Babbs in the Woods: Team Huntress weekend … way too much of not enough
June 15, 2009 by Barbara Baird
We drove 1500 miles. We supervised shooters while hundreds of rounds of ammo shot through gun barrels. We met at least 20 new friends. We saw three “oh-my-gosh” sunsets and I, with bare hands, shot two .50 cal cartridges through an awesome Desert Eagle pistol onto the center of a paper plate target.
We spent the weekend at the first Team Huntress event at Pheasant Phun Lodge in Hitchcock, SD. I know, I know … I said I’d blog about it while there …but by 1 a.m. each morning, my blogging capabilities ran thin. Then, we’d be up again at 6:30 for yoga on the farmhouse front porch. These women wanted to shoot, to learn about hunting, to learn about blogging, tweeting, first aid in the field, taxidermy tips, how to layer gear and use a GPS and drive an ATV and most of all, they desired to experience the camaraderie of the outdoors with others who can’t get enough of being outdoors. I wanted to get to know them and also to spend time with the other instructors who brought so much knowledge and good will to the event.
So I will deconstruct and then, reconstruct the experiences – the mom and her daughter, the friends who came together to support each other, the scholarship winner whose dad taught the boys to shoot and hunt and left her in the cold (and in South Dakota, that can happen rather easily!) and other stories.
Oh, and Holly Heyser, aka NorCal Cazadora, talked about having incredible moments in the outdoors when the brain takes a snapshot and then she told about the time she saw snow geese in the sky with golden light reflecting off their backs, and dang, Holly, on the way home from Pheasant Phun, on a country road near Hitchcock, we saw a flock (er, did you say “herd?”) in flight and I saw what you meant.
~Barbara Baird
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Barbara,
Thank-you for the honor of your friendship, your time, your expertise and your passion for the outdoors women! So glad your finger got to pull the trigger of a .50 Cal. Desert Eagle…. I have great pictures of that moment! Until our paths cross again, may your days be filled with adventure!
Jane
If it doesn’t sound enough like too much fun, then the photos confirm it!
Awesome – and thanks for the link!
I can’t wait to blog about this too. I just need to wake up – got home from the “Pig Hunt” movie showing at 1:30 a.m. – about 23 1/2 hours after I got up in South Dakota yesterday. Tiiiiiiiiiiiired….
Perfect title way to much of not enough! It is so hard to tell people what it was really like. Kinda like trying to describe a banana! lol
The weekend was extraordinary.. great time all around.. I was amazed at with all you ladies and your prowess as hunters, shooters and outdoor enthusiasts.. and you and Jason are my new heroes when it comes to firearms safety, use and good old fashioned fun.. thanks for your knowledge and friendship.. Hawk
It was truly fabulous finding new lifelong friends! You were all wonderful!
OK, Now I will tell on myself before ProisBarbie does it…. I got us lost… like 80 miles lost in Nebraska! NEBRASKA!!!
YES I should have listened better in the GPS class!
If we had been in the dark we might have gotten to Iowa! NEVER let me navigate in my sleep! It was really unfunny for a minute and then hilarious the rest of the time… mostly…..
I am So honored to have had such a wonderful group of spirits together under my roof. It is just unbelievably awesome to have an event go so well with everyone involved being so kind to each other, I am just so proud of Jane and the Whole Team.
New Friends, oh my gosh, it is almost impossible to even being telling everyone how much phun it was for me to be your host
To all of the women of Team Huntress: Your skill and knowledge in outdoor pursuits are inspiring, and you all share it with the CLASS that can only come from true ladies.
New Ladies of the Wild Outdoors: My hat is off to you all.
Can I say I am a little tired without getting picked on to much? Well I will be honest and say as the bunkhouse emptied out, and the last of my new friends went back to their own homes I found myself wore out, and as I crawled into my bed for a good rest I had to smile just a bit as it was one of the most rewarding tireds i have felt in a long time.
