The Outdoor Scene

Women hunters, anglers, target shooters and callers throughout the United States racked up some amazing accomplishments in 2009. Below is a sampling of the women who headlined the Women’s Outdoor Wire throughout the last year. Congratulations to them and the many other women who caught their first fish, busted their first clay or bagged their first gobbler. While this list of accomplished females is far from complete, every woman who took the time to care for herself by spending time outdoors with the important people in her life was a winner. So, as you grapple for meaningful New Year’s resolutions in the next few weeks, promise yourself that in 2010 you’ll get outdoors more to kayak, canoe, mountain bike, backpack, bird watch, camp, climb, garden, hike, hunt, fish, target shoot or just enjoy nature.

Have a wonderful new year and enjoy revisiting the amazing outdoor women of 2009.

January

Haley Heath
Sportsman Channel TV show “Family Traditions,” hosted by Haley Heath, took top honors from viewers and won the coveted Viewer Favorite Personality Award, the first time this award went to a female.

February

Kim Bain-Moore
Kim Bain-Moore of Alabaster, Ala., became the first woman in history to compete in the Bassmaster Classic after clinching the Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship and points race in 2008.

Capt. Joan Vernon
To honor more than three decades of exceptional conservation efforts and fishing achievements, The Billfish Foundation’s Capt. Joan Vernon was inducted into the 2009 Big Game Room Hall of Fame.

March

Audrey McQueen
Audrey McQueen of Eager, Ariz., claimed her ninth World Elk Calling Championship at the Leupold/Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation event in Fort Worth, Texas. A week later, she became a first-time mother!

April

Lily Spang
A single wood duck, painted by 16-year-old Lily Spang of Toledo, Ohio, was selected to appear on the 2009-2010 Federal Junior Duck Stamp.

May

Lisa Munson
SVI’s Lisa Munson captured the Women’s Title at the 2009 U.S. Practical Shooting Association Single Stack National Championships.

Rachael Heiden
Rachael Heiden captured the bronze in Women’s Trap at the Shotgun World Cup in Cairo, Egypt.  It was her first ever World Cup appearance. She then went on to claim the championship title at the 2009 Shotgun National Junior Olympics Trap event in August.

Connie Smotek
Two-time Olympian Connie Smotek of Bryan, Texas, claimed the bronze medal in the Women’s Skeet event at the 2009 ISSF World Cup for Shotgun.

June

Caitlin Connor
Caitlin Connor of Winnfield, La., took home her first ever ISSF World Cup medal when she claimed the silver in the Women’s Skeet event in Minsk, Belarus.

Jamie Beyerle
2008 Olympian Jamie Beyerle of Lebanon, Pa., took home the title in Women’s 50m 3 Position Rifle and Women’s10m Air Rifle at the 2009 USA Shooting National Championships for Rifle and Pistol. Then in October, Beyerle earned the bronze in Women’s 50m 3 Position Rifle at the 2009 ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup Final in Wuxi, China.

Brenda Shinn
2008 Olympian Brenda Shinn of Riverside, Calif., won the Women’s 10m Air Pistol at the 2009 USA Shooting National Championships for Rifle and Pistol.

Libby Callahan
Four-time Olympian Libby Callahan of Columbia, S.C., captured the title in Women’s 25m Sport Pistol at the 2009 USA Shooting National Championships for Rifle and Pistol.

July

Amber English
Olympic Training Center resident athlete Amber English claimed the women’s title in Skeet at the 2009 Shotgun National Junior Olympics. In August, English won the silver medal in the Junior Women’s Skeet event at the 2009 ISSF Shotgun World Championships in Maribor, Slovenia and the Junior Women’s Skeet team of English, Ali Chiang and Caitlin Connor took home the gold and set a Junior World Record in the team competition.

Corey Cogdell
2008 Olympic bronze medalist Corey Cogdell earned a national title in the Trap Event at the 2009 USA Shooting National Shotgun Championships.

August

Jessie Abbate
Action shooter and Glock team member Jessie Abbate set five new world records on her way to scoring a hat trick at the 2009 Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships. She won the Ladies Open Rimfire Pistol, Limited Pistol and Open Pistol titles. In addition to collecting top honors in three divisions, Abbate claimed the coveted Ladies Steel Master title, which is for the best combined time of the three events. In September, Abbate won back-to-back national titles at the Smith & Wesson 2009 U.S. Practical Shooting Association’s (USPSA) National Handgun Championships for the second year in a row.

