Bonita Fraim, Member of The Women’s Outdoor Media Association
I have always loved nature and the outdoors. I grew up and raised my children farming. My husband, Bill Fraim and I currently live in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Together, we have nine children. We both are very involved with the hunting and shooting sports industry.
I have a great passion to protect and secure our hunting heritage and our Second Amendment Right for the freedom to hunt and to protect my family and myself with firearms.
I absolutely love to hunt, but I also love to shoot sporting clays and defensive pistol. I love to teach women who never held a gun to shoot. My latest passion is my new bow. My goal is to go to Africa and hunt dangerous game.
I am a NRA Life member, NRA Ring of Freedom member and active in the Women’s Leadership Forum, and SCI Life member. I am involved with the Hunting Heritage Trust Foundation along with helping several colleges with new shooting sports programs. In addition, I am an NRA certified Home Firearm Safety instructor, NRA Pistol instructor and NRA certified RSO.
Amy Shaw — Member of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association
Amy Shaw entered the sales side of the shooting industry in the summer of 2007, where she has gone from never firing a gun to owning several in the span of three short years. Her father is one of the founding owners of Tactical Solutions, a firearms manufacturing company that proudly supports women in the shooting industry.
Although she didn’t grow up in the firearms industry, she has become an avid supporter. She recently partook in the Babes With Bullets® Camp in Oregon where she participated in her first match.
As a new shooting enthusiast, Amy continues to support women that are currently involved in the shooting, hunting and fishing sports, but also women who would like to enter the world of outdoor sports. With multiple products geared specifically toward women, she reaches out daily with products that welcome and encourage women into the industry—the same products that got her involved.
Cristie Gates, Member of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association
Growing up in Columbia, Missouri, and later, as a teenager on the eastern seaboard, Cristie filled the tomboy niche in an all-girl family. She was always enjoying the great outdoors and was an active 4-Her. Her dad, then a state 4-H staffer himself, taught her how to shoot, but that was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Cristie had marked her 30th birthday before she ever went hunting. Read more
Anne Draper — Member of The Women’s Outdoor Media Association
Anne Draper has been an avid outdoor enthusiast for more than 30 years. She is a hunter, hiker, horsewoman and conservationist. Currently she serves as president of the Colorado Elk Breeders Association. In addition, the Drapers are involved with the NRA Foundation.
When she and her husband, John, acquired the 10,000-acre Bear Mountain Ranch in Colorado they quickly decided that it was just too beautiful not to share. “The design of the Lodge and Grizzly camp maximize enjoyment from everything from an Elk Hunt to a gorgeous outdoor wedding.” They also raise Bison and supply many restaurants and individuals with this healthy protein source.
She is a gracious hostess and excellent cook offering up sumptuous bison, elk, deer and antelope meals, working side by side with the Bear Mountain Ranch staff.
Tracy Barnes — Member of The Women’s Outdoor Media Association
Born in the small town of Durango in the Colorado Rockies, Tracy Barnes and her twin sister, Lanny, grew up loving the outdoors. Their dad took the twins hunting and fishing, and their mom took them hiking in the mountains. They learned to shoot at a very young age. Lanny and Tracy signed up for cross-country skiing when they were in middle school, and made their first World Jr. Championship Biathlon Team at age 18. They medaled in that event the following year, and have been competing on the World Cup Circuit for seven years now. Though Lanny is actually five minutes older, she has always looked up to Tracy as her “big sister” and says that Tracy is her toughest competitor. Tracy has a do-or-die, never-give-up mindset that inspires not only her sister, but others as well. Lanny says that telling Tracy she can’t do something only encourages her to try harder. Tracy and Lanny host smallbore shooting clinics for women and children around the country.
See http://twinbiathletes.com/default.aspx
Lanny Barnes — Member of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association
Born in the small town of Durango in the Colorado Rockies, Lanny Barnes and her twin sister, Tracy, grew up loving the outdoors. Their dad took the twins hunting and fishing, and their mom took them hiking in the mountains. Lanny and Tracy learned to shoot at a very young age, first with a bow and suction-cup arrows, then later with rifles and shotguns.
When the twins were in middle school they met a man at a state smallbore shooting competitions who was helping the U.S. Biathlon team. Lanny and Tracy signed up for cross-country skiing that year. They made their first World Jr. Championship Biathlon Team at age 18 and medaled in that event the following year. They have been competing on the World Cup Circuit for seven years now. Lanny’s life goals revolve around dedicating herself to increasing opportunities for women and children in shooting sports.