It is so hard for me to pick one point that was the best, but I have to say the best for me had to be all the smiles. Thank you all so very much.
Lost in Nebraska? How in the wide world of Prois Hunting Apparel can that happen? Were the other Barbies asleep?
Aw shucks, Hawk, it ain’t nothin’! Thanks for bringing your lovely lady, Miss Stacey, along to keep us calmed down somewhat. You got a keeper there.
Well Gina was driving and expecting me and proisbarbie to navigate and we fell asleep. SO when I woke up from my grand drooling session I looked around and though it all looked familiar…it all looked the same actually… I thought we should zig when we shoulda zagged…. Then prois Barbie figured it out when we saw the huge diner cowboy sign and we all did the little screaming freakout dance. Ugh
ProisBarbie! LMAO
I am glad to hear you all had a great and wonderful time; Even though you made the best out of the worst thing that had happened. I am glad everyone was safe and now you can laugh about it. Relax!!! It’s all Good!!
OK…AnneV…let’s just mention that this all occurred AFTER I got locked in your car with a bleating car alarm that wouldn’t disengage despite my manic flailing from the backseat…you did it on purpose, didn’t you?
THEN…just to set the record straight…PROISBARBIE fell asleep leaving the navigation to a certain ANNEV who shall remain nameless…ooops, looks like the cat is out of the bag! Alas, I knew something was wrong when I awoke and a nameless ANNEV (oops, there it was again!) thought the Nebraska State Highway #7 sign was actually telling her that Nebraska was 7 miles away…uh…we’d been in Nebraska for 1 1/2 hours already. Needless to say, we took an extended tour of Nebraska (to the tune of 80 additional miles) in which we saw approximately 80 miles of grass fields, came up with new swear words not yet known to the English language and pondered the reason ANNEV’s thumbs were sore…certainly NOT from holding the atlas.
LOVE YOU!
Oh, and by the way…Anne was wishing she had paid just a bit more attention to the GPS instruction at Team Huntress…not that it would have mattered…were heading straight for Iowa coming hell or highwater!
Funny thing- the moment a car load of tired girls realize they are 80 miles off the beaten path is indescribable. It was a bit of a series of sounds and emotions…
1- “We’re in Ainsworth? Are you sure?”….uh…yeah…we’re sure.
2- “explitive”
3- We all take turns looking at the map in silence, hoping there is actually a second Ainsworth and that we were just initially mistaken and all was well.
4. Dead silence.
5. “Explitive”
6. Soon there is a caucophony of parallel conversations in which each lady is mentioning the words Nebraska, Aisworth, fell asleep, map, atlas, murder.
We survived with our psyches and friendships intact…but like I mentioned…we did create a whole lot of new words…
Explitives,dead silence, roaring laughter. Our excursion into the wilds of Nebraska and the 3 farm houses we passed (not to mention the busy cows….) and honked at on our way left my sides aching and my face wet with tears. Can’t wait to be lost (or found again) with the nameless AnneV and Prois Barbie. It was a blast! (Are we in Nebraska yet?)
As far as the weekend with Team Huntress, sure loved finding you all and fueling my desire to be outdoors doing all the things I love best. I have brought my 20 guage out of retirement and am ready to get out there and do some more shootin’. Thanks for making me feel like I had found my long lost friends. Hope we can all get together soon! LOL, FF, Gina
I never would have thought (never in a million years!) that I could be so instantly addicted to the world of hunting and shooting sports! The Monday after Team Huntress Weekend, Dave and Jane helped me pick out a shotgun; a Winchester Super X2 Semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun, to be precise. I’m hooked! That weekend sent me home with new friends, new knowledge, and new daydreams of seeing trap bits flutter back down to the open prairie– after being blown to bits by that new shotgun I mentioned. Thanks all for a great time!!
Oh, and I never realized all that gun recoil can do to add definition and tone to one’s deltoids!