Come to Cabela's Grand Opening in Huntsville, AL October 2-7, 2015 to take advantage of this great offer!! Come Shoot A Pistol, Rifle & Bow with us in our trailer October 3-4 11:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Friday, September 4, 2015
Shoot Like A Girl Takes a Shot at Knocking Out Breast Cancer
Shoot Like AGirl released the results of the Annual “I Shoot For The Girls” Archery
Tournament today and the addition of a sanctioned National Breast CancerFoundation (NBCF) Firearms Tournament that runs September 1st to February
28th, 2016! President and founder, Karen
Butler stated that, “We raised $8,317.00 this past year, and have set a new
goal of raising $20,000 by adding a Firearms Tournament to our already successful
Archery Tournament!” Partnered with TRUGLO,
the “I Shoot Like a Girls” Firearms Target provides shooters
the opportunity to compete on a national level in a fun mail-in tournament. “It is a great honor and privilege to be
able to participate with SLG2 in an event that raises money for a cause that
has touched the lives of so many people. Everyone knows someone that has
experienced breast cancer either directly or indirectly,” stated Lorraine
Hellinghausen, V.P. of Marketing for TRUGLO, Inc.
To date, Shoot Like A Girl has raised over $40,000 for
the NBCF since they started the archery tournamant in 2010. “Cost for the
tournament are kept low due to our great parnters, with 100 percent of the
profit donated to NBCF for early detection screenings and research to end this
horrible disease.” stated Karen Butler. Mike
Arnold of McCarthy Printing, who donated the TRUGLO Targets stated, “We are
honored to be part of such a wonderful event.”
Both the Firearms and the Archery tournaments have
divisions for Men, Women, Young Adult (ages 15-17) and Youth (ages 12-14) and
Cubs (12 and under). The “I Shoot For The Girls” Fireams Tournament may be shot
with a pistol or rifle. The “I Shoot For the Girls” Archery Tournament may be
shot with a compound, recurve or traditional bow. National winners for both
tournaments will receive a prize pack from SLG2.
To host a tournament is simple! There is no upfront cost
to Firearms Ranges with certified Range Safey Officers and Archery Ranges who
donate free range time for the tournament. Clubs, Ranges and Leagues who host an
“I Shoot For The Girls” Tournament will receive a certificate of appreciation
and certificates of acheivement for their top 3 in each division, they may
request targets and host an event with no upfront costs, which makes this a
win-win! The cost to shoot is $20 per shooter, with all profit going to the
NBCF. Specially designed targets will be mailed to the ranges upon receipt of
their sign up sheet. Specific details and rules of the tournament are available
upon request to iShootForTheGirls@shootlikeagirl.com.
Shoot Like AGirl (SLG², Inc) introduces women to shooting sports with the help of their valued
corporate partners who share the mission to grow the number of women in
shooting sports, by empowering them with confidence: Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation, 3M Peltor, Hunter Safety System, Bear Archery, Beretta, BowTech,
Cabela’s, Charter Arms, Colt, Danner, Easton/Beman, Federal Premium
Ammunition, Game Plan Gear, GLOCK, Inc, Hogue, Hoyt, Leupold, Lumenok, Neet
Archery Products, Mathews Inc, Mossy Oak, Nikon, Rock River Arms, Ruger, ScentBlocker,
Smith and Wesson, S&S Outdoors, Taurus, ThermaCell, Trijicon,
TRUGLO, PSE, Women’s Outdoor News, Upper Canyon Outfitters, and ASA!
Elk – 4, Butler – 0 … Or Is It
By Karen Butler
Last year, I went on my 4th elk hunt. I was hopeful this would be the year that I
filled my freezer with tasty elk meat, provided by my hard work and experience
of a lifetime … however, once again, it didn’t work out as planned. I came home
without any elk meat. So, my score so
far: Elk – 4, Butler – 0.
Or, is it?
I am a big proponent of the experience of the hunt, but this
year before I departed I was more concerned with the outcome. Success, this hunt,
would be an elk, and the experience would only be “worth it” if I achieved that
goal. This feeling I had as I prepared
and began my hunt was contrary to everything that I talk to people, particularly
women, about. I will tell ladies that
although cliché, the experience of hunting is cathartic, and the peace and
strength you find in yourself while hunting is as rewarding as the
harvest. I know, my newly found attitude
this year was quite hypocritical, but in being honest, it is exactly how I felt
going into day one of the hunt.
