‘Wine, women and fishing’ Charity Billfish Tournament in Chesapeake Bay in Aug.

‘Wine, women and fishing’ Charity Billfish Tournament in Chesapeake Bay in Aug..

Camp Wild Girls “Sticks” it out!

By popular demand we now have our new Camp Wild Girls decals. The first on sports a black border and the other surrounded with a camo border and our saying “Hunting and Fishing Resources for Women of the Wild”. Both are 8 inches wide from the back of the fletchings to the tip of the arrow. The camo version in 3.8″ high with the black border version coming in at 3.25 inches high. Check out the Camp Store to find all our logo items!

July’s Woman of the Wild-Katherine Browne

I didn’t grow up in hunting family but my family and I have always shared a passion for the outdoors.  As a child my parents would take us fishing for pumpkin seeds and small mouth bass on the lake across the street from our house.  We used bobbers and worms and I used to get so excited when my bobber starting dipping and would scream and laugh when I hooked a fish. I loved it.  I   have always really enjoyed fishing. I derive the same giddy pleasure from catching a fish now as I did when I was a little girl. However I’ve upgraded from bait fishing to flyfishing.   My fiancée Eric Grand taught me how to flyfish and along with falconry flyfishing is my greatest passion in life.  Currently I am the only female flyfishing guide at Willowfly Anglers in Almont CO.

I love flyfishing because it is incredibly dynamic. Every aspect is dynamic from movement of the line, to the timing of your cast, to the placement and presentation of your flys on a moving river. Everything is in motion, and timing is everything. The river is constantly moving, constantly changing. Fish move, their feeding habits change, the insect populations are constantly rotating through their lifecycles on different timetables. You are continually solving a puzzle and by the time you have solved it that puzzle has changed!  It’s the most natural form of fishing because you are showing the fish exactly what they want to eat naturally in the same way they want to eat it.  This past year I founded and became president of a women’s flyfishing club in the Gunnison Valley named the Fishin’ Chicks.  We are a chapter of Colorado Woman Flyfishers but since Gunnison Valley Chapter of Colorado Woman Flyfishers was a bit long winded we voted on a nickname.  I was pushing for the Damsel Flys but I was outvoted.

My other greatest passion in life is falconry.  Falconry is the art of hunting game with a trained raptor. It is one of the oldest sports known to man, originating in the Far East around 4000 B.C. Many falconers describe falconry as a life style rather than a hobby because of the daily time commitment and devotion this sport requires.  Many people ask me how I first got interested in falconry when we talk about the sport.  I have always been very interested in birds of prey. When I was a child I took classes at a nature center that often had talks on birds of prey. I was absolutely enthralled from the first time I got up close to one of these majestic animals. When I was working abroad in Costa Rica with a captive breeding program for macaws, one of my close friends and research partners had a friend that was a falconer back in England. I think this was the moment the seed to become a falconer was planted. Before that point, I was totally unaware that people were still practicing falconry. When I returned to the States, I was flipping through the channels one day and came across a program where two men were rabbit hawking with a red-tailed hawk and at that moment I thought, “If they can do it, I can do it.” After that, I began ravenously consuming all the literature I could find about falconry. It was still a couple years before I had a place to build a hawk house (AKA a mews) and had the time to commit to the sport. When I moved to Oregon, I was able to find a sponsor and become an apprentice falconer. As an apprentice falconer, you, are required to have a sponsor your first two years, take a test on falconry, falconry regulations and raptor biology, and have your facility inspected by the state. After passing my test, I trapped my first red-tailed hawk, Artemus.  Since then I have trapped and flown two red-tailed hawks and an American kestrel.  This year I hope to trap a goshawk or a prairie falcon so I can hunt ducks, grouse, pheasant, and quail, in addition to cottontails and jack rabbits.

Falconry is different from conventional hunting because a rabbit can’t see a bullet coming, but has been hunted everyday for thousands of years by hawks and knows what to do when a hawk appears. That’s what makes it one of the most natural forms of hunting. Falconers are more observers of what goes on everyday in the wild than a gun hunter. It is like an advanced form of bird watching. As a falconer you get to see things most people will never see in a lifetime. Also unlike a weapon you have limited control of the bird.  Unlike a gun or a bow and arrow, a bird of prey has a mind of it’s own. Finally, falconry is more about the flight and the chase than the capture of the quarry. There is often cause to cheer the rabbit when it gets away and outsmarts the hawk.