Emily Shaffer
Women’s Bassmaster Tour pro angler Emily Shaffer, a native of Tennessee, was inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame for her accomplishments as an angler as well as sharing her passion for fishing with others.

September

Joella Bates
Tennessee native Joella Bates became the first woman to arrow Africa’s big 5 – a lion, elephant, Cape buffalo, white rhinoceros and leopard. Bates accomplished this feat in the span of a month.

October

Pam Martin-Wells
Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., won the coveted 2009 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Women’s Tour Angler of the Year trophy and a 2010 Bassmaster Classic berth.

Tasha Hanish
Tasha Hanish from the FNH USA Shooting Team took home a National Title in the heavily contested Tactical Optics Division at the USPSA Multi Gun National.

Judy Nugent
Judy Nugent and videographer Michael Garvin were nominated for an Emmy by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their work on a special episode of Outdoor Wisconsin.

Lynn Montjoy
Lynn Montjoy of Greenwood, S.C., won the 20-gauge women’s division at the National Wild Turkey Federation’s 2009 World Wild Turkey Still Target Championships.

November

Kim Rhode
For the third consecutive year, Kim Rhode was selected as the USA Shooting Female Athlete of the Year. A four-time Olympic medalist, Rhode shot her way to two World Cup medals this year, claiming the silver in San Marino and the bronze in Munich in the Women’s Skeet event. Rhode was also the 2009 National Champion and finished in first place at the 2009 Shotgun Fall Selection Match, earning a spot on the 2010 World Shooting Championship team. Rhode also finished seventh at the 2009 Shotgun World Championships.

Shelby Free
Shelby Free, a 17-year-old from Stuttgart, Ark., won her third Women’s World Duck Calling Championship title.

December

Sarah Beard and Sandra Uptagrafft
Sarah Beard finished first in Women’s Air Rifle while Sandra Uptagrafft took the top spot in Women’s Pistol on day three of the 2009 Winter Airgun Championships held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

2009

Julie Golob
Team Smith & Wesson member Julie Golob, one of the most successful women in practical shooting, claimed several titles this year including Steel Challenge Ladies Production World Champion, NRA Bianchi Cup Ladies Champion, International Revolver Championships - Ladies Open Champion and NRA Action Pistol Open High Master.

Let’s stay in touch. You can find me at Facebook.com/tammy.sapp2 and Twitter @TammyDianeSapp.

Wildlife photographer Stacey Huston recently remarked on Facebook that she’s seeing more people hunting this year. And statistical evidence backs up her observation. A study conducted in 2008 by Responsive Management shows participation in hunting is on the rise. While some might contend the increase is in spite of the economy, studies show participation is increasing because of the downturn.

After reaching a peak in 1982, hunting license sales have been on the downward slide since then. However, researchers noted three exceptions to this overall national decline - 1992, 1999 and 2004.

To figure out what was behind this, Responsive Management analyzed 43 variables that might affect hunting license sales. They looked at everything from average monthly temperature, consumer prices, Dow Jones Industrial Averages, median income, new housing starts, housing and population densities, and population by age groups.

Of all the variables examined, only two really correlated to hunting license sales on a national level. The greater the proportion of people aged 65 to 69, the more likely hunting license sales will drop. In addition, a higher rate of housing starts also is tied to declines.

Why?

According to Mark Duda, executive director of Responsive Management, the age factor is easily explained.

“As people age, they are less likely to participate in hunting or have a need to purchase a license; the decline in hunting with increasing age has been documented in numerous participation studies,” Duda said. “The significance of the housing starts factor is not so clear; the data simply show that hunting license sales have declined in times of rapid growth in housing starts.”

Duda said one reason might be the number of hunters who work in construction and related trades. A 2007 survey showed the top occupational category for employed hunters was “construction/carpentry/plumbing/electrical/craftsman,” a category that strongly relates to new housing construction. Thus, in times of increased housing starts, it may be that many hunters have less free time to hunt. This theory is supported by the fact that “work obligations” is one of the most common reasons cited by hunters for not hunting or not hunting more often.

