foiles also operates Foiles Migrators, Inc. in Pittsfield, Illinois consisting of a retail business and showroom, along with an assembly and distribution facility for Foiles’s own popular line of duck and goose calls.

Foiles is formally accused of 12 violations of the Lacey Act and 10 counts of making false writings in a matter within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, as well as conspiracy to violate both laws.

The Lacey Act makes it illegal to knowingly transport or sell wildlife taken in violation of federal law or regulation. The act also covers guide services conducted for the illegal taking of wildlife.

The maximum penalty for a felony violation of the Lacey Act or the federal false writing statute includes up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The government also is seeking forfeiture of property used in the hunts, including 13 Benelli shotguns, two Arctic Cat ATVs and duck and goose decoys.

Foiles is to appear in federal court in Springfield for arraignment Jan. 19.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the government of Canada. The Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section also is part of the prosecution.

The Op-Ed category of The Women’s Outdoor Media Association reflects its individual member’s opinions, not the opinions of the organization or its Board of Directors collectively.

Traci Schauf on Making A List and Checking It Thrice

It’s that time of year, when my girls’ wish lists require more pages than the New York Times Sunday edition. Since my daughters were born, we have followed the practice of three gifts under the tree, plus stockings. We figured that if three gifts were enough for Baby Jesus, it’s plenty for us. That doesn’t stop the list making, however. The girls tell me they are doing me a favor, giving me many ideas to choose from.  How thoughtful of them.

This year, I changed the rules. I told them the list must include at least one outdoor activity they want to do over the holiday break. For the younger child, I thought this would be easy-she loves to sled and snowshoe and make snowmen. The older one is more outdoor-a-phobic, so I thought it might be more difficult for her. What I didn’t expect was that they would get together and gang up on me.

When they presented their lists to me, I wanted to kick myself. And cry. I did both. They had made a joint list with just two items.

1. Bake some goodies,  take them to our neighbor,  and carol to her. Our neighbor is an older lady with four cats who seldom sees her family. Easy enough.
2. Gather all the turkey cookers we can find, get soup ingredients, set up downtown and serve soup to the homeless folks, after Christmas.  Because everyone does that kind of stuff on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but nobody thinks about the homeless after the holidays.

Ouch. Well, I’ll be putting my money where my mouth is on this one. It is an outdoor activity, after all. I couldn’t ask for a better gift.

She’s doing the ‘Peep’ dance

So, Eva and Eugene, Kevin and I are walking along the waterfront at National Harbor waiting to see the Cirque du Soleil show “OVO” (fabulous show, by the way) when we run into a life-sized Peep walking the dock. They have a Peep store at National Harbor and yes, I still have to have a few of the yellow marshmallow chicks at Easter, but I only eat two, once the sugar coating has hardened a bit, and I bite their heads off! I know, I’m a sickie. Anyway, I decided to get a shot of me and Mr. Peep doing the Peep Pose! ~Gina Schmidt

Yes, send us a snippet, a snapshot, an update from your travels for our “On the Road” section. Gina Schmidt, Editor at Large of NRA publications, is a new member of The WOMA. Welcome to the organization, Gina.

Hard Choices in the Press Box

My phone rang early yesterday morning and quick glance at the caller ID sent  my  mood plummeting even further than it already had been falling during the morning news.

I knew before I even answered that  I was going to be asked to cover a fallen soldier’s homecoming scheduled for  later in the day.  I also knew that this particular editor would never understand my feelings, nor how difficult of an assignment it would be for me  – if I even took it.

I took the chicken’s way out and let voice mail pick up as I sorted out my feelings.  Let me explain  just a bit  …

I am a Marine mom … to an adrenaline junkie kid that is an EOD specialist; that means he’s the bomb squad,  the one on point out there disarming the ordnance — IEDs  and, Heaven help us, the biological weapons as well.  I wondered how I would feel if that was my son, my kiddo, my boy was exiting the cargo hold — would  I want the press there in droves as I saw firsthand the reality of what this war can bring?

NO! I know I would not.

I would want that moment to be mine: painfully, harshly,  lovingly, and privately mine.  Let me welcome my  child home one last time, alone  in an aura of  peace and in accordance with his wishes.

Before I could make a final decision, my son called. The young fallen Marine was from his company; he made no bones about his feelings.  Whether it be the first landing at Dover, or the last landing at the local airstrip, it was not a place for the press corps.  ” I know you … you want  to do something … use some of the still life photos of my EOD things make a tribute  out of those.  Please do send a letter or go to visitation, because Jordy was  part of OUR EOD family, and you understand more what that life is like — but please allow his family to meet him alone and unwatched by the world.”   The tremor in his voice sealed my decision.

But still nagging away at me was the thought that if people are not shown this harsh reality, this ultimate cost of war, how we will ever make them understand it’s not all flag waving patriotism? Where do we draw the lines between the need for the world to know and he need to protect the families? Is there any type of a happy medium?