On day 1 of a 5-day hunt, after climbing to nearly 7,000
feet on extremely steep grade, seeing deer and elk without them seeing me, it
occurred to me, I wanted an elk, but the experience was pretty awesome. I struggled
in an internal battle with myself to stay focused on the outcome, while my
definition of success was being tested.
Webster’s defines success as the “correct or desired result of an
attempt.” However, what exactly was I
attempting? “To get an elk with my bow,
yes, that is what success was,” is what I kept telling myself. However, the more accomplished I felt, the
more I started thinking about the … well, you know … “experience”.
The experience won, and although I still wanted an elk, it
was not my definition of success. Success
would be measured in the experience of the attempt. I learned this trip, hunting is the attempt, and success for me was measured in seeing
animals, and they not see us; in climbing and hiking to breath taking views; in
the experience of opportunity; in the quiet time for self-reflection; in
friendships; and in the ability to give Glory to God for all that He provides.
My “Super Guide,” Miranda Browne, from Upper Canyon
Outfitter’s, will tell you, “To get an elk, you have to go where they
are.” In Montana, in the Ruby Valley,
that means you are hiking – up steep, rugged and rocky terrain high into the
mountains. Day 1 out of the gate, I did
that. As a result of my hard work, every
day I was treated to views! I took video
and pictures of the scenery, each day we climbed a bit higher, and a bit farther. Totaling the entire week’s hikes, we hiked
about 8,000 feet (1,500 to 2,000 feet a day), and hiked a total of about 45
miles on a maximum grade of 37 degrees (according to my range finder).
This hunt had one of those amazing days of opportunity, a
day you read about in magazines, a day that creates that addiction to continue
to hunt, no matter how extreme the conditions and regardless of a harvest. Miranda and I set out on an easy hike, as we
were walking in, we smelled it, “Elk!”
She gave me the motion, and we quickly set up. Now this was only a ½ hour into our day, she
cow called and the bull started bugling.
I quickly nocked an arrow, and was ready. We saw the bull moving around, but he didn’t
look like a shooter. We waited for a
while, and then continued our hike. Not
more than another hour into our hike, we saw three cow elk, moving through the
woods. We froze, and they didn’t see
us. As we moved on, Miranda gave a bugle,
and you guessed it, a bull bugled back.
We could not believe our luck, and we hiked to the top of the hill, and
found a place to set up. We had two
bulls calling from different directions.
The excitement was intense. We
set up for a while, no luck. As a side
bar, during this day, while crawling under a fence…I learned that even if your
phone is on silent, Siri still talks…and she suddenly said, “I’m sorry I can’t
help you with that, let me connect you to the internet,” “Yikes!
Shut up Siri”, of course “Super Guide” was just taking notes for things
clients do… I digress, back to the
hunt! We met up with my good friend
Donna McDonald after lunch. Donna owns
Upper Canyon Outfitters, and she is a story all her own given her accomplishments. We started walking through the mountains, and
guess what…Cows! Have you ever had some
one yell at you in a complete whisper…I have, and it was the loudest most intense
yell (without sound) I have ever heard, “Nock an Arrow, NOCK an arrow, NOCK AN
ARROW!” Donna whisper-yelled at me, from the trail in front of me where she had
dropped to the ground. There was one
cow, and she was about 60 yards from me.
Too far for my comfort of a hunting shot with my bow, so Miranda and
Donna were calling her in. …then guess what, a bull bugled from the opposite
direction. “Oh Yeah” I thought. The bull came charging up the ridge, and
stopped in his tracks. He sniffed a bit,
and then turned on a dime, and left. I
still had chance at the cow, who was now on alert. We were quiet, but she busted us (too) and
left. We move on. No kidding, we heard another bull bugle. So if you’re counting, that is 5 bulls heard,
2 seen (so far), and 4 cows seen in one day.