So far I have only kept each bird until spring, trapping it in fall or winter then releasing it when the ground is clear of snow and small prey is readily available. Trapping a raptor and using it for a passage falconry bird dramatically increases its chances of survival. Seventy to eighty percent of wild red-tailed hawks die during their first year of life. A red-tailed hawk flown by a falconer has a mortality rate of less than 5%. This increased in survival applies to all birds used in falconry. Each subsequent year a bird of prey survives into adulthood their survival rate increases as do their chances of producing the next generation. Furthermore the falconer introduces the red-tail to larger prey such as rabbits and squirrels that are available during the winter when smaller prey is scarce. This is incredibly important to the bird’s future success in the wild during a time of year when the mortality rate of raptors and most animals is at its highest. I plan on keeping a bird for more than one season in the future because the longer you have a bird the better falconry bird it can become. However, I have never liked the idea of keeping a wild thing forever.

Beyond flyfishing and falconry I love doing pretty much anything in the outdoors. In the winter I enjoy, ice fishing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing.  Year round I hike, camp and hunt and in the summer I spend as much time on the river as possible, white water rafting, floating and fishing. In addition to guiding flyfishing I work for Prόis Hunting Apparel, a women’s hunting and field apparel company, as their Dealer Relations and Pro-Staff Coordinator.  I love working for Prόis.  Kirstie Pike is the best boss I have ever had and I am so passionate about the apparel we make.  Prόis makes the most technical woman’s hunting gear available with incredible fit and the most technical fabrics and technologies available.  It is so important to do something you love and I am very happy to say I have achieved that goal on all fronts.

Helping In Our Own Backyard

Helping in Our Own Backyard

In these times when media is constantly covering world news we sometimes overlook the people that need our help right here at home. This website is a directory of US charities and causes you can donate not only money to, but some of them just need your time, or used equipment. The listing is free to cause and the website doesn’t handle any of the donations that go to the causes. 100% of your donations go to who you want them to go to.

The website was a “brain storm from God”, say the owner of the site. “It’s his site not mine. I am just the tool he used to get it”. The site is working on getting non-profit status also, so people may donate to help defer the cost involved in having the site. In the meantime if you have a cause you would like listed contact help@helpinginourownbackyard.com

Tiffany, Colorado – 06/19/10 – Colorado

PROIS COMPETITOR SHOOTER’S SHIRTS NOW AVAILABLE!

Now Available in our Camp Store, Prois Competitor shooter’s shirt!

Hybrid flagship of the new Prois Competitor Line brings on the heat for competitve shooters and archers alike.  Today’s female handgun, shotgun and archery enthusiasts have given a whole new meaning to ‘shooting like a girl’- and they’re looking for serious tools to give them an edge on the range.  So Prois Hunting Apparel has answered the call of these focused women athletes and have introduced the Prois Competitor Line of shooter shirts.

If you are competing in any style or type of shooting, you need a tightly integrated set of advantages- technical skill, control and practice- to consistently hit the mark.  The Prois Competitor line is tailored with the same kind of precision with which shooters train for competition. This line is crafted from sturdy 100% polyester wicking fabric and is carefully engineered with an athletic design for complete ease of comfort and movement.  All three styles include bilateral shoulder padding tailored to protect both sides- whichever is dominant for shotgunning.

The Competitor Sleeveless is perfect for the balmy days on the range.  It is comfortable, athletic and allows the shooter to move about unhindered.

The Competitor Short Sleeve provides an athletic and attractive cut.  Perfect for indoor or outdoor ranges!

The Competitor Longlseeve is the ultimate shirt for the female shooter who does it all!  It is complete with bilateral forearm slap pads and thumbholes in the cuffline for the archer- and bilateral shoulder protection for the shotgunner.

BlackHawk A.L.E.R.T. Bag

BlackHawk A.L.E.R.T. Bag

I have had this sweet bag for some time now and it was sent to me to “try” out. I have put it through some unbelievable paces.

