The Legend Begins

photos by Mark Gocke, Jackson Region Information and Education Specialist

I wore several hats at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's 2007 Wyoming Hunting & Fishing Heritage Expo held earlier in September in Casper - canoe pond lady (actually I think it was Miss Canoe Pond Lady), news release distributor, announcer, gopher and door prize distributor. But my favorite, if most reluctant, role that weekend by far was as a member of the Wyoming Wildlife magazine Media/Celebrity pentathlon team.

Seeing as how I'm not technically media, a celebrity, nor a particularly good shot, when my good friend and Expo coordinator Wendy Hayes asked if I'd fill in on theWyoming Wildlife team, I tried my best weasel my way out of it. Didn't Erin need me at the canoe pond? Surely my time was better spent helping the Expo planning office deliver water to thirsty volunteers or reuniting wayward children with worried parents.

Nope, Wendy told me. I was expected at the Media/Celebrity pentathlon at noon in exactly three weeks. No excuses.

Some friend.

The idea for the pentathlon came from conversations between the Expo planning office and Weatherby Foundation International (WFI). The Wyoming Expo was celebrating its 10^th anniversary, and WFI was celebrating 10 years of supporting not only the Wyoming Expo, but also outdoor expos in general. While Wyoming didn't pioneer the expo concept, we were one of the first states after Texas to begin hosting an annual outdoor expo. Wyoming Game and Fish Department employees wanted a way to help showcase the fun and educational opportunities offered by participating in outdoor activities. Weatherby Foundation International, for its part, thought outdoor expos were a great way to carry out its own mission of educating the non-hunting public on the beneficial role of ethical sport hunting and its contribution to wildlife conservation.

Dave Lockman, a former WGFD employee who now serves as a project leader for WFI's outdoor expo campaign, pitched the idea of a pentathlon to get members of Wyoming's media to attend the Expo this fall and see first-hand all the great activities offered. Members would compete in the same skill areas offered in the youth pentathlon - shotguns, muzzleloaders, air guns, rifles and archery.

What a fun way to give Wyoming reporters a taste of what the Expo is all about! Soon the concept was expanded to include celebrities, possibly even some of national stature like actor Rick Schroeder and former screen goddess Bo Derek, both respected for their marksmanship, or world-renowned hunter Craig Boddington.

I was all for the idea, that is, right up until the time I was told I'd be competing. I could handle the .22 long rifles and the air guns. I've spent enough time at the plinking range with a .22 and at the carnival with an air gun to be confident I could at least get on paper. The other three areas, well, lets just say I'm more Bo Peep than Bo Derek.

Saturday of the Expo dawned, and the pentathlon loomed large. Fortunately, Boddington, Schroeder and Derek all had prior arrangements, but I still had to face up to the press, members of the Game and Fish Commission, employees from the forensics lab and a few other Wyoming notables.

"Oh, by the way," Wendy asked, "did I tell you Gregg Arthur is going to be on your team too?"

Excellent. Now my humiliation could be public and professional. Gregg Arthur is the WGFD deputy director. Watch me take him out at the knee with a wild arrow. Nothing like maiming the big boss to help further your career. I made a mental note to cross Wendy off my Christmas card list.

At noon, I checked in at my designated starting skill - shotguns. I found Deputy Arthur and our other teammate, Chris Madson, Wyoming Wildlife editor and, for all intents and purposes, a pretty crack shot.

As Chris, Gregg and I found our shotguns and adjusted ear and eye protection, a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. I'd shot a shotgun a total of 2 times. Not two sessions, two shots. Both missed. Maybe the third time would be a charm.

"You shoot trap, Teresa?" Gregg asked.

"Uhhh, once, at the Becoming and Outdoors Woman camp this summer," I replied.

Gregg wasn't so impressed. I made a mental note to add Wendy to a different list altogether. Wendy was a dead woman.

We took our places, I raised the 20-gauge to my shoulder, called for my bird, prayed to whatever saint it is who protects fools and small children, pointed the gun at the ever-rising target and pulled the trigger. I missed...and missed... and missed...eight times. On bird number nine, the target exploded in a small puff of orange.

I tried to act nonchalant, like I'd been there before. Yeah, it was only a matter of time before I found my shooter's legs, so to speak, and started knocking down the birds. No big deal. Madson caught my eye and I realized I wasn't fooling anyone.

"Are we having fun now, Miss Teresa?"

I admit it, finally hitting that bird was fun. I could get into this!

The rest of the day went about the same. I wasn't great, but I wasn't supremely awful either. At least I still had a job to come back to on Monday! I ended up 1 for 3 in muzzleloaders, 5 for10 with the .22 andalmost perfect in the air gun. By the time we made it through the archery range, I was grinning like an idiot and Wendy was re-friended.

My team didn't win - that honor went to the U.S. Olympic shooters. But I don't think we were last either. And all in all, it was exactly the result the Expo planning office wanted from the pentathlon - getting the participants to realize anyone can learn to shoot and seeing just how much fun the different skill areas can be.

In fact, I think I've got some actual mystique going for me now. At the banquet that evening, several coworkers asked why I didn't archery hunt, seeing as how I tore it up on the archery range that afternoon and had so much experience.

I was puzzled. I'd done fairly well, but one poor yucca on the range will never be the same after shanking shot number seven.

"I hear you competed in archery in 4-H from the time you were 12, and you were the total archer. You've never told anyone at the office you were a competitive archer!"

Actually, what I'd said was that I had shot a bow once at 4-H camp when I was 12, and that had been the sum total of my archery experience. I started to explain, but was cut off by the emcee beginning the evening's program.

I decided to just stay quiet. A girl needs a few secrets, right? And I'll have 364 days to practice between now and the 2nd Annual Expo Media/Celebrity pentathlon to uphold my new kick-butt bow-hunting reputation. Just don't tell Gregg Arthur...