By Rita Cook, Huntress View ProStaff
I have only been hunting a few short years, so I am always looking for new and
exciting groups or events to participate in. It is a great way to meet fellow huntresses,
gain knowledge, share experiences, and its just plain fun!! One of the groups that I have
been lucky enough to participate in is the Central VA Chapter of the National Wildlife
Turkey Federation (NWTF) –Women in the Outdoors (WITO) group. They hosted an
event last August where they showed ladies how to shoot a crossbow, skeet shoot, and fly
fish. It was a wonderful time! I had never shot a crossbow or fly fished, so I definitely
learned something, but more than that I made some great friends.
On April 25th, 2015 the Central VA Chapter of the NWTF hosted the first ever
WITO Spring Turkey Hunt. Entries were collected and six women were picked to
participate; I was one of the lucky winners! We had a “meet and greet” on Friday where
we enjoyed a catered dinner and we got to meet our guides and the fellow huntresses. We
patterned our guns and had a good time talking about our experiences. Most of the
women had never been on a turkey hunt before and the excitement was electrifying. After
dinner we were dispersed from that location to accommodations that were closer to our
hunting destinations. I stayed with my guide and two other huntresses. We had a blast
getting to know each other and talking about our upcoming hunts.
We were up bright and early Saturday morning and we each went on our guided
hunt with an experienced hunter or huntress. My guide was Emily Beasley and she
delivered an amazing hunt! I didn’t bag a turkey but I heard plenty of gobbling and I was
able to see so many turkeys. We had a hen fly across the river to come talk to us, and a
gobbler strutting in a field at 60 yards. Emily gave me pointers and advice throughout
the hunt.
After the hunts, we all met back at the original location for another great meal and
awesome conversations. We all shared our exciting stories, with noises and animations of
course. None of us were able to get a turkey, but we were anything but disappointed. We
were each given an engraved box call and a copy of “Beginning Turkey Hunting”. We all
shared something really special that day and we have memories that will last a lifetime. I
learned a lot about hunting and a lot about myself.
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