It has rolled through snow in November to and from the deer shack. I have drug it through the gravel and spring mud on the way to expos and shows by its retractable handle. The push button on the handle makes it easy to extend partway or to full extension with one hand. It has been overloaded with Prois clothing and Camp Wild Girls logo wear until it is bulging at the seams. It is my bag of choice to take all the baby paraphernalia with, when spending a couple of days at Grandma’s. Sometimes I have to lay on it like a pair of tight jeans to get it zipped, but it keeps on taking a licking. It is a Blackhawk. Just the name alone reinforces that it is tough. Even more important than being tough, it is well planned out bag. There are 9 interior mesh pouches for gear storage. It sports an easy open lid and a cushioned compartment inside that is perfect for ammunition or other semi valuable items that need a bit more cushion (i.e. toys). It has loop handles on each end and the two side handle straps have Velcro to hold them together.

It does have on major downfall. I have to part ways with this bag, (sadly) when it comes to travel by air. It is oversized for airline industry standards. Ultimately, I have literally, drug this bag, through rain, sleet and snow and it delivers every time!

Louisiana – 06/04/10 – Louisiana

Aztec, New Mexico – 08/21/10 – New Mexico – New Mexico

Coffeeville, Kansas – 06/27/10 – Kansas – Kansas

There’s a new “Kitchen” in Town

Not sure what to have for dinner tonight? Lots of wild game in the freezer and don’t really know what to do with it? Maybe you have a great recipe you are itching to share? Well now there is a place to not only share your recipes but try out others favorite recipes besides.

Wild Kitchen.net is a new recipe website focused on the “Wild” side of cooking. Their moto is “Become one with Nature…then marinade it!” This site is easy and free to use. Started by Jodi Smith in FL,  just in time for cooking and grilling your favorite wild game. They have everything from Ostrich and Tortellini soup to Gator poppers. Stop on over and check it out!

June’s Woman of the Wild-Christine Appleberg

By Christine Appleberg

How does someone who grew up in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago become an avid outdoorswoman, president of a bowfishing club and editor of a hunting website?

I credit my parents, particularly, my most understanding mom.   She started a lot of my interest by teaching me to fish and then how to fillet the fish that we caught.  This lit the fire in me that nature was not only wondrous and fun, but often downright tasty.  And despite her desire to see me wear cute frilly dresses and act like a proper little girl, she never attempted to quash my fascination with the outdoors and nature, even when I kept a live red bellied snake in my dancing ballerina jewelry box.

Gaining permission to hunt where I lived was difficult but finding a place to trap was far easier.  Even in the waning days of the fur boom there were plenty of raccoons, ‘possums and skunks on the edges of suburbia for a kid to catch.

When I checked my traps I often carried my Browning Nomad recurve bow and a mismatched assortment of arrows with me.

The bow was a gift from my older brother and the arrows were whatever Kmart had on sale.  I knew nothing of arrow spine, or bow ‘tuning’ concepts.  At 45lbs @ 28″ the bow was far too heavy for me. Yet, a surprising number of rabbits, squirrels and the occasional woodchuck became dinner and tanned hides due to my bow.   Deer were scarce in the area back then, so while I did buy a mail in permit a few times, I never actually went hunting for them.

After high school I went to college in Bottineau, North Dakota.  Going from the Chicago suburbs to ND was quite a culture shock.  If I remember correctly, there were about 7 million people within a 40 mile radius of where I grew up.  There was only a little over a half million people in the whole state of North Dakota at that time.  While this meant I had to accept that there were no real pizza places or sushi bars for couple hundred miles of my college, the upside was outstanding.

There were miles and miles of State Wildlife areas teaming with critters and hardly any people.  Creatures quite exotic to someone from Illinois, like moose, elk, pronghorn, mulies, snowshoe rabbits, jack rabbits, ruffed grouse and porcupines.  There was an unbelievable amount of waterfowl around too.  The college even had a bird cleaning area for the students. However, my only attempt at waterfowl hunting resulted in me shooting a single blue winged teal, which dropped into the middle of a slough.  I had to wade into the cold water and mud to retrieve it and this experience chilled me on water fowling. My other hunting adventures were more productive, and I kept myself busy with rabbits, ruffed grouse, furbearers and even took my first turkey in ND.

It was also in North Dakota that I started to get serious about archery.  A very entertaining and patient sporting goods shop owner and his wife helped me get set up with JVA Astro Stinger bow.  Even back then this was not a very high tech bow but I became enamored with it.  I shot it every day.  At my first outdoor tournament I won the women’s division but what really made me proud was that I would have been in fourth place had I been competing in the men’s division.  I also managed to win a moving target competition. I was officially hooked.

