The Outdoor Scene

As a teenager in the 1970s, I must have heard comedian Carol Burnett sing, “I’m so glad we had this time together” dozens of times. When she tugged on her ear at the end of the song, you knew the show was over.

Today, I’ll be closing the curtain on my episode as editor of “Wednesdays for Women.”

I want to give a heartfelt thank you to Jim Shepherd, editor and publisher of The Outdoor Wire, for giving me the chance to talk to you each week. It has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in my 24-year career in outdoor communications. I’ll continue to enjoy Jim’s timely and insightful updates Monday through Friday on The Outdoor Wire.

I am sad to say good bye to this opportunity and at the same time excited about what’s behind door number 2.

I’ll be able to focus more of my time now on Remington Outdoor Foundation, an organization that is quietly doing the kind of work I can fully commit to. Founded in January 2009 as a nonprofit 501 (C) (3),  Remington Outdoor Foundation’s mission is to support the efforts of conservation organizations, wildlife agencies and other partners to share our hunting and shooting traditions with youth, women and other participants — while emphasizing safety, training and ethics. The organization also upholds conservation principles through assisting its partners’ work on habitat enhancement, wildlife research and management projects.

To that end, Remington Outdoor Foundation is collaborating with some important partners including the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP), International Hunter Education Association (IHEA), Ducks Unlimited (DU), National Rifle Association (NRA), National Forest Foundation (NFF) and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation of Wyoming (WHFW).

Plus, a full website is in the works that I expect will become THE online guide to the outdoors. Outdoor Roadmap will host a vibrant community where visitors can trade tips, stories, photos and videos.  It also will answer the question, “where can I go to hunt and target shoot?” by offering interactive maps and other tools. In addition, you’ll get product reviews, event listings, training and licensing resources as well as coupons and discounts on gear. Stay tuned! You’ll be hearing a lot more in the coming weeks and months.

I’m also looking forward to another challenge I’ve accepted as editorial director of The American Chestnut Foundation’s (TACF) magazine. I’m working with great friends including graphic designer Jeff Hughes and editor James Powell as well as the Foundation’s CEO Bryan Burhans and director of communications, Meghan Jordan. We’ll be working together to revamp “The Journal of the American Chestnut Foundation” with the first issue of this new bimonthly, full-color magazine available this summer.

The American Chestnut Foundation is working diligently to launch the next phase of restoring the American chestnut tree to its native range in the eastern United States. After years of conducting a breeding program based on scientific research, the Foundation now hopes to begin reforestation trials with blight-resistant American-type trees before the end of the decade. Thus, it’s only fitting they have a new and improved magazine, and I’m green with happiness to be a part of their progress.

I’ll also continue my volunteer work as a board member for the Professional Outdoor Media Association and Orion – The Hunters’ Institute, two organizations I am proud to be a part of. In addition, I hope to do more freelance writing for magazines and websites.

So, while I’ll no longer be a writer/editor for The Outdoor Wire, I’ll never be far from the outdoor industry I love so much and all the wonderful people who are a part of it.

Stay in touch by contacting me at:
Facebook.com/tammy.sapp2
pr@tammysappcommunications.com

Dr. Dolittle could talk to the animals. However, I can only listen.

I expected to hear that turkey gobble last Saturday morning. I didn’t anticipate hearing him 20 yards behind me. The first gobble was loud and guttural, sounding more like the scary devil voice in the movie The Exorcist than a wild turkey. I fought the desire to swivel my head like Linda Blair to look at him.

Wes and I had been playing musical roost sites with this bird for several days, splitting up so we could cover more ground. It was dark when I crept along the edge of the field to find a big oak to nestle against. I figured this would be a hot piece of real estate, certain that gobbler would sound off from one of the huge trees flanking the creek, a safe distance from where I planned to set up.

Untested theories at that hour of the morning can get you in trouble. In retrospect, I can clearly see I should have at least tossed out a barred owl call before getting into position.

For the next 45 minutes, this bird punished my ears by gobbling about every 60 seconds while I remained as motionless as someone standing in line at the DMV. The beautiful thing about being human is the ability to cling to hope, even when chances are slim the outcome will be good. Just maybe, I thought to myself, he will land on the far side of the field, and I can call him back.

Finally, satisfied he had broadcast his intentions throughout the countryside, the gobbler clattered off the roost and sailed over my head, across the creek. I would have been completely heartbroken except for the fact at least he didn’t poop on me during his departure.

In retrospect, it was a thrilling experience and a reminder of the faux pas of being overconfident about where a bird is roosted.