The day however was not over and we would see one more bull up close. We kept moving towards the bull that was
bugling. Donna and Miranda decided that
he was not going to leave his cows, so we moved to him. When we got to him, we set up. This set up was perfect, except we thought he
would come from below to the left, and instead he came up and over the ridge
directly in front of me. I stood in
complete motionless panic, as the bull walked directly towards me. I had no idea what to do in this
situation….”move”, no he would see me, “draw my bow”, no he would see me, “I
know, I’ll suck my stomach in”, and that is exactly what I did, I got as close as
I could to the tree I was standing by, and tipped my hat down, ever so
slightly, so he would not see my eyes, and prayed that I would not get gored by
this bull! He came within 5 feet of me
before he turned around, ran a bit, and stopped. Here is where I really wanted to scream, he
stopped, and there was a tree directly in front of half of his kill zone. When he turned around, I was able to get to
full draw, but only after stepping away from the tree, moving around a bit, and
then settling into my shot. So, I
thought to myself, BRASS (Breath, Relax, Aim, Stop, Squeeze), as I settled into
that shot, I had him at 35 yards, with half of his kill zone showing, I
thought, “I can make this shot, I can make this shot”….then I thought, you can
make that shot in perfect conditions of practice, you have adjusted your anchor
several times, and the elk is behind a tree…I let down, so sad that I did not
have what I considered an ethical shot, but excited that I just had an elk come
5 feet from me! Seriously, 5 feet! There is a video at http://youtu.be/Jj2Z3zGsoQ0
Don’t get me wrong, I felt disappointed that a clear and
ethical shot eluded me this trip, but if I could repeat the entire experience,
even knowing the outcome, I would. Next time, though, I plan to return to
Montana and get an elk!
Karen Butler is the President of SLG2, Inc, DBA: Shoot Like a Girl, a company dedicated to
growing the number of women who confidently participate in shooting
sports. For more information about
Karen, visit www.shootlikeagirl.com.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Women of Inspiration
Shoot
Like A Girl is reinvigorating our “Women of Inspiration” Article Series. As we continue to empower women to
participate in shooting sports with confidence, we want to highlight ladies who
have and continue to push through glass ceilings in the shooting sports
industry so that others may follow! We
hope you are inspired!
Recently,
at the National Rifle Associations’ Women’s Leadership Forum Luncheon, I ran
into our friend Liz Sharp, Vice President of Investor Relations at Smith & Wesson. I was very impressed when she
introduced two other women who were also corporate executives from Smith &
Wesson: Deana McPherson, Vice President and Corporate Controller; and Anne
Bruce, Vice President of Human Relations.
It was an honor to meet these three accomplished women, and a privilege to
introduce them to you through Shoot Like A Girl’s “Women of Inspiration”
article series. We hope you find
inspiration in their words and accomplishments!
 |
| Women of Inspiration with Governor Bobby Jindal From left: Deana McPherson, Liz Sharp, Gov. Jindal, Anne Bruce |
SLG: How long have you worked in the industry?
ES: 10 Years
SLG: What made you decide to work in the gun
industry?
ES: I was unfamiliar with guns or the gun
industry in general. But as I was doing some independent consulting in investor
relations, a friend told me about a new public firearm company (Smith &
Wesson) that had an opening. I thought
it was intriguing so I pursued. Long
story short, I signed up full time, and began to learn a lot of wonderful
things about our industry and I’ve been hooked ever since. Now I shoot every
chance I get and I love bringing other newcomers, particularly ladies, into the
sport.
SLG: Why do you think it is important to encourage
women to participate in shooting sports?
ES:
I think the shooting sports are very well suited for women. There is obviously a self-protection element
that I think is important for every woman to master. But beyond that, it’s a sport where women can
rally explore a new skill set, excel, and develop wonderful comradery with other
women shooters.
SLG: If you could tell ladies one thing about the
key to your success, what would it be?
ES: Remain open minded to new opportunities and never stop learning new things.
SLG: Would you please make a comment about
shooting safety?
ES: There is absolutely nothing more important in
the world of sport shooting than the element of safety. It must permeate every situation where a
firearm is present. I strongly recommend availing oneself of every opportunity
to take any and all classes available to help keep safety concepts fresh
and “front of mind” when shooting.
Deana
L. McPherson, Vice President and Corporate Controller, Smith & Wesson
SLG: How long have you worked in the
industry?
DM: 8 years
SLG: What made you decide to work in the gun
industry?
DM:
For me, it wasn’t a decision to work in
the gun industry. It was a decision to work in a dynamic, strong, fast-paced
environment, in a publicly traded company with other hard working and fun
people. I just took for granted that the company made a constitutionally
protected product and didn’t think much more about it than that.
SLG: Why do you think it is important to encourage
women to participate in shooting sports?
