“At Least Once in Her Life”…by Diane Z Nafis

This article, by a recent Babes with Bullets Alum, tells how one woman received training at camp and is paying it forward:

Women and guns; a perfect match and in my case it relates to shooting a pistol.  The two important factors are to find the gun that fit right, both for hand size and strength, and to get some training designed for the woman shooter. Personally, the gun choice was easy.  I went to the gun store alone, politely listened to the representative then had him show me pistols until I found one that fit my hand comfortably.  My first gun was a Smith & Wesson J frame .357 revolver with a 2.5 inch barrel.  (It is still my go-to gun for relaxing shooting.)

While purchasing the gun was fairly easy the training part was tricky.  Every man shooting at the local range on any given day had advice for me, the petite 60-something year old woman in the next lane.  For years it was fairly easy to ignore them once I got a look at the shot placement on their targets.  Even though I was improving in accuracy on my own, I knew I needed training because I was not consistent.  Watching the Outdoor Channel (www.OutdoorChannel.com/BabeswithBullets) webisodes I discovered Babes with Bullets.  Every woman should experience Babes with Bullets camp at least once in her life!  It’s a unique opportunity to be trained by top women shooters in the company of like-minded women eager to learn. 

The entire experience of the Babes with Bullets camp gave me wings.  My confidence soared!  With instruction and encouragement my abilities improved faster than I could have possibly have imagined.  New grip, new stance, new focal point; then draw from a holster and fire an accurate shot.  Now add moving while shooting and then bring on moving targets too.  Increase the speed of the draw and first shot.  All this in three days and at the end of each day I wanted to stay and shoot just one more round of targets or another match course.  Each evening I felt pleasant exhaustion as I anticipated the next day.  The astounding progress of each and every shooter, whether they were campers who had attended more than one Babes with Bullets camp or a novice who had never touched a gun prior to camp, is something you simply have to experience for yourself.

I came home to New Jersey anxious to find a range where I could practice and excited to tell anyone who would listen about my camp experience.  Enthusiasm is contagious as in just one week I had arranged to take three neighbors to our local range for their first time shooting and had encouraged one to apply for her firearms ID, which is a long and arduous process in gun-phobic New Jersey.

Having used one of Smith & Wesson’s full size M&P 9mm pistols for camp, along with already owning several Smith & Wesson pistols, I was happily looking for a new pistol.  I bought a Model SW1911 E-series .45 ACP.  I admit that I chose this particular gun because it looks good (if there is such a thing as a sexy gun, this is it) but mostly because it fits my hand, has great balance and felt right when I acquired a sight picture looking down the barrel.  With my new-found skills and shooting strengths, the bigger caliber is fun to shoot.  The Hi Viz sights on my new gun are the same as the ones on the M&P I was shooting at camp, a plus for starting with a new caliber.  On my first trip to the range with my new gun I had a sparkle in my eye.   I enjoyed watching the man in the next lane peeking around the wall to make sure it was a woman shooting that tight group of shots with a “big gun” at 10 yards.

I hope to celebrate my 65^th year with another trip to a Babes with Bullets camp in 2013.  For 2012 I’m looking for local IDPA competitions and a chance to start Cowboy Action Shooting in the mounted division with my American Warmblook mare, Katie Scarlett O’Hara.

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Heartbeat of the WOMA for February 2012 – What’s Next?

I was in Vegas for SHOT Show for six days and it would seem it’s going to take me six weeks to catch up; something wrong there with the scheduling! At this rate I’ll be caught up just in time to meet up with members of the WOMA at the upcoming NRA convention in St. Louis. We will have a small booth at NRA, with space that was graciously donated by Hi Viz Shooting Systems (from our own Chris Quam, WOMA Secretary, who is also the Director of Sales at Hi Viz.)

