The Washington Outdoor Women Program
By Ronnie McGlenn
Washington Outdoor Women (WOW) is an exciting success story. There is no other program designed for women in Washington dedicated to teaching outdoor skills that includes big game hunting, fishing and shooting sports instruction. A corp of volunteer coordinators have been able to organize a one day shell fish workshop on Hood Canal, a one day shotgun/clay targets workshop, three 2 ˝ day (weekend) workshops across the state. On September 15-17, 2000 volunteer coordinators are gearing up for 110 participants at a 2 ˝ day workshop at Camp Waskowitz near North Bend.
The September WOW program will offer 18 outdoor skills: archery, backpacking and camping, fishing, birding, canoeing, fly tying, fly fishing, big game hunting/wildlife conservation, Dutch oven cooking, a Challenge-by-Choice course, outdoor photography I and II, packing with horses, personal preparedness, shotgun/clay target shooting, survival skills/map and compass reading, wildlife identification, and wild edibles and wilderness medicine.
During the weekend workshops the participants choose 3 four-hour hands-on courses and everyone takes a personal preparedness course that deals with accessing the outdoors, and introduces self-defense assessment and decision making when encountering cougar and bear.
The one-day work shops run 6-8 hours with focused instruction on a specific skill. WOW’s Shotgun/Clay Target Shooting workshop is kept to a minimum of 10 participants due to our policy of one-on-one certified instruction. Throughout the workshops, outdoor ethics is a frequently mentioned topic. Also, demonstrations are interspersed between course presentations that both entertain and educate. There is a Wild Game Tasting session for everyone. This provides opportunity for a discussion about the “big picture and whole story” of hunting.
WOW is an organization dedicated to teaching women a variety of outdoor skills; helping them to achieve confidence and competence in these activities through a series of hands-on workshops taught in a supporting, informative, and relevant setting. This mission statement emphasizes hands-on learning and to teach values equal to skills.
The participation fee for a 2 ˝ day workshop is $175. The fee covers lodging, food, logistics and off site transportation for the participants. Because the staff are all volunteers, workshop funds go right back into the program. WOW is a 501 (c ) (3) non profit organization. Scholarship funding will hopefully be provided again this year through a grant from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Scholarship preference is given to low income applicants, single mothers, and full-time students ($125 scholarship plus $50 personal contribution). We try for at least 10% scholarship attendance.
Visit our web site at www.ool.com/wow or call for more detailed information.
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