According to some outdoors’ enthusiasts, everybody gets stuck now and then. We’re talking almost down to the axles in a sinkhole marshy part of a field near where Babbs and husband needed to drop off a tree stand. Yes, it’s another tree stand tale and test of marriage in this week’s Babbs in the Woods.

Does it mean you’re secure in your masculinity to wear pink when you’re a guy? Or, are you just jumping on the pink gravy train to Easy Depot? Or, does it mean you’re a holdover from the ’80s and still perm your hair? What does it mean? Read Babbs’ column about men in pink.

When Babbs’ pal speed-dialed her three times while climbing into a tree stand last week, it caused Babbs to remember the importance of mothers taking their kids outdoors. Follow the connection at this installment of Babbs in the Woods. If you can …

Marriages get tested continuously. Just when you think you’ve got it all down pat, a manual accompanies a new double barrel tree stand and throws a real wrench into the marriage works. Read the story of Babbs and hubby’s trials in the briar patch with their new purchase for deer hunting.

Babbs in the Woods: It’s just what she needed … a boost that came from losing something important to her and getting it back again from a perfect stranger and a random act of kindness at the Lowe’s parking lot this past weekend.

She lay on the couch in her living room, scarf around her head, eyes sunken, looking gray as a cloudy day. “As soon as I get well, we’re going fishing again,” said my friend Nancy. She’d had chemo treatment # 8 or #9 the day before this one. We were both thinking about fishing, though […]

Another road trip under her shooting belt, Babbs and Associate Editor Paige Eissinger just returned from a memorable 5 days in Iowa that included Babes with Bullets Camp, a pheasant hunt and a trip to the Amana Colonies.

It’s the time of year when hunters get into their vehicles and take to the highways and back roads of America. Keep your eyes open for interesting yard ornaments as you travel to your next hunting destination and your life will be way more interesting, so writes Babbs in the Woods.

Babbs never thought she’d grow up and be a freelance butcher, but that’s what happened after she received a meat grinder one Christmas and then went out and brought home two big fat does.

The SHOT Team — Suburban Housewives on Target — visits a local range in this installment of Babbs in the Woods. And, the gals issue a challenge to those other “housewives” to come and meet them afield or at a range somewhere. Now, that would be a reality show worth watching!

It takes years to compile a list of tips like this one from Babbs on how best to enjoy a river float trip.

It’s a Babbsmart, an online place where you can not only buy underwear, but figure out what type of gun to take on your next hunting trip, or how to outfit yourself for a Canadian fishing trip. Carhartt jackets, Doeville lacy tees, Muck boots, shotguns that fit women, lavender fishing rods and pink AK-47s … it’s all here in the archives and columns of The WON.

It’s kind of like the Super Bowl of fishing for women … the upcoming 2009 Academy Sports + Women’s Bassmaster Tour at Old Hickory Lake on Sept. 10-12, and that makes Babbs think about bass fishing, about throwing her rod and reel into a lake and about an amazing comeback from one of bass fishing’s most respected and revered anglers, Sharon Rushton.

Lots of folks will head to the woods and/or the water this holiday weekend. Read why Babbs is not going anywhere near a body of water, even if the fishing rocks.

One of the first vegetables I learned to process in the canner was pickled okra. “Hey, bring in the ladder from the garden,” said my husband to baby boy. “Why did he need the ladder?” I asked. “To pick the okra,” he answered. Granted, that was a few years ago and said boy is now […]

Who’d a thought that Babbs would take to a pink I.O. Inc. AK-47 like a moth to a flame — a very hot, pink version — the first one off the production line? Read her analysis of this gun and a comparison to her husband’s macho FN FAL. And check it out, because the colonel shot the pink AK too.

We don’t have to be equal in all publications. Babbs took a little heat for her approval of the new Turkey Country magazine’s combining women’s news with its other specialty publications. She elaborates on why sometimes it’s all right to be separate and not equal, and sometimes, it’s just better to be equal.

She’s a believer, that the move by the National Wild Turkey Federation to include women, men, children and disabled news together under one cover is a good one.

When Babbs saw the news about a married couple in Arkansas drawing elk tags in consecutive years, it made her think about the last time she visited Arkansas and crawled close to an elk during a turkey hunt.

Sometimes things in adult life remind us of what is was like to be a teenager … and in this case, Babbs turned on the radio and heard her senator, in his own words, boldly proclaim his loyalty to some unwritten rule somewhere in the hallowed halls of the Senate, and in the process, betrayed his constituents — who thought he stood for a lot more than this … and it reminded Babbs of a boy she imagined she liked.

There’s still time to make memories with your kids before they head back to school. The best place for this job is the outdoors, of course. Read about Babbs and a trip she made with the baby of the family to a local trout park, followed by a discovery in a cemetery and a burger at the local diner.

Consider this a men’s “Women in the Outdoors” correspondence course, courtesy of Babbs. So, you would like to learn how to teach a female to shoot? Here are some tips on how to win her heart at the shooting range and ensure a future trip with her to the nearest gun store.

“Mom, Dad … I’m all right,” said our son Alec. When a parent hears those words, you wait for the next sentence with trepidation. He launched into the second sentence that went like this: “But, I’m calling so that you don’t worry when you hear the news.”

Skunk defensive secretion is composed of seven major volatile components. These can be divided into two major groups of compounds, thiols and acetate derivatives of these thiols. Two of the thiols are responsible for the strongly repellent odor of the secretion, (E)-2-butene-1-thiol and 3-methyl-1-butanethiol. Had enough of a chemistry equation for the day? Read about Babbs and skunks and why “Oh-dee-skunk” parfume permeates about two miles of what was once fresh air around your nose.

It’s a sign of the times. A bill that allows Americans to have concealed carry in national parks and refuges slipped through Congress earlier this year as an amendment to the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. National parks average one ranger per 100,000 visitors, so expecting rangers to protect visitors is asking the impossible. And, from […]

My husband and I attended the “Church of the Living Waters,” aka fishing in our favorite stream, this weekend. We attended not only the morning service, but stayed through the afternoon too. All in all, he caught two rock bass and I caught one too-smallmouth bass and a rock. Yep, I caught a rock and […]