If you are able to donate some time to passing out information from our table at the NRA event please contact me, Deb@theWOMA.com . I’ll be taking the left over member materials with me to St. Louis on Thursday, April 12th and the convention runs through Sunday, April 15th, so it is a bit earlier this year than normal. As you probably already know, the NRA event is very oriented towards families along with 2nd Amendment advocates, with an estimated 60,000 + crowd expected. President of the WOMA, Marsha Petrie Sue, will be very busy at the NRA event as she sits on the executive board for the NRA Women’s Leadership Forum. If you have any questions about the Women’s Leadership Forum or it’s luncheon while at the NRA event please email Marsha@theWOMA.com for more information.

In the meantime, if you made a commitment during SHOT Show to become more involved in the WOMA please reach out to our Vice President, Melita Ellington at Melita@theWOMA.com. If you are a current member and promised to be more diligent in sending on more articles or blogs then your point of contact will be our Jaci Janes, our board member and editor (Jaci@theWOMA.com).

Till next month – I hope you all had an awesome start to your 2012 year and that you are making time in some way to highlight women in the traditional outdoor events of shooting sports, hunting, fishing or archery.

Deb Ferns
Chairman

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Yippee, Yahoo… We Are A Little Excited Too!

At the recent Shot Show, held in Las Vegas, one of the evening highlights is always the Outdoor Channel awards event.  Every year the tickets for this event are hard to come by, so when you land some then you get to join about 2,500 other folks at the Hard Rock theater.  This year our Babes with Bullets team was invited to sit in the VIP section (YIPPEE) as we were nominated for “Best Online Series.”  We were joined there by Todd Merkow, President of Outdoor Channel digital and his wife, Lisa, who is also a Babes alum.  The hosted bar and dinner was enjoyed by all, along with laughter and applause for a variety of awards, my second favorite award being for “Best Blooper” (now come on…who doesn’t love a good blooper?)

My first favorite award has to been when Todd took the stage and announced the nominations for “Best Online Series” followed by saying the magic words “the winner of Best Online Series is Babes with Bullets.” (YAHOO!) I do remember thundering applause with multiple whoops and hollers coming from the audience; which later I found out was probably generated by our sponsors and fans from OTIS Technology along with several of our camp alum. I remember going up to the stage with Kay and Lisa, accepting the award, and saying a few words at the microphone.  (Actually I don’t know what I said but I was told that I was short winded for a change.) Kay then thanked our Foundation sponsor Smith & Wesson, as without their financial support, along with providing the camp with firearms, Babes with Bullets would not be entering its eighth year.  I remember Lisa thanking our campers, after all camps are for them and about them.  Then we were whisked back stage for an interview and photos. We came back to our table just about the time the last awards were being announced. The rest of the evening was a wonderful time of being congratulated by friends and meeting many new people related to the outdoor industry as well.

If there was an unfortunate part to this event it’s that our head camera gal and editor, Marilyn Vogel of ProVideos4U, was not at SHOT Show with us this year.  This award is being shipped to her; after all without the “magic” that she creates with viewing and editing hundreds of hours of tape, we wouldn’t have any webisodes to offer up.  And I never did make it back to thank Todd  Merkow for his support over the last two years and for providing a home for our Babes with Bullets webisodes which are located at OutdoorChannel.com/BabeswithBullets.  I’d also be remiss in not sending out a thank you to Jared Gustafson, our Outdoor Channel producer, for the extra things he does for our webisodes.

The day after the awards event, Friday, was the last day of SHOT Show and Outdoor Channel hosted us at their “Celebrity Big Shots” booth that afternoon.  They provided trading cards for us to autograph and we enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with several fans of our series and even pass out flyers about the 2012 camp schedule, which is also available at BabeswithBullets.com. Upon arriving home from SHOT Show 2012, I was tired and elated for both the success of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association, which our booth was very busy with many new members and sponsor requests, and the success of Babes with Bullets.

So Yippee, Yahoo and we can’t wait until SHOT Show 2013!

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Fun Female-Friendly Targets by GunFun.com

So just how good a shooter is our camera-toting Marilyn "Bullseye" Vogel? You be the judge!