DM:
The sporting aspect of our second
amendment rights is a great way to enable women to become more comfortable with
the operation and safety regarding their weapons. We all want women to become more empowered to
protect themselves and this goal is really furthered when they feel confident
that they know how to handle their firearm of choice. And, besides, once we get a handgun in their
hands, they realize how fun it really is!
SLG: How did you get introduced to shooting sports?
DM:
I was lucky enough to not only work for
a firearm company, I also had a great co-worker who really wanted the other
women in the company to participate in shooting. She made it a priority to schedule range time
with the other female executives and gave us an opportunity to learn in a low-key,
safe, a non-judgmental environment. We
didn’t have to feel like “silly girls” in a man’s environment. I will always credit her with taking the time
to show me how fun shooting can be.
SLG: If you could tell ladies one thing about the
key to your success, what would it be?
DM:
I think, to be successful, you have to
play on the same field as the men do. You can’t make excuses or expect to be
given anything. You have to work just as hard (and sometimes twice as hard).
There will always be something to prove and someone that doesn’t think that a
woman can measure up. I have the confidence to believe that I more than measure
up.
SLG:
Would you please make a comment about
shooting safety?
DM: Safety is so important. To pull out my inner Star Wars geek, Yoda
says, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
You cannot try to be safe. You must be safe.
Anne
Bruce, Vice President of Human Relations, Smith & Wesson Holding
Corporation
SLG: How long have you worked in the industry:
AB:
2.5 years
SLG: What made you decide to work in the gun industry?
AB:
From a career perspective, I have always
chosen to work for companies with strong, highly recognizable brands. Additionally, when I met the leadership team
here at Smith & Wesson and learned about the strategy and the business, and
I was hooked. To work for a company that
has meaning and makes a difference is very important to me. From a personal standpoint, I grew up on a
ranch, and have been around firearms my whole life, whether it was hunting or
other activities. Additionally, my family is heavily military – my grandfather
was a Rear Admiral in the Pacific during World War II, my Uncle was a Captain
in the Navy, and my father was a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy as well. The importance of firearms was always
stressed from a standpoint of maintaining individual liberties but also for
shooting sports. It was always
communicated to me in the context of history, learn from past mistakes.
SLG: Why do you think it is important to encourage
women to participate in shooting sports?
AB:
As the mother of two teenage daughters
and as the daughter of parents who always encouraged me to break barriers – it
is really important to me that women feel empowered to participate in
activities that they choose to or pursue opportunities that are interesting and
fulfilling. Shooting sports is fun –
it’s a lifestyle sport much like tennis or golf. It also takes skill and to
master a skill is definitely empowering.
From a personal safety standpoint, knowing that you can take care of
yourself and not have to rely on another person is a very empowering
feeling. Being able to be independent in
today’s world is very important, knowing you can go places and do things
because you CAN is a phenomenal feeling.
SLG: How did you get introduced to shooting sports?
AB:
I was introduced as a child, I think I
received my first gun – a pellet gun when I was about 5 or 6. After several lessons and a stern talking to
by both parents, we were allowed to target shoot and take guns out with limited
supervision. Target shooting was
acceptable, but we were also told never kill anything unless you were going to
eat it! With several older siblings who
liked to hunt as well as, parents firearms were fairly common in our household. Safety was a priority. While I don’t shoot enough – my husband still
hunts often to this day and our girls shoot when they have time. I am not interested at this point in formal
competitions but it’s a great family activity and I really enjoy introducing people
to the shooting sports.
SLG: If you could tell ladies one thing about the
key to your success, what would it be?
AB:
I don’t know that there is one thing
that would make any one person successful.
I can tell you I have always given this advice to men and women alike:
·
There
is no such thing as “normal” – do not subscribe to stereotypes, do not subject
yourself to stereo types.
·
Life is
a series of balancing acts – having it “all” is a myth, realize that sometimes
you will short your family and sometimes it will be your career, but be aware
of where you are at.
·
You
will find opportunities and help where you least expect it – take the jobs
others don’t want, ask for advice from the people who are hardest on you, opt
them into your solutions.
·
The
right thing to do is rarely the easy thing to do – learn how to and be
comfortable making hard decisions, that in and of itself will distinguish you
from others.
·
Keep a
sense of humor and keep things in context.
SLG: Would you please make a comment about
shooting safety?
AB: Can you ever say enough about safety! There really is no in between. You are or you are not, take it seriously and
be comfortable ensuring others take it just as seriously.
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