One question remains. Is having more time to hunt the only reason for the increase in participation or are hunters also trying to put food on the table? Those hunters who have been interviewed about this are split on whether or not this is a motivating factor. However, none of the other economic indicators in the 2008 study correlated strongly to hunting license sales, which could suggest the increase is due to having time to hunt rather than hunting for meat.

Fishing is seeing similar gains in participation. In 2009, there’s been a 7.7 percent increase in the number of licenses sold compared to 2008.

While it’s hard to find a silver lining in this dark economic cloud, knowing that people are spending time afield with friends and family is a bright spot.

On another note, Jim Ferguson, host of the Great American Outdoor Trails Radio Magazine was kind enough to invite me as a guest on his show. It will be available for download Friday, Dec. 11 by 10 a.m. CST at www.outdoortrailsnetwork.com. Plus, you can hear Jim’s show on 100 stations from Friday morning at 5 a.m. in Guymon, OK on KGYN until the last airing Sunday at 4 p.m. on KKBJ in Bemidji Minn.

Until then, stay in touch at Facebook.com/tammy.sapp2 and Twitter @TammyDianeSapp.

Drive down the main drag of Salley, S.C. and you’d quickly come to the conclusion there isn’t much going on. Sure, there’s a post office in this town of about 400 people as well as a convenience store/gas station and a restaurant named Frogs. But every Saturday after Thanksgiving about 25,000 people descend on this sleepy southern town to party down at the Chitlin’ Strut. For the uninformed, chitlins are pig intestines that when fried or boiled become a traditional delicacy served during the holidays.

People find all kinds of madcap reasons to celebrate, hence the existence of festivals in honor of spam, outhouses and fire ants. However, I know of no other one dedicated to eating swine innards. I’d say it was poppycock, except I saw it with my own eyes. After climbing down from our treestands, my husband and I headed into Salley, the town closest to our hunt club, for a bite to eat and to witness the 44th Annual Chitlin’ Strut.

First, people watching at the Strut made my airport observations seem like a total snooze. There was a fellow dressed like Michael Jackson from his early ‘90s phase when he looked like his sister LaToya. Also present was a guy who dressed and acted like a Hee Haw cast member circa 1969.There were disco divas, hunters in camo, teenage boys in droopy drawers, jogging suits, pajama pants and jeans worn so tight you know they’d eventually cause a medical emergency. There was even someone tooling around in a motorized scooter with a crazy animal print cover.

But the real feast wasn’t for the eyes, it was for the snout. Because the odor wafting out of the kitchen where the cooks prepared the chitlins was reminiscent of, well, excrement. Yet the line for chitlin dinners extended for blocks. In fact, the Augusta Chronicle reported about 4,000 pounds of chitlins were served, presumably covered in hot sauce, vinegar or something to distract the eater’s sense of smell.

While there were all kinds of goings-on associated with the festival including bands, carnival rides, a parade, beauty pageant, tractor show and craft fair, the crown jewel of the Strut was the first ever chitlin-eating contest. Sanctioned by the World League of Competitive Eating, this was no two-bit affair. When the nine contestants stepped up to the table, the crowd surged forward and it was game on. For 10 minutes the competitors gorged themselves to the delight and horror of the crowd. Dale Boone, the reigning world champion of the WLOCE claimed the $1,000 first prize by gobbling up 3 ¼ pounds of hog entrails.

I had briefly entertained the idea of trying a bite of chitlins, until I witnessed the eating contest. Watching people shovel handfuls of smelly pork guts into their kissers was all I needed to convince myself this was one culinary adventure I could skip.

Even though I’m no fan of chitlins, the Strut was a lot of fun. People put away their worries and troubles for a day to laugh with their friends, listen to music, dance and eat. Somewhere else in this country others are probably rejoicing over other edible piggy parts including hog jowls, ham hocks, pig’s feet, cracklins, and maybe even chops, bacon and ribs. That’s one thing you gotta love about porkers. They’re the epitome of gastronomic diversity, suitable to eat “from the rooter to the tooter.”

Check out the photos taken by Augusta Chronicle staffers at the this year’s Chitlin’ Strut: http://spotted.augusta.com/chronicle/display.html?collection=76619&gallery=167694&photo=826757