Becoming an Outdoors-Woman Event

Honey Creek to Host Spring Becoming an Outdoors-Woman Event

Honey Creek Resort State Park will be the location for the spring Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) workshop, April 23-24.

"It's been a long cold winter and everyone is anxious to get outside and enjoy spring," says Julie Sparks, BOW coordinator for Iowa. "We've been looking forward to holding a spring workshop and thought what better location than Honey Creek Resort. Spring is a perfect time to be anywhere in Iowa, but particularly southern Iowa. Turkeys are gobbling, fish biting, songbirds migrating. It's a great time to be in the woods or on the lake and we have both at the resort."

The Honey Creek BOW workshop will offer classes in basic firearms, shooting, archery, camping, bird watching, kayaking, canoeing, Dutch oven cooking, turkey hunting, basic motor boat, lake fishing, fly fishing and geocaching. Classes run between three and four hours each and are intended to give participants confidence a particular skill. Class size is kept small to allow for plenty of hands-on activity.

Becoming an Outdoors-Woman is an international program offering anyone 18 years or older the opportunity to learn new skills usually associated with hunting and fishing, but useful in many outdoor pursuits. The DNR has been sponsoring BOW workshops in Iowa since 1994.

"We really hope women will grab a friend or relative and come spend the weekend with us and check out the resort," says Sparks. "Our workshops are a very non-intimidating, comfortable way to learn a new skill, not to mention a whole lot of fun."

Honey Creek Resort State Park opened in 2008 and is the first of its kind in Iowa's state parks system. The resort features a 105-room hotel and lodge, 28 cottages, a water park, restaurant and 18-hole championship golf course, all located on the north shore of Rathbun Lake in south-central Iowa. To learn more about the resort and its amenities, visit www.honeycreekresort.com.

To download a