Later that same day, I was propped up against another tree, doing a little calling and listening for birds. I heard footsteps shuffling through the leaves to my left. Since my encounter with a Georgia bruin last spring, my first thought is often, “Oh God, please don’t let that be a bear,” though I know that’s unlikely where I hunt in South Carolina. A furious stamping noise from a thicket about 40 or 50 yards away verified the visitor was a white-tailed deer. The stiff-legged stomp was quickly followed by a loud, nasally blowing sound. And another. Because the sun was already low on the horizon, I started hoping this clown would bound off before it scared away every wild turkey in the woods. He or she apparently hoped I would scamper away, too, because the chorus of stamping and blowing went on for several more minutes.

I finally accepted by fate. I collected my calls, pulled Henny Penny’s stake out of the ground, tucked her in my vest and started my long hike back to the truck.

There’s always another day. And I hope the fact that I listened more than talked (or called) will help make me a better woods woman. I’m already more appreciative of the gifts I receive as a hunter.

On the way home from turkey hunting the other day, I compiled a list of excuses to explain the culprit behind a lackluster season so far. Before you shed a tear for me, I have killed a turkey this spring. However, it was one of those hunts that left me wanting more. My husband Wes and I plunked down against a tree, called and about five minutes later he marched up to our decoy, looked around and caught the number 6 copper-plated train to heaven.

Now I yearn for a floor show replete with strutting, gobbling, spitting and drumming. Though I’ve spent countless hours afield, I’ve been denied front row seats to a wild turkey cabaret. Here are 7 reasons why:

1) Wild turkeys are ill-mannered. On the roost, their gobbling rivals the incessant barking of neighborhood dogs. Toms seem to bellow out pickup lines such as “Roost here often, baby?” and “Your meadow or mine?” Once off the roost, the pillow talk comes to a screeching halt. Wes and I dash off to where we think they might want to go, mindful of obstacles such as swamps, creeks, thickets and our middle-aged legs. We guess wrong. Nothing and nobody shows up. The only noise we hear is from doves, bobwhites and songbirds. And it sounds like laughter.

2) Turkey hunting is hard work. I had a friend say that to me once, and I scoffed at such a ridiculous notion. Well, as the years add up, getting up in the middle of the night for a week straight can wear you out. While eating turkey is known to make people sleepy, hunting them can make you comatose. Those first rays of sunshine can knock me out harder than a hot bath, smooth jazz and Chamomile tea. Bottom line, you can’t fill a tag dreaming about turkeys.

3) Even when I’m awake I’m easily distracted, especially by other birds. I’m mesmerized by whippoorwills. Bewitched by barred owls. The other day I heard a red-tailed hawk scream as it soared by, and for some reason it made me say “Wes, wouldn’t it be cool if birds were big enough they could swoop down and pick up a person?” Of course, Wes thought that was absurd, yet launched into a SNL-style skit of how people would have to scurry across the mall parking lot with guns aimed skyward to fend off attacks. While the topics of these strange exchanges vary, the end result is always the same…somebody winds up laughing out loud, and that rarely qualifies as good turkey hunting technique (except one time in New Mexico, I did make a turkey shock gobble with my hooting and snorting).

4) I’m experimenting with different progressive contact lens prescriptions, which means my ability to see far, near and in between varies. OK, this is a lame excuse since I’ve only seen one turkey.

5) We’re hunting a new tract so we’re learning the lay of the land. This is a legit excuse, at least for this year.

6) Wes has already killed a monster bird, and I think it injured my psyche, especially since he texted me the photo while I was out of town at a meeting.

7) Brood surveys have shown poor reproduction in South Carolina during the last couple of years, and the DNR’s biologist predicted only fair turkey hunting this spring. I think it’s terribly UNfair, but it does make for one heck of an excuse.

The good news is there are two weeks left in the season. Plus, I have not been kidnapped by gypsies and I don’t have a dog, so my box call is safe and sound.

How is your season going? Leave a comment here, catch up with me on at Facebook.com/tammy.sapp2 or email me at tammy@womensoutdoorwire.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Tiffany Lakosky has achieved in 10 years what some people dream about their entire lives. As co-host of “The Crush” with her husband Lee and appearances on “Whitetail Freaks,” Tiffany is wildly popular in the outdoor world. She is beautiful, personable and a skilled bowhunter with a legion of fans. Like Michael Waddell, she doesn’t appeal to just one demographic. Her fans are young and old, men and women as well as new hunters and seasoned veterans.

It’s not all candy and flowers, though.  Like the big whitetails she pursues, Tiffany also is a target, and her detractors express doubt about her hunting skills and contend she uses her sexuality to attract a male audience. Some have called into question whether or not she’s an appropriate role model for the thousands of young ladies who seek her autograph at outdoor shows.

Because my opinion on this subject was sought in recent magazine and radio interviews, I decided it was time to quit talking about Tiffany and talk with her instead.

