Scroll down to see previous events

BOW March 2006

Combining coaching with gourmet lunches in a rural environment alongside other women has become a successful model for Fish & Game’s Becoming an Outdoor Woman (BOW) courses teaching clay target shooting and trout fly-fishing.

The women who participate invariably have a wonderful time while getting a great introduction to what are usually completely new sports.

On the first day they are introduced to firearms safety, an initiation that begins with etiquette on how to carry guns followed by a ritual shot into the ground, dirt spraying skywards and its sharp retort enough to convince that guns are truly dangerous things if not handled with care. Most have never handled a gun before and so are understandably a little nervous, however with thorough coaching from ex-Olympic shooter Brian Thompson, trepidations soon disappear.

Breaking into small groups of five for coaching, the first woman up to the mark is shown how to stand: one foot in front of the other with her weight 60% forwards and 40% backwards; body at a 45 degree angle in a straight line leaning slightly towards the front, gun brought up to rest butt-end in the hollow between her shoulder blade and collar bone; one hand firmly on the trigger end and the other holding the grip.

All the coaches emphasize the importance of getting one’s stance right, the point being to give a free, smooth motion when your gun tracks its fast-moving target across the sky.

The moment’s hesitation between the cry “pull!” and the clay target emerging as a distant orange gleam to the left goes by all too quickly as all bring their guns up to try and shoot one foot ahead of the target.

When each woman’s turn comes to shoot, the moment between seeing the target and keeping slightly ahead of it before pulling the trigger is nearly always too difficult to judge at first shot.

“Keep an easy foot ahead,” say the coaches time and time again as they bring out shotguns to shoulder determined to track just ahead of the clay target and see it shatter with a satisfactory crisp crack to the ground. The hardest parts being both the tracking motion and simply judging when to shoot.

And unfortunately, as most of the women soon discover, hitting one or even two in a row doesn’t mean you can keep this up consistently. Even the best of the shots manage to miss quite a few, but under the coaches’ careful teaching and absolute belief that they could become crack shots given time, all end this session feeling quite elated.

“There’s nothing too complex about shooting clay targets, it’s not rocket science,” they’re told, even though “And you were almost there, you nearly got it,” has began to sound like a mantra.

And although not all have hit a target, they’ve got the technique right and that’s what the coaches wanted them to learn.

It’s hot out on the firing range and the intensely focused activity that clay target shooting demands makes lunch a very welcome break to this part of the course.

Delicious lunches accompanied by Rongopai Vineyards Chardonnay and Merlot are a feature of the BOW course, but they are enjoyed just as much for their chance to socialise.

The shared experience of learning a new skill away from any competition from their opposite gender seems to be a great deal of the enjoyment the women gain from the course. Many are heard commenting on just this, but more particularly on the value of doing something just for them.

“ We’re so busy running between our jobs, friends and family, that it’s fantastic to do something just for us,” says one woman.

Keith Thompson, the Waikato’s famed local ‘bogman’ turns up to share lunch and discuss the field trip he will be taking them on. They will be visiting Peter Buckley – local dairy farmer on the fringes of the world heritage listed Whangamarino Wetland – as well as getting a rare opportunity to walk into a pristine area of peat bog within the Whangamarino.

Elected president of the Waikato Federated Farmers last year Buckley is a successful dairy farmer and a committed conservationist who has put in extensive habitat for wildlife – a large pond and boardwalk to it through the fringes of the Whangamarino.

“It’s essential that we learn to work with Fish & Game, DoC and other organisations to get the outcome required,” Buckley tells the BOW women. “We all want to see a clean, green New Zealand but we have to be able to make the money to look after our environment.”

The second day of the BOW course is in the Karangahake Gorge on a private farm, which has the beautifully clear Waitewhata River with limpid trout pools running through it.

The weather forecast predicts a band of showers passing by, however it’s a fairly determined rain that’s falling as Sally and Brigid Spiers, mother and daughter coaches from Valley Fishing in Rotorua, start showing everyone how to set up their lines.

Despite a persistent drizzle the women continue with their casting tuition as they won’t get to flick their flies over the water until they have learnt to tie a leader – a fine nylon line tapering at the end, which forms a near invisible link between the line and the chosen fly to be attached to it later.

Not to mention learning to cast, something none of them appear to have done before. They practise on the farm’s wet paddocks, learning about forearm action – think of a hammer hand – and keeping a perfect 10am to 1pm arc. What they’re trying to do is get the line arcing sinuously in a parallel motion above the ground until they have mastered getting enough out to let it gently swoop down to the water’s surface where it will float downstream and tickle a trout’s fancy.

Sally tells them that trout make the minimum effort to get the greatest feed. Which is why you’ll often see them holed up behind a large rock, the pressure wave created letting them float in even a fast moving rapid where all they have to do is open and shut their mouths to catch whatever is swimming by. So the trick is to learn to tempt them into doing just that with a well-presented fly.

After several hours of this with the rain still persisting a retreat is beaten to the Fish & Game tent for a hot drink with chocolate biscuits. And a strategic decision made to set up for the fly tying practice session under shelter before lunch with more fly angling practice by the time the weather clears.

All goes to plan and soon there are 20 women intently focused on the arcane art of creating a ‘woolly bugger’, just one of the myriad flies a keen angler will learn to tie. There are four women to every coach so there’s plenty of instruction, and soon all have tied one reasonably successful fly.

Finally the sun has broken through, lighting up the ranges and providing much appreciated warmth, perfectly timed for the arrival of the chef who comes bearing a delicious medley of trout dishes: gravallaxed (cold smoked), pan-fried and cooked over a barbeque with some gorgeous accompaniments – cold avocado mousse and a salsa of mango and bright pink figs.

