Women Only Becoming an Outdoors Woman (posted to "Women Only" forum)

[Morgana]

Has anyone here done BOW? I did, several years ago, and I thought it was wonderful. Thought I'd mention it here since the workshops are usually held in the spring and registrations will be opening soon if they're not already.

IIRC, they usually last 2-3 days and teach a variety of outdoor skills in a pleasant and very newbie-friendly setting. The agenda varies by state. Sometimes they're highly focused on hunting and fishing; sometimes they teach a wider variety including paddling, camping, cooking, etc.

I think they have them in every state. When I took it the tuition was reasonable and there were scholarships. I don't remember having to prove state residency.

I couldn't find a national-level website, but here's the one for Florida
https://myfwc.com/education/programs/outdoors-woman/
and I'm sure you could find the one that's best for you by googling "Becoming an Outdoors Woman" and the name of the state you're in.

If outdoor skills seem intimidating, or you just want a friendly, fun place to learn them, this might be for you!

 

[WanderingRose]

I have not, but I talked with a woman this past year who has done several and loved them.

 

[Calypso]

Has anyone here done BOW? I did, several years ago, and I thought it was wonderful. Thought I'd mention it here since the workshops are usually held in the spring and registrations will be opening soon if they're not already.

IIRC, they usually last 2-3 days and teach a variety of outdoor skills in a pleasant and very newbie-friendly setting. The agenda varies by state. Sometimes they're highly focused on hunting and fishing; sometimes they teach a wider variety including paddling, camping, cooking, etc.

I think they have them in every state. When I took it the tuition was reasonable and there were scholarships. I don't remember having to prove state residency.

I couldn't find a national-level website, but here's the one for Florida
https://myfwc.com/education/programs/outdoors-woman/
and I'm sure you could find the one that's best for you by googling "Becoming an Outdoors Woman" and the name of the state you're in.

If outdoor skills seem intimidating, or you just want a friendly, fun place to learn them, this might be for you!

They have something like that here in AK. It’s more geared around sports hunting/fishing but there are other outdoor and survival skills. Thank you for posting this as it made me jot down in my notebook to get more emergency first aid training. Like for snake bites, we don’t have those here .. or scorpions or ways to make a brace or deal with a deep cut. I’ve also heard if you’re stranded to not ration your water.. so I think I need to brush up in that. Also, getting books for the area I’m in about poisonous plants/berries.

But I do want to do a lot more exploring and this time I don’t have some dude so I don’t feel as confident. I should look into this … one can watch all the YouTube’s out there, there’s nothing like doing it.

 

[Morgana]

Yes, they have it in every state.
But if your main priority is personal safety while traveling, you'd be better off taking a first aid and/or self defense and/or car repair class.

First aid classes have gotten expensive. I just completed the American Heart Association one. My highly subjective/dim memory opinion is that the Red Cross one was better, at least on the first aid (non-CPR) side. The Mayo Clinic has some good basic first aid info online (https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid).

One tip is that if you do the hybrid version of a paid class (online class followed by in-person "skills session"), line up your in-person provider before you pay for the online class. I had to really scramble to find anyone off the AHA list that was actually working, and they charged the same for the skills session as for the full class. (Should I do my disgruntled geezer rant about outsourcing now? Nah, I'll skip it.)

REI offers wilderness survival classes. I'm sure other orgs do too.
There is a great little booklet called You Alone in the Maine Woods, which has a lot of good survival advice in it. I just checked and it's available free online now (https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/20-MDIFW-18-You-Alone.pdf).

For a lot of survival stuff, being prepared is half the battle. Have an emergency kit, keep your vehicle in good repair, keep yourself as fit as you can, tell someone where you're going, stay on the path if there is one (it's healthier for the plants and critters too) ... and don't eat strange berries ;-). The best emergency response is the one that doesn't happen because the emergency never happened,