Recently, I had the chance to do some target practice with two of my favorite gal-pals, WOMA Chair Deb Ferns and WOMA member Marilyn Vogel.  Nothing unusual about that.  What was unusual was what we were shooting — GunFun.com’s line of female-friendly (and somewhat comical) targets.  Bennett Perritt, the company’s owner, started out with a publishing company that branched out into target printing after his son asked for an air rifle.  It took 8 months from the first printing until Bennett was satisfied with his targets.  That’s a perfectionist at work.

Melita Ellington points out her hits on the Female Intruder GunFun.com target

Gunfun.com offers many target packages to choose from — check them out at www.gunfun.com, like them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/gunfuntargets) and follow them on Twitter (@gunfuntargets).

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WOMA Booth A Big Hit at the 2012 Shot Show!

All I can say is WOW!  The Women’s Outdoor Media Association BOD members Deb Ferns and Melita Ellington did an outstanding job with our booth at the Shot Show.  We have been having a very successful week with meeting and greeting many of the folks that stopped by to chat and inquire about the WOMA mission of focusing on increasing media coverage of women who are active in traditional outdoor sports, especially shooting, hunting, fishing and archery.  It has also been a great week for attracting new sponsors for the WOMA!  If you are still at the show, drop by and see us!  We are on the 3rd floor, just across from the Press Room, a great location.

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Heartbeat of The WOMA – January 2012

The WOMA team has been working on arrangements for the 2012 SHOT Show since last spring.  Finally SHOT Show has arrived in Las Vegas.

The WOMA is in booth L344, which is on the 3^rd floor very close to the NSSF Pressroom. FYI – This is an excellent location as its located in a large lobby area so the hours and access to L344 are very “open” and you don’t have to have an exhibitor badge during the off hours.  To those members who have worked the booth and to our Veep Melita Ellington (Melita@theWOMA.com) for coordinating the schedule at the booth, a big THANK YOU!  Melita, besides being the Vice-President of the WOMA, is also the Membership Team Leader, and your help is much appreciated.

Again, because L344 is in the lobby area, we have been gathering members at the booth. This has been a great time for members to get to know each other. For me personally, it’s one of my favorite parts of SHOT Show; to meet new members of the WOMA and reestablish relationships with our alum!

In case you didn’t read the last couple of Heartbeat blogs then another SHOT Show “news flash” is that as a WOMA member (even if you aren’t attending SHOT Show) your flyer/brochure can be at the booth at no charge! Many of our members who weren’t attending shipped their flyers/brochures to me and they have been proudly displayed at our booth.  The Women’s Outdoor Media Association, theWOMA, is proud to represent you at SHOT Show and throughout the rest of the year including at the upcoming NRA convention in April.

My closing thought and prayer for us all in 2012 …REACH UP for something higher!  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.” Proverbs 3.5-6

Deb Ferns
WOMA Chair

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Free Marketing For You and Your Company!

Would you like a free marketing opportunity at the SHOT Show January 17 to 20^th, in Las Vegas?

The Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) is the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries.   There are over 2,200 exhibits and more than 40,000 attendees at this annual event.

One of the many benefits of your membership in the WOMA is to have your brochures and/or flyers at the WOMA booth, this year located at L344 near the Press Room. Maximize the value of your WOMA membership by letting us know if you want WOMA to be part of your marketing strategy! And remember this is free!

Let us know as soon as possible if you would like to have a threefold brochure or flyer at the WOMA booth by contacting Marsha@TheWOMA.com or Deb@TheWOMA.com.

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Bid on a Hunt, Win a Family!

The strangest thing happened while I was at the NRA auction last May; I bid on a hunt and won a whole new family!  I’d never been to one of the big NRA convention dinners/auctions before, but my gal pal Marsha Petrie Sue, President of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association (the WOMA) and very active in the NRA, convinced me to buy an event ticket. I met up with other WOMA members there, like Anne Draper from Bear Mountain Ranch and Chris Quam of Hi Viz Shooting Systems. We had a ton of fun along with dinner, drinks and the auction.

