Women of the Wing Ladies Pheasant Hunt & Gun Clinic
By Lori Card
Have you ever wanted to learn how to hunt pheasants? Or maybe try your hand at shooting some skeet? Maybe you thought to yourself, “I could never do that.” Think again. Wild Card Outdoor Adventures puts on an annual ladies pheasant hunt and gun clinic at the Haymarsh Hunt Club, in Morley. This event is for women by women; it’s open to women of all ages and all skill levels.
This is two full days filled with gun handling and stance, shooting clays, pheasant hunting over dogs and ending each day with seminars. The event unofficially starts Friday evening as the ladies begin to arrive. We have a house rented for those that want to stay and not travel back-and-forth.
Saturday morning, bright and early, we start with registration. The ladies have a chance to get acquainted with each other over coffee, juice and homemade cinnamon rolls. Once the event gets underway the ladies are then divided into two groups. Some of the ladies are nervous as they have never done anything like this before. The groups are decided based on each lady's experience level. Next, we go over gun safety and schedule of events. We then go over any questions the ladies might have before heading out for the day.
Those that are heading to the range for gun handling and stance and shooting clays are new to hunting and shooting. We have instructors to assist them with gun handling, form and shooting stance. Once all of the ladies are comfortable, they all get to have fun shooting clays. Each of the ladies get to shoot a modified 5 Stand (5 Stand is a combination of eight clays being thrown to represent the different ways animals would travel or fly.) in the comfort of an enclosed heated building.
Our modification for the ladies is practicing shooting flying birds, so we modify to represent what they will be doing in the field hunting.
The other half of the ladies are divided into groups of 3 or 4 and assigned their dog handler and mentor for the morning. Groups are small for safety and to ensure each lady has as much success as possible. Once the ladies are at their assigned field the lady guides will go over expectations, gun handling and safety, and hunting with dogs in the field. Most of the ladies have never hunted over dogs before, this is usually everyone's favorite part of the hunt. The ladies have several hours to hunt before returning for lunch. When they return with birds in the bag, they then have the opportunity to learn how to either breast them out or do a full cleaning of the bird. When all of the ladies returned for lunch in the afternoon, they had lots of laughs and stories to share.
Day one lunch was homemade pickle soup or chili with homemade sourdough bread with Brookies (chocolate chip cookie with a peanut butter cup covered in brownie) for dessert. The seminars consisted of Wild Card Outdoor Adventure: who we are and what we do. We thank everyone for being there and mentioning all of our sponsors. At that time, we introduced all the vendors that had set up while the ladies were out in the fields. The seminars started after lunch with Shawn teaching us about essential oils make & take; everyone had a chance to make a bug spray & a foot scrub. Next was Shannon teaching about duck hunting and calling. She showed us how to make a decoy line out of 2-liter pop bottles. Ending the day was Sandra with puppy training. She used one of the pups at the event and showed us how to get the dogs to do what we want them to do. She then opened the floor to let the ladies try their hand with dog handling. This was the conclusion of day one, some went home and others went to the cabin for more laughs and camaraderie. We even had an amazing view of the Northern Lights.
Day two started with a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs. The ladies rotated, those that hunted now had their chance at the range for gun form and shooting clays while the other group headed to the fields for hunting. The morning is a repeat of the day before with new groups.
Lunch was served again when the ladies returned in the afternoon. Lunch was Mostaccioli and garlic bread with either apple or cherry crisp for dessert. The afternoon seminars started off with a cooking demo by Chef’s Knife & Cork Screw while the ladies ate. He made a delicious Italian Style Pheasant Breast with Lemon & Artichoke Sauce paired with wine tasting.
We all know how important it is to make sure you have a well-functioning and safe gun when shooting and/or hunting. This year we taught all the ladies how to take their gun apart, clean it and put it back together again. Every lady in attendance received a gun cleaning kit for their gun, either a 12- or 20-gauge kit.
The closing of the weekend is the drawing for the Mossberg shotgun. We had a shotgun donated by NAHVDA for this event. Of course, after a fun filled weekend all the ladies are hoping to take the gun home, but there can only be one.
This was another great event that gets like-minded women together where they can become lifelong friends and hunting partners. We will be offering this event again this year, on November 8th & 9th. You can find information on this event and others on the website at www.wildcardoutdoors.com
