"Wonder Valley is no Walden Pond"

I personally would steer clear of an outdoors camp filled with howling, gun-toting, menopausal women. But Janet Crowley of the LA Times spent some time with the wild women of Wonder Valley. What struck me about this article was mainly the display of raw gun love that emanates from the photo to the left. I personally have never had the desire to shoot a gun. I don’t have the desire the hunt and kill animals either. But it appears that this outdoors camp is an empowering and enlightening experience for all the woman who attend.

Introduction to Firearms & Safety is held in a cabin-like room with a stone fireplace, big wooden beams and stained glass windows. It could feel warm and fuzzy here except for the assortment of shotguns and rifles laid out on a long table at the front of the room. Introductions are brief.

"I'm married to a hunter, and I sure don't want to be taught by him," says one student.

"My dad was a hunter — a really bad hunter. He'd pick up his shotgun and it would go off. We had holes in the roof," says another.

"I want to kill a bear that's harassing my pets," announces one grandmotherly attorney wrapped in a parka with fur-trimmed hood.

Gun safety is a good thing, especially when your father is that clumsy with a shotgun. I recall that Family Guy episode on gun safety: "Guns don't kill people; dangerous minorities do!"

The women who attend Wonder Valley are there for both fun and education. They fish and hunt clay pigeons, they practice archery and go kayaking, and they howl like wolves. Ultimately they do it to get back to nature. Crowley then cautions the reader, “Wonder Valley is no Walden Pond.”

I personally would choose Walden over something like Wonder Valley, but that's just me.

Comments

[the quitter]

people with mustaches kill people.

[Neil Shakespeare]

I learned "Firearms Safety" from the master: Otto Blood. I kid you not. His name was Otto Blood. That was over 40 years ago, so I suppose he's Otto Dirt by now.

[Crusader AXE of the Lost Causes]

I've shot a lot of guns. I've trained a lot of women to shoot guns. I enjoy shooting up to a point -- the point I reached 9 years ago the last time I actually shot a weapon. Frankly, the first thing you teach people when shooting is to shoot between breathes, so howling like a wolf would be a bad idea. The next thing you teach them is not to go looking for trouble -- and, a bear is not something you want to go looking to shoot. Unless you are really good, or have a really big gun -- say, a nuclear capable cannon -- or really know what you are doing. Archery is harder than shooting, so howling while shooting is also a bad idea. However, if you are in the woods and hear a lot of Ahhhooohhhhs followed by gunfire, that's nature's way of saying go somewhere else, rabid hobbitesses are in the area.

By the way, women are easier to train to shoot well than men. They aren't confused, and think watching a Steven Segal film qualifies them to use a handgun, rifle or anti-tank rifle...

[phinky]

Now that they have learned how to shoot properly, they can pick apart all the trigger jerks and improper grips that they see in the movies.