Deb gears up for a cold bird hunt in north Texas complete with her clothes from WOMA member, PROIS!

The auction item I won was a pheasant hunt in north Texas offered by the Frantz family, scheduled for early December. As soon as I paid for the item I called my husband, who was left back in Tucson working away and taking care of our four legged children. The news made him a very happy guy, as he hadn’t had the opportunity to bird hunt in many years. In June, I contacted our hunting hostess, Stephanie Frantz.  Between her cheerful updates plus contact by her husband, Trey, we spent the summer and fall touching base on a variety of hunt details. Just for starters, the Frantz’s put us up at our own private B&B, the “Bella Grace”, near their ranch outside of Dalhart, TX.  Since the hunt was for four people for the weekend, we invited along the head instructor of our Babes with Bullets camps, Kay Miculek and her daughter, Lena, who both happen to be WOMA members as well.

Here’s where I admit that out of the group I was definitely the novice bird hunter; actually, novice hunter period. It was a case of “practice what you preach” since I’m constantly telling women to try something outside their comfort zone.  My learning curve to becoming a bird hunter couldn’t have been made any easier since Trey had everything organized in the field. He recruited his family members and friends to come along on the opening pheasant weekend hunt and be “walkers” and “blockers.”

FYI – I opted to be a “walker” when I found out that group gets to talk! Trey delivered a safety briefing at the front of the hunt, and I’m happy to report that everyone, including Trey’s 9 year old son Max and 8 year old nephew Zane, did a great job on maintaining a safe shooting line. (Here’s where I put a big THANK YOU too for Trey’s brother-in-law, Mike, who helped out with the hunt and even loaned me his shotgun when mine quit running.)

To insure that it would be a good hunt, the Frantz’s went one step further and added extra “raised” pheasants to the few wild pheasant that are still around in Texas. If you haven’t been in a coma for the last year you probably know that Texas has suffered through a devastating drought. For any game bird, the lack of water equals lack of crops and lack of crops equals lack of bird habitat.  Where this area of Texas once supported a thriving game bird population, now there are few wild birds and they are very hard to find! Wanting to go that extra step for our NRA hunt, Trey planted dozens of birds in the ½ section we were hunting. If you are thinking this made hunting easy, then you aren’t familiar with how well pheasants blend right into an abandoned cornfield.  I didn’t realize that pheasants were runners instead of flyers, especially pen raised birds. Now I know why it’s so important to have a good pointer; another bird hunting lesson learned.

Lena Miculek, WOMA Ambassador, gets ready for prairie dog hunting. Can you tell it’s a little bit cold?

We walked and walked, and it wasn’t long before I figured out the best bet was to stick near Daisy, the Frantz’s young yellow Labrador Retriever, as she was flushing up birds regularly.  On the first day we had close to a 30 mph wind and as the walkers and/or Daisy would flush the bird, it took a fast shotgun to grab the bird before it sailed off into the distance. By the end of the first day of hunting, I had a whole new appreciation for how much work it can be to bird hunt, along with that exhilaration of the bird coming up and making a good shot. I also came to appreciate John Frantz, Trey’s Dad, who trailed behind our group at a distance in his SUV. His job was to help out with transporting hunters from one end of a field down to another end.  What a blessing John turned out to be, especially after a long cold walk, where I found my muscles very unwilling to work anymore. That’s when I decided that John and his SUV were my new best hunting aids!

I also had an appreciation for Stephanie and her family providing us with great dinners on Friday and again on Saturday evening.  A blessing was said before each meal, a big “AMEN” uttered by all present, and then the conversation and fun flowed throughout the Frantz house. The evening activities even included making of S’Mores in the Frantz fireplace, which we taped, as I’m trying to convince Hershey’s Chocolate to become a sponsor of our women’s shooting camps. After all, you never know till you ask – right?

On Sunday, the last morning of the hunt, the temperatures were pretty cold but we tried one last pass at the fields; noting that the hawks had been fairly active over the night in finding several of the pheasants as dinner. We only shot a few more birds and then decided it was time to call it a morning. While the other hunters went off to try their luck at prairie dogs, I stayed behind and did a little handgun training with Stephanie and Max at the small steel handgun range that Trey had setup at the back of the ranch. Seems the Frantz family, at least Trey and Max so far, have been getting involved in some action pistol shooting, like IDPA, which stands for International Defensive Pistol Association. Small world since the IDPA Executive Director, Joyce Wilson, just became a WOMA member last month!

(L to R) Zane, Deb, Trey and Max with a successful pheasant hunt on opening day

I was happy to see that Stephanie was already comfortable in safely handling my M&P .9mm Pro Series semi-auto. She had a good grip, good stance and good sight picture. I was equally impressed on how well Max handled the .9mm semi-auto, though I’m pretty sure he’s been practicing quite a bit considering how much reloading Trey tells me he’s been doing. At nine years old Max already has the makings of a serious competitor, and I suspect we’ll be seeing both Trey and Max at a variety of action shooting programs in the future.  Plus, I am so excited that Stephanie is registering to attend a Babes with Bullets camp this spring!

If you are wondering what the moral of the story is, I’m not sure there is one. I recognize that the Frantz family offering the hunt to the NRA and that my being at the NRA event to win the hunt, along with having the opportunity to spend time in the field with my husband, were a series of God’s blessings. Like I said in the beginning, I bid on a hunt and I won a family, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Photo Credit: Gary Ferns

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HEARTBEAT of the WOMA for December 2011

There have been several new members joining the WOMA over these last few months, and to each of you I say “HOWDY!”

I’m hoping to meet our new members along with member alum at the upcoming SHOT Show, held in Las Vegas starting Monday, January 16^th (kicks off with Media Day at the Range). Then, Tuesday, January 17^th through Friday, January 20^th, we’ll be at the Sands Expo Center in booth L344.  The WOMA booth is right outside of the NSSF Press Room in the big hallway, and we are looking forward to a lot of traffic throughout the tradeshow. Help is needed to keep it staffed all four days so if you are willing to volunteer some hours please contact the WOMA Vice-President, Melita Ellington (Melita@theWOMA.com).

Here are some extra notes about SHOT Show :

• If you are attending SHOT Show and are planning to utilize the WOMA for a media badge pertaining to the Media Range Day, your online information needs to be submitted to NSSF by December 15^th at www.shotshow.org/en/Media/Registration.

• Media Range Day is completed by Monday at 4:00 pm, so starting at 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm at the WOMA booth at the Sands Expo/Venetian 3^rd Floor Lobby, we are hosting a light reception for our members. (Since we are in the general lobby area and not the firearms exhibit halls, it is open until 9:00 pm.) Please RSVP to me at Deb@theWOMA.com if you plan to attend that event.

• This year the WOMA booth will have racks to hold member flyers or brochures, even small/thin catalogs. Members must email Melita@theWOMA.com to reserve one of the racks shelves and provide her with a sample of what you intend to drop off at the booth. If you are planning to ship your flyers, please send them to Deb Ferns at 7850 N. Silverbell, Suite 114-315, Tucson, AZ  85743.

• The number of industry sponsors joining the WOMA is growing!  OTIS Technology and ATI are already Platinum Sponsors, and just this week we welcomed Bay Flats Lodge as a Platinum Sponsor and Crossbreed Holsters as a Gold Sponsor. Our SHOT Show booth will host banner/boards for our sponsors, so if you know of any additional industry sponsors potentials please contact our sponsorship coordinator, Mia@theWOMA.com

I’m not sure what happened to 2011…it went by in a flash, except for when I followed this dump truck for what seemed forever across New Mexico on my way to a pheasant hunt in Texas.  It finally dawned on me that God sent me a message in the way of a slow moving truck; let go of old baggage and start the new year knowing how blessed I’ve been in 2011 and how much I’m looking forward to 2012.  I hope that each of you has a blessed holiday season as well!

Deb Ferns
Chair

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HEARTBEAT of the WOMA for November 2011

The WOMA's Deb Ferns (Left), enjoying time with her new POMA gal pals, Laurie Lee Dovey (center) and Lisa Metheny (right)

I’m so proud!  I’m actually getting my monthly “Heartbeat of the WOMA” blog out before the last day of November; it’s like a miracle. In tune with the theme of November I’m going with notes of Thanks Giving for the people and events that entered my life this month. There isn’t any doubt in my mind that it was God’s blessings on me for the way this month turned out.  For instance…

THANKS to Ducks Unlimited (DU) and Bay Flats Lodge for inviting me, along with other women in outdoor media, on a “Blast and Cast” trip. This event made a lifetime impression on me and it was only 48 hours long. FYI – I’ve already written an article for the WOMA about my experiences in the duck blind and fishing, but what I didn’t write about is the blessings I received in terms of new gal pals!

To give you some brief history, the WOMA was created in 2008 to concentrate on media of any type that related to women in the outdoor venues of shooting sports, hunting, fishing and archery. Like any new kid on the block, the WOMA struggled in the beginning for recognition and to figure out where we belonged in the outdoor media world. When we started the WOMA, there were already two large outdoor media groups in existence, the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) and the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA).  To be blunt, I wasn’t sure if POMA or OWAA wanted much to do with the WOMA, so we weren’t working on building a relationship with each other.  I’m thankful that is now a thing of the past!

Lisa Metheny from POMA and Deb Ferns from the WOMA at the recent Ducks Unlimited camp at Bay Flats Lodge

Last spring, I was invited by an OWAA board member to join their group, and I have very much enjoyed getting to know the OWAA executive director, Robin Giner, and other members of the OWAA team. Then at the recent DU trip, I had the opportunity to share a hunt and meals with the executive director of the Professional Outdoor Media Association, Laurie Lee Dovey and POMA board member, Lisa Metheny.  Long story made short, our WOMA president, Marsha Petrie Sue, became a member of POMA within 24 hours of my leaving the DU event.

Kudos goes to Laurie Lee for sending over a benefit that is immediately available to all WOMA blogger members: a no-cost listing in the online directory at www.outdoorbloggerdirectory.com.  And another big Kudos because within a few days of leaving the DU camp, Laurie Lee became a member of the WOMA!   I feel blessed to have new outdoor friends and I don’t think a woman can ever have too many (right?)  I’m already trying to work out a date with Lisa, (on the left in the second photo), so she can take me turkey hunting. I’m not sure how that will go, since I found out I’m not allowed to talk and I can’t do my normal yoga in a blind movements.  All that said if Lisa’s game to make me into a turkey hunter than so am I!

THANKS go to Julianna Crowder, a fellow WOMA member, who also operates aGirlandaGun.com, and Sheldon Carruth of TexasMultiGun.com. Julianna knew that our Babes with Bullets firearms program (I’m the camp director) was looking for a place in Texas to host an event and she had women already recruited for us. We struggled to find a range with the bays and equipment we needed, along with a reasonable day rate. We had just about given up hope when Julianna stepped up with a commitment from Sheldon to cover a significant amount of our range fees through their Texas Multi-gun club and he also provided equipment, like target stands. To Julianna and Sheldon, you both “walked the talk” of getting more women involved in firearms training -thank you!

THANKS to my awesome Babes with Bullets instructors, most of them are also WOMA members, for making the last 2011 camp in Tucson a huge success! I’m sorry that each and every one of you can’t be with me on December 10th as I meet up with the BBC here in Tucson. The BBC is coming to tape a docudrama pilot on Babes with Bullets and you can bet I’ll get some information about the WOMA in there too!

Next month I’ll be reporting on the new board of directors for the WOMA, along with updates on SHOT Show quickly approaching in January. The WOMA has secured a booth, L344, and it has a great location near the NSSF Press Room. My prayer for you in this next month is that you each go and make a newfriend in the outdoors and most importantly remember to hold Thanks Giving in your heart through the holidays.

Deb Ferns
Chair

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