To see more about the Barnes biathletes, visit their website: http://twinbiathletes.com/default.aspx
Rebecca Francis — Member of The Women’s Outdoor Media Association
At age 36, Rebecca is a mother of eight and grandmother to four. She married at 21 and became an instant mother of five, later having three more. She adores her family and her entire life revolves around them. After her children were old enough to be in school, she pursued her education receiving a bachelor degree in Psychology from Brigham Young University in 2007 and a second degree in Dental Hygiene in 2009. She is currently in the process of applying to dental school.
Rebecca recently won the Extreme Huntress Contest 2010, sponsored by Prois Hunting Apparel, because of her passion for hunting and the outdoors. Some of her extreme hunting experiences include, shooting a 10-1/2-foot brown bear with her bow, and shooting an African lion as it charged, dropping a mere 30 yards from her feet. Rebecca also won the 2009 Chicks in Camo contest that represents woman who hunt.
She has been featured in Women’s Outdoor News and Adventurewoman.com. Rebecca was recently chosen to be the cover girl for Babes in the Wilderness calendar, which displays real women in real hunting pictures. She has been an avid hunter since early childhood. She also runs marathons and is a pilot; she loves scuba diving, rock climbing, ice climbing, hiking, biking, swimming, jeeping, traveling, canyoneering, mountaineering and almost any other type of adventure.
Rebecca has a strong belief in volunteering her dental skills to people in underserved countries each year. She donates her time to organizations such as Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife, which is dedicated to the conservation and preservation of wildlife. Rebecca is currently working on a new women’s outdoor hunting show, and she writes for Huntonly.com.
Rebecca Francis
http://www.huntonly.com/hunting/rebecca_francis_alaska_sheep_h.html
http://www.huntonly.com/hunting/a_nine_year_olds_strategic_hog.html
http://adventurewoman.com/images/aw/large33.jpg
Chris Quam — Member of The Women’s Outdoor Media Association
Chris Quam grew up in rural Pennsylvania, riding horses, camping, hiking, and trying to keep up with an older brother.
She says, “My passion for the outdoors continued and I enrolled in Penn State for Forestry, graduated and set off to Colorado to work for the National Park Service and later in California also. I settled down in Colorado and have worked for HIVIZ Shooting Systems for 10 years. I shoot shotgun: skeet and sporting clays. First lady skeet R.O. for our range. Member of ICORE, compete and R.O. for the Rocky Mtn. Regional ICORE match. Also compete in action steel matches, Colorado State Steel Challenge and more recently joined USPSA and participate in monthly local IPSC matches. I also competed in past Sportsman’s Team Challenge regional and national matches which include shotgun, pistol and rifle events.
“Through HIVIZ we help support Babes with Bullets’ camps with scholarships for women to attend who might not otherwise be able and locally, women for their CCW classes.”
Other interests include road biking and looking for new adventures and more recently began scuba diving, now with 40+ dives and counting under my belt.
Attending three past Babes with Bullet camps, I am looking forward to continuing the relationship and being a part of WOMA!
Christine Quam
Laura Benjamin — Member of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association
Laura Benjamin is President, Pinehurst Press Ltd. Communication Strategies, a woman-owned, veteran-owned, small business in Colorado Springs. Since 1997, Laura has helped private individuals, teams, boards and business owners market a message, promote themselves, their company, club, concept or cause.
Laura writes from a historic log cabin at 7200 ft. above sea level in Black Forest, Colorado. She took up hunting five years ago and has three elk and one buck to her name. She is the mother of three fine young adults and is tolerated by three cats. Read her blogs at :
Find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LauraJBenjamin, follow her http://twitter.com/LauraJBenjamin or just pick up the phone and call her office at 719-266-8088.
Laura Benjamin
Lisa Munson — Member of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association
Lisa Munson
Lisa has been a senior instructor with the Babes with Bullets™ Ladies Action Shooting Camps since 2003. This has been a very positive and supportive program for women who are entering the firearm community, with approximately 1,000 women having now attended. Prior to this she was an instructor for five years with the NSSF Media Program, founded by Michael Bane. This program was instrumental in providing antigun-biased journalists a positive exposure to firearm.
She has also been a competitor in USPSA (IPSC) for the past 22 years. She has been a member of the US National team and currently holds eleven national titles. Her relative success in this arena has given Lisa exposure in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and TV, providing venues that have allowed her to encourage women to participate in the shooting sports.