For me, ultimately, I thought I found it. I felt that it would not be as intrusive to photograph the processional from a side road as it traveled by escorted by local fire departments, police departments, and  a large contingent of the Patriot Guard and Freedom Rider motorcyclists.  I chose to focus on the  huge outpouring of support for this family  that  the rural communities all along the route expressed.  Even now, the day after,  I am not sure that my decision was the right one, because I must be honest.  Still I felt  that I was intruding on a very private and very difficult moment.  The photos sit here, unprocessed, not submitted and admittedly a bit tear stained.

So I ask my fellow WOMA members … is there a good answer to this? Is there an acceptable way to report this type of news and yet be sensitive to the parties concerned? Would my male colleagues have struggled so?

Sadly, I know my phone will ring again today … as the Westboro Baptist Church protesters are planning to picket and protest at the funeral tomorrow.  I know that my answer to that will most certainly be no.  I refuse to give  them any coverage. Call someone who isn’t as tenderhearted. Call someone who isn’t a Marine Mom.

What caliber is that lens?

As I’ve grown older, more and more my hunting expeditions entail shooting a digital camera rather than a gun. This does not mean any fewer hazards, and less toting of gear, or rising later in the morning.  In fact, I often find myself getting up even earlier in the chilly wee hours to arrive at a site and set up my equipment in the dark so that I’m blending into the surroundings when dawn’s first light brushes the Kansas landscape. Instead of a single shotgun and some shells, I lug camera, extra lenses, a tripod, (sometimes a cushion because cush is good when you get older), and maybe a pop up blind.

Other than the photography equipment, the gear pretty much remains the same. The same blind I used for deer hunting has now become the perfect photography blind.  My camo clothing is still applicable, as are my boots and shooting gloves. The skill set is the same-plan ahead for contingencies, observe the wildlife for patterns and territories, and preview the site for the best shooting lanes and opportunities. The hazards are still the same-snakes (my apologies to all the naturalists and herpetologists, I don’t like things that slither), mosquitoes, no-see-‘ums, ticks, brambles, cold, wet, hot, dry…you get the picture.

And hopefully I get the picture! One of the benefits of shooting with a camera rather than a gun is the potential of a greater ‘harvest’. When I’m stalking deer or turkey, all of my attention is focused and prepared for that single pursuit. If I am only pursuing what is in season at the time my harvest is automatically limited to that one species, and I miss the opportunity to collect others, whereas with my camera, I can bring home an entire “bagful of bounty” that doesn’t weigh anything!

I am certainly a fan of hunting and still enjoy it immensely. This move to capturing wildlife digitally has created just another way for me to enjoy wildlife and landscapes, and also to incorporate my children into the adventure at an early age.  I know that the training photography provides will help them learn to sit quietly for long periods of time, to scope out wildlife trails, and to be aware of nature all around them, making them not only better huntresses should they choose to hunt, but better at appreciating nature at all levels and in many ways. Observing wildlife through several seasons has taught them about the cycles of life, and the interaction of the species with each other and their environment has given my daughters a greater understanding of ecology and the need to protect ecosystems and habitats.

A example of this was a pair of Canadian geese that nested this spring on a nearby pond. We spotted them one evening as we walked around the pond, the female flattened in the grass near the rocks and the male attentively standing watch nearby. The female stretched out her neck and hissed, reminding us to respect her personal space, so we backed away and watched them from afar. We knew from her behavior that she was on a nest, so we began a distant vigil, waiting for the eggs to hatch.

About a week later, I was walking the perimeter of the pasture surrounding the pond and noticed the male acting strangely. From his behavior, I decided that the eggs must have hatched so I returned to the house for my camera and younger daughter. The male spotted us immediately on our return and he and the female lowered themselves in the grass near the water. Try as they might to be inconspicuous, I spotted some yellow fluff-balls bobbing beside the female.

It was even more satisfying to see my daughter’s delight as she watched the little ones. Opportunities like this to experience wildlife and the outdoors are invaluable to me, and a high priority in raising my children to appreciate the world around them.  As outdoorsmen (women), we must do our part to protect our wildlife and its habitats.  This is the  legacy I want to leave my children and grandchildren.

Not that far, baby

Recently the NRA released some information about the increased number of women in shooting and hunting sports. I agree that this is great news, but I believe it’s sad that we consider this great news. Women still have not reached equality in those areas of outdoor life that have been historically considered a man’s domain. Tournaments and competitions are still gender specific (although this is not entirely a bad thing in my book; the food and the stories are always better at women’s gatherings.  How’s that for sexist?)

“Outdoor women” is still a fairly new concept in the history of our country. Women in the National Park Service have only been wearing the “official” uniform since 1978.  I remember 1978, and it wasn’t that long ago. Consider this quote from the 1967 handbook given to wives of Park Rangers:

To read the rest of Traci’s piece go to:

http://momonvacation.blogspot.com/2010/11/post-election-ponderings.html

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