Before that though the women get to learn how to expertly bone out a fresh trout from Sally, who then shows how to smoke it in 20 minutes, which becomes their entrée on crackers with a chilled glass of Rongopai chardonnay.

Wonderful…relaxing in a deck chair with a delicious morsel, delightful glass of wine and the appetising aroma of yet more treats being prepared.

After a great lunch it’s time to pick up the rods once again and head for the water.

“It’s such a different experience actually letting the line out over the water,” one after another of the women comment. Franziska and David, coaches from the Auckland Anglers Club, nod their heads in silent agreement, as it's this that has them out fishing, often till midnight.

No one actually gets to hook a trout, but by now everyone on the BOW course has come to appreciate Thoreau’s words: "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains."

BOW March 2004

Keeping to the successful outline of the first BOW course we ran last year in November, this year’s in March included only a few key changes.

We began again with introducing the women to firearms with a brief firearms safety talk from Sportways coach Bill McLeod then moved straight onto small group practice at clay target shooting.

But this time we made sure we had three traps working with our three coaches putting the women through the process of how to use a firearm efficiently before they got to actually fire at a clay target.

Having this many traps working meant they never had to wait long for a turn, and kept them on the ball in terms of learning from watching the others take their turn at the range.

And like last year, where some women got the hang of hitting a moving target quicker than others, they were all nevertheless good-natured about it if they missed.

After the delicious lunch, which is becoming a welcome signature element of our BOW courses, we departed for Keith Thompson’s excellent field trip of the Whangamarino wetland complex.

The Whangamarino is a Ramsar listed (world heritage) wetland, one of only five throughout New Zealand, and as a wetland ecologist Keith is uniquely knowledgeable and passionate about its ecological values.

The field trip concentrates on demonstrating the complexity of looking after such a wetland, one that has a number of competing interests, such as farmers whose land borders it as well as DOC and Fish & Game who want to see it protected for its wildlife habitat.

Most participants really enjoy this aspect of the BOW course, aided in no small part by Keith’s unique teaching methods - he actually eats a mouthful of Whangamarino peat bog to demonstrate its sterility!

The next day Sally & Brigid Spiers, our trout fly fishing coaches, were assisted by three wonderful anglers from the Auckland Anglers Club. Christine, Franziska and Belinda were a fantastic boon, allowing us to give the women heaps of coaching, and again ensuring that no got bored by waiting for a turn.

Paul Matos, our chef cum keen game bird hunter, came fully prepared with a host of goodies to demonstrate how one could prepare a simple but delightful cold fish salad, even whilst standing at a trestle table out in the open. While Prior to this Sally and Brigid demonstrated how to smoke a trout and serve it up as an entrée in hardly more time than it takes to make a cup of tea!

Straight after this we had an outdoor clothing demonstration from Jillian Brooks of Sportsways before spending the rest of the Sunday fly tying. It’s quite a sight to see 30 or so women all clustered around tables set up with vices and fly tying gear – in the middle of a paddock – enthusiastically learning to tie flies.

As before both the coaches and staff involved in the course spent their time making the weekend both fun and relaxing while giving participants an opportunity to learn new skills together.

So thanks to all our wonderful coaches and sponsors. Particular thanks to Rongopai Vineyards who again gave us some great chardonnays and pinot noirs to accompany our lunches.

After running two very successful BOW courses, we are now convinced that there are a lot of women out there who do want to practise these sports or at least find out more about them. They just need to be encouraged to take the first initial steps: doing a BOW course then either joining a club or joining in with others also practising new skills.

"Becoming an Outdoor Woman" - first BOW course in NZ held November 2003

Outdoors enthusiasm is not lacking in urban or semi-urban women if our first BOW course near Auckland in November last year is anything to go by.

We used stories in local newspapers to publicise the course and got such a response that we cancelled the Herald advertisements we had booked for it, with far more women interested than we could take into the first course.

The first day was spent introducing the women to firearms, most of who had never picked up a gun before. A brief but pertinent firearms safety talk from Sportways coach Bill McLeod got them all aware of the importance of thorough safety training before they broke into small groups for clay target shooting practice.

From then on it was intense for our three coaches, assisted by champion shooter Barbara Rae, who had to focus completely on getting all the basics imparted as efficiently as possible.

Although some women got the hang of hitting a moving target quicker than others, all were good-natured about it if they missed.

The shared experience of learning a new skill away from any collaboration or competition from their opposite gender seemed to be a great deal of the enjoyment the women gained from the course.

Confirming one of the key points discovered about the BOW course when it was initiated in Wisconsin, USA, which was that women learnt much faster and found it a lot more fun to learn with each other in this sort of environment.

Many of the women were heard commenting on just this, and particularly on the value of doing something just for them.

So both the coaches and staff involved in the course concentrated on ensuring that the weekend was both fun and relaxing while giving them an opportunity to learn new skills together.

And we enjoyed it too: from cooking seventy or so crumbed duck filets for lunch, getting the smoker set up for our trout cooking demonstration, assisting with fly tying demonstrations through to making sure the Rongopai Wines donated chardonnays and pinot merlots were served at just the right temperature.

Not forgotten moments have to include seeing one woman practicing fly casting with her baby resting in a baby-pack on her stomach; Keith Thompson, our wetland specialist, demonstrate the purity of Whangamarino peat bog by eating a mouthful of it; Paul Matos, our chef on Sunday, demonstrate how to gravalax trout out in an open paddock with an array of delicacies - pomegranate seeds, Greek yoghurt, feta cheeses, blueberries; and John demonstrating how to prepare a duck with a plastic decoy!