SHELOCTA - Both outdoor enthusiasts and beginners gathered at Indiana County's first Women in the Outdoors event at the Shelocta Sportsmen Club in Shelocta Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Coordinator Ginny Filler said about 25 women participated in outdoor activities covering everything from archery to scrapbooking.
One of the first women to tackle canoeing and kayaking, Melanie Mertens of Northern Cambria, was a self-proclaimed beginner.
"I'm definitely a novice, but I don't think it'll be too hard. At least, I hope not," Mertens said with a laugh. "I enjoy being on the water. It's so relaxing."
Christine Perkins of Mars, a 27-year volunteer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the canoeing and kayaking instructor for the day, has loved the water ever since she was a young girl and helped drain a local lake.
She has even hooked her daughter on water sports.
"My 9-year-old daughter has been doing canoeing classes with me ever since she could walk," Perkins said.
On the other side of the park, women brushed up on turkey-calling.
The sound of turkeys rang out early in the day as instructor Vicky Gaydos, River Valley Game Calls representative and pro staffer, taught women the ins and outs of turkey calling.
Many of the women in the class had family members who hunted turkeys, such as Katie Young of Punxsutawney, whose husband hunts turkeys. She thought the class would give her some practice and help her keep up with her husband when they hunted.
Others, such as Daria Wargo of Nicktown, were already established hunters who wanted to learn more about turkey hunting.
"I'm a deer hunter, but I'd like to expand into different areas of hunting," Wargo said.
Gaydos has been a turkey caller for about five years.
"I started out deer hunting and wanted another opportunity to go out in the woods during a more pleasant time of the year," Gaydos said.
"I've seen things someone laying in bed would never see. I've seen things people who don't hunt would never see."
Gaydos also believes hunting can bring families closer together.
"(Hunting) is important for family time," Gaydos said. "My husband hunts, so this gives us something else to do together."
Family time was a priority for Bonnie Elkins of Indiana and her two daughters, Sarah, 13, and Shannon, 14, who attended the event together.
"I want my daughters to be doing (outdoor sports) before they go into the ROTC," said Bonnie, an ROTC member herself.
But the Elkins women are far from outdoor rookies.
"We're RV freaks and we go camping, so this plays into our nature," Bonnie said. "It's a part of our life."
The most attended class of the day was outdoor photography, taught by Ron Juliette, a professional photographer from Indiana and former professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The women from his class could be spotted walking around the grounds looking for prime nature shots.
"I've always liked photography because it makes you slow down and be a little bit more observant," said Linda Gibson, of Indiana.
The second-most popular class of the day was Dutch oven cooking, taught by Dave Horton, also known as Dutch Oven Dave, director of the Western New York Dutch Oven Society.
Driving from Buffalo, N.Y., it took Horton about 3½ hours to travel to Shelocta for the event. And that's not including the hour or so it took to load all of his Dutch ovens, of which he had about a dozen, into his truck.
Dutch ovens, for the uninitiated, are large cast iron pots made for cooking in the outdoors.
"Anything that you can imagine, you can cook (in a Dutch oven)," Horton told his classes.
The smells of peach cobbler, chicken pot pie and cornbread enticed spectators to come over and try some of his home-baked cooking.
Women in the dog-handling class might find themselves on TV. Terry Cover of Black Diamond Kennels videotaped sections of the class for a commercial that may air on the Outdoor Channel.
Women also tried their hands at shooting and fishing.
Also going on throughout the day were a silent auction and several raffles.
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