Who’s that girl?
Like many women, Tiffany did not grow up in a family that hunted. Her entry point into hunting was meeting Lee a decade ago when he worked in an archery shop in Minnesota. He invited Tiffany to shoot, and she said she took to 3-D archery shooting right off the bat. With some help from local pros, Tiffany improved her shooting form and soon was competing in tournaments.

She had been shooting her bow for a couple of years when Lee invited her to try hunting. The first time she hit the woods with a bow, Tiffany arrowed a nice buck. After that, there was no shaking the hunting bug.

As Tiffany honed her hunting skills, Lee began pursuing a longtime interest in outdoor writing and filming. He bought a good video camera and with some pointers from friend Michael Waddell, Lee and Tiffany began filming their hunts.

While neither knew it at the time, that first video camera would become a catalyst for change in both of their lives. It would transform Tiffany from being an airline attendant and Lee from being a chemical engineer to some of today’s hottest outdoor celebrities. Their first year of serious filming took them to Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas, with hunts ending up on Realtree’s Monster Bucks DVD, thanks to a gig as local Realtree pro staffers, and later on Kisky’s Whitetail Extreme series.

Shortly after the pair married, Lee decided to quit his job so he could pursue his dream. The couple packed up and moved from Minnesota to the land they had bought in Iowa. It was a good call because not long after that they received their big breakthrough, an invitation from Scent-Lok to host a TV show.

Tiffany said neither she nor Lee ever expected their careers to include hunting across the country for TV shows that would become the narrative of their young married life. When not filming, Lee and Tiffany shake hands, sign autographs and conduct seminars during their 50 plus appearances a year. Add that to running a production company and managing 5,000 acres in Iowa and a thousand in Kansas, you can see Lee and Tiffany are living life in the fast lane, albeit mostly on dirt roads.

Even though they are constantly on the go, Tiffany said she feels lucky they can do it together. While a lot of reality show relationships hit the skids, (think Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson and Jon & Kate), sharing a love of the outdoors is something Tiffany believes strengthens their relationship.

Her side of the story
While most people recognize stereotypes as oversimplified judgments, they are sometimes relied on as dodgy shortcuts to understanding someone, which frustrates Tiffany.

On TV and at seminars, her life may look like a fairy tale. However, those close to Tiffany know she is beset by the same troubles others face – a mother who battled breast cancer. Her father’s death. And the myriad of other challenges life throws at us.

Tiffany said the people she associates with like and respect her. But she doesn’t understand why a stranger would decide she can’t be a good hunter because she wears makeup, has long hair or does her nails. Nor does she get why someone would declare she’s unfit to serve as a role model for young women.

“Though I didn’t set out to be perceived as a role model, I’m a good one. I’m a happily married woman who spends time with her husband doing what we both love. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and I had a good upbringing.”

Tiffany said she has proven that through hard work and dedication, you can be a successful hunter.

Tiffany dismissed the notion she is a talentless diva akin to Paris Hilton as ridiculous. She said she frequently practices with her bow and can out shoot the guys. She knows how to drive a tractor and field dress a deer, even though that is normally a task that she and Lee tackle together.

Tiffany said she’s not trying to sell herself as an expert, even though she is proud of her hunting skills. What she is striving for is to send a message that hunting is a lot of fun, and she hopes other women will give it a try. Judging by the shift in who is lining up for her autograph these days, she may well be able to make a difference. Not only have the lines to meet Tiffany grown in recent years, their makeup has changed from mostly men to many women now, both young and mature.

To reach that audience, Tiffany is now working on a “Crush Girl” web site aimed at women and girls. She is also launching a line of jewelry, apparel and accessories (including bow slings) that play off of her love of deer hunting called “Peace, Love and Venison.”

Final thoughts
I view criticism as a form of feedback designed to make everyone in the hunting industry the best possible representative of something we all love. But it also can serve as a “keep out” sign. With license sales for men on the downslide since the mid ‘80s and flat for women since the early ‘90s, the last thing the hunting community needs is to be exclusive. The higher visibility of women such as Tiffany may throw out the welcome mat to potential women hunters who wouldn’t dream of going without highlights or a pedicure. It’s possible they may feel more comfortable about doing something as unconventional as hunting if they see others in that role who look and act like they do.

Plus, the state wildlife agencies, which are desperately trying to stretch their budgets to manage our wildlife resources, don’t care if they are selling a hunting license to a woman who may only help field dress her turkey or deer. They do care about making sure all hunters follow the regulations and show respect for wildlife as well as for other hunters, landowners and the property they hunt.

So maybe our time is better spent exploring the best way to invite others into our community and teaching them to be safe and responsible hunters. And yes, to have fun. After all, couldn’t we all use a little more peace, love and venison?