It was still a couple of years later, when I moved back to Illinois, that I finally started to make a real attempt at hunting deer.  Like most of my other outdoor pursuits, I am a self-taught deer hunter which means that I made a whole lot of dumb mistakes.  One of my first deer bowhunting  experiences I made the mistake of sitting down right in the deer trail and waited for a deer to show up. This was thinking like a trapper rather than a hunter.

Sure enough, a nice buck comes ambling down the trail and just about runs into me.  I was desperately trying to pull my bow back but was unable to because I was overcome with a serious bout of buck fever.  When the buck finally noticed the weird blob waving a bow around in front of him, his eyes bugged out and he simply bounced off the trail snorting (and I swear laughing) at me.

It only took once to learn that lesson but I plenty of learning to do after that.  Thankfully, I was fast learner (and lucky) and did tag my first deer that same year.  Like most hunters today, deer hunting makes up the majority of my hunting time afield.  However, these days I find myself referring to deer season as the ‘off-season’.   Don’t get me wrong, I love deer hunting. However, my latest outdoor obsession lets me pursue my quarry day or night, warm or cold weather, and I can do it, literally, with a boatload of friends.

Bowfishing.

Bowfishing combines the ‘thrill of the hunt’ with fast paced archery action and it’s only as serious as you want to make it.  I am blessed with a great circle of friends and truly some of my fondest memories are times we’ve had together bowfishing.  It’s a sport where on a good day or night you will shoot so many times you may simply become too tired to shoot anymore. Laughing, yelling, high fiving and plenty of ribbing is all part of the sport. After a good bowfishing outing, a new appreciation of the simple things like a hot shower and good soap are realized.

I have been bowfishing almost year round for several years now.  I’ve bowfished from Lake Guntersville in Georgia to Saginaw Bay in Michigan and many places in between.   My boyfriend Kendall has a tricked out pontoon boat that has a raised shooting deck, lights, generator and uses a pusher fan instead of a trolling motor to get into very shallow water.   It gets us some weird looks when we pull it down the road but it is an absolutely sweet bowfishing rig.  [If you're reading this Kendall, I do love you for more than your boat!]

I am currently President of the Illinois Bowfishers Club.  It’s a not for profit club that promotes bowfishing in Illinois through education events, outdoor shows and also host several tournaments and fun shoots.   We also work with state and federal fisheries biologists who study both native and invasive non-native species.  This makes the sport not only fun and entertaining but downright interesting too.

If you are someone who is interested in cutting back on your ‘down time’ between deer seasons, I urge you to look into bowfishing.  You might be surprised at just how much it will change your opinion of the ‘off season’.   I will be teaching a bowfishing class for women at an upcoming Women in the Outdoors class in July at Clinton Lake in Illinois.

For information about bowfishing, check out www.illinoisbowfishers.com

I am an editor and administrator on www.HuntingNet.com There’s a wealth of hunting information there that will help a new hunter avoid learning so many lessons by trial and error like I did.

What Do I do with the spurs? Make Jewelry of Course!

What do I do with the spurs? Make Jewelry of Course! by Irene Pawlisch

It has been 6 LONG years since my last Eastern turkey harvest.  Speculation of bad winters and predation have made it appear there are less birds on the property combined with bad luck of weather make a harvest that much more difficult to achieve.  This year, I got my bird!  Twenty-two pounds, 10 inch beard, and 1 inch spurs.  Beautiful matching spurs at that.  I have wanted to make a necklace for years and at last I had my chance.

It is a simple method to clean up the spurs.

1. Cut off the feet at the knee knuckle with your hunting knife when butchering the bird.
2. Get a hacksaw.  Hold the knee end on a firm surface and slowly as close to the spur cut off the foot end.
3. Still holding at the knee end cut off the other side of the spur with the saw.
4. Using a toothpick or wooden skewer poke out the insides of the bones.
5. Remove as much skin and soft tissue as possible with your knife.
6. Boil spur in water with a few drops of dish soap for a few minutes.
7. Spur will discolor temporarily.  Remove as much additional soft tissue as possible.  Reboil until clean.  The longer you wait to clean off the bone the yellower it will be in the end.
8. Let dry then use a fine sandpaper to smooth out the bone edges and clean up bone appearance.
9. Apply a coat of polyurethane or clear nail polish to the spurs for a glossy finish.
10. You can now treat your spurs like beads!

If you are not an experienced beader you can take your spurs to a bead store for assistance.  I have done this a couple times so I decided to dive in and purchased all my supplies for minimal cost at a big box store.  (I went to a store that starts with a W if you like the beads on my necklace.)  After searching the internet bead jewelry for design inspiration I decided on copying a necklace I tend to wear often.  I copied the lengths and everything from this necklace.

Some design tips I have found helpful.  Beads that look the same rectangular shape and color of the bone section of the spur help blend the spurs into the necklace design.  Patterns make the necklace more appealing to the eye.  Layout your pattern in full and experiment with different patterns before you commit.  Natural stones and wood seems the best match for spurs.

You could do the traditional leather strap with wooden beads but I like a little shine and sparkle.  I am still a girl at heart even if I have dirt under my nails 90% of the time.  I am the only hunter in my circle of girlfriends and I love that my spur necklace would stand up to their bling when we have girls night out.

Kicking Beards II for Kicking Bear Kicks Back!

When I won the spot at the Kicking Beards 2 Pro/Am event in Kansas, I really didn’t have a clue what it was about. I thought it looked like a good organization to donate to and if I should win, it would be fun to go turkey hunting. Boy I had no clue what I was getting into.

First of all getting to “hang out” with the awesome Pros that were there was an absolute hoot. Guys like Heath Painter, and his camera man Chris Dyer a.k.a. “Catfish” a.k.a. “Flathead” who hosted in my first turkey kill, Mike Miller a.k.a. the “Assassin” who called in and filmed my second pinch, Tom King, Trevon Stoltzfus, Jimmy Big Time, J.T. Harden, Ryan Litwin, Casey and Chris Keefer, Matt Burtin and David Langston just to name a few. Meeting new friends like Thad Pool, Jodi Smith, Doug Gilmore, Maria Dupertuis, Durk Stark and the other winners and volunteers, well that in itself was more than worth the donation. I know I am going to ruin a bunch of macho egos, but you couldn’t find a bigger hearted, giving group of people that like to have fun. Add in Kevin Blake Weldon, who put on a concert, and the Locked Horn Outfitter owners Jared and Lizzie Crider and things were rocking.

We put down 25 turkeys total and I shot my first and 2^nd turkeys on film. I hunted hard and made great contacts, but that was not what I really want to tell you about today.

I want to help get the word out about Kicking Bear One on One. This program was started by Ray Howell whose dad abandoned him, as a young child. Ray proceeded in life getting into trouble and eventually someone took the time and introduced him to hunting. It changed his life.

Ray has a much higher calling in life. There is a love for people that simply oozes from his gentle giant. You feel it the first time you are near him. Ray started Kicking Bear to give kids the chance to be mentored in hunting and hopefully change their lives for the better also. My favorite movie is Pay it Forward and that is exactly how Ray Howell lives his life. In the movie each person had to pay a kindness forward to 3 people, Ray has long surpassed that number. His program is one that will continue to breed a “pay it forward” attitude, while changing, and in some cases healing, the lives of not only our youth, but the people that surround them.

The following is the philosophy behind the Kicking Bear program.

Impacting the children of tomorrow… Showing youth a better way of life while providing them with a weekend of fun to experience new things and meet new friends.

Nothing we do is as important as the impact that we have on the youth community.

1. 1. Engaging activities develop values, skills and relationships. Activities are not seen as ends in themselves, but as vehicles for creating values, building skills and solidifying peer and adult relationships. An engaging activity is one that holds the youth’s attention, awakens their imagination, and inspires them to want to learn more.
2. 2. All youth have equal rights to be accepted, respected and valued by others. Youth are viewed as individuals to be developed, not problems to be solved.
3. 3. Youth should be involved in decision-making and program design. If children get to choose how, when, in what and with whom to be engaged, they are far more likely to enjoy themselves and behave cooperatively.
4. 4. When we listen for understanding everyone learns — youth and adults alike. We are constantly able to learn from the youth as well as each other. Everyone is a learner.

Kicking Bear also follows up by providing free hunting and fishing experiences for kids that cannot afford it. That pretty much says it all.

I went to Kicking Beards thinking about what I could do for myself. I left Kicking Beards thinking about what I could do for others. I had someone that taught me in the beginning (thanks dad) and there are so many kids, (and adults) out there whose lives could be changed by having a mentor.

Kicking Bear holds camps all across the country at no cost to the kids. Please take the time to find out more about the Kicking Bear program and how you can help. Volunteer your time, donate your resources, or simply put out the word. No gift to this program will go unused. If someone taught you, please “pay it forward” it could change a life.

For more information about the Kicking Bear Program click here.

May’s Woman of the Wild-Gretchen Steele

“In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair.”

This quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson was taught to me by mother many, many, years ago, where I was barely big enough to remember it, let alone really fully appreciate it. Thanks to the countless hours that she, my uncles and others let me tag along with them on their adventures in the woods, the lakes, the rivers and the streams of southern Illinois, I soon developed a passion for being “In the Woods.”

I developed a passion for being outside, knee deep in all that the outdoors had to offer. It seems that it didn’t really take all that long and I too felt that in the woods I could return to reason and faith.

Growing up in Southern Illinois put me in the enviable position of always just being a few minutes away from open fields, high bluffs, hardwood forests and the rivers, lakes, and sloughs.

Here I chased rabbits, quail and pheasants, deer, turkey and dove. I ran trotlines, turtle lines and traps.  I marked my days not by the calendar but by the seasons – root digging season, morel season, time to harvest the plants….watching the incoming migratory waterfowl in the fall, gauging time by the changes in the creatures and the landscape.  I am forever grateful that both of my parents and my extended family passed down to me the traditions of living wild.

Not only are we meat hunters in this household, and eat a great deal of wild game and fish, I also forage for wild foods and the medicinal plants and roots.  Many a frantic neighborhood mother with crying toddler has stopped by for mullein oil to soothe the earache. A diabetic friend uses the comfrey infusion to heal wounds on his feet that traditional medicine couldn’t.

Because I was raised by parents who lived in the through the Depression, nothing goes to waste and nothing is taken for granted. “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. “  was a common phrase in our household growing up and continues in my home today.  I learned early on that as long we remained good stewards of the land and conservationists, the forest and the fields could provide for us.

I never take a harvest for granted – taking a moment to thank the deer, the turkey, the rabbit or squirrel that gave up its life so I could have a tasty meal in the crock pot. I count my blessings when I find a big mushroom flush or huge patch of ginseng, golden seal and blood root.

Although hunting with firearms and bows  became somewhat curtailed for me over ten years ago when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and my upper body strength and coordination started disappear I realized with the help of a great occupational therapist that truly, I could still hunt, only with a camera. I could still fish – it was good exercise for those often uncooperative upper limbs, I could still hike, I just had to build rest periods into the plan for the day.

I’ve become an ace at ferreting out places that on tough days I can take the scooter down the trail, and have developed a network of friends who always happy to accompany  me on the days I’m not so sure I should be climbing up a bluff  or out setting turtle lines alone.

Do not be fooled – hunting with a camera entails just as much as hunting with weapons. I track, I pattern, I lie in wait…sit in stands, hide in blinds, and lay out in the snowy winter fields with the waterfowl hunters waiting on the geese to come flying into the spread.

I’m very proud that I was asked to be on the Board of Directors for Hunters With Disabilities (www.hwd2010.com) . Through this organization we able to bring both the able bodied and disabled hunting community together through a mutual love of the outdoors, and an understanding that for so many of us our time outside, our time in the woods is vital to our well being. The forests and the fields are our “dirt church”.

The MS diagnosis was my “aha moment”  when I decided that I would chuck my career as a public health nurse and focus on spending as much time as possible as long as possible in the forests and the fields.  Ten odd years down the road and I have a successful photography business that specializes in outdoor, hunting, and wildlife photography and a budding career as outdoor writer and blogger.  I’ve been added as pro staff / official photographer at several hunt clubs and hunting or fishing organizations. This has allowed me to network and build even more friendships with others who enjoy their time outside.  My mentors have been many and I have been truly blessed in that arena.

Finally as I approach the ripe old age of 50 it seems I’ve found my place in the world and it’s in the woods!

Please visit my blogs  and my web site to have a peek at my life these days.

Steele Photo Services – www.steelephotoservices.com

Through the Lens – hosted at Prairie State Outdoors www.Prairiestateoutdoors.com

In the Forests and the Fields – http://siloforests.blogspot.com/

As well as my second home on the internet – Southern Illinois Outdoors – www.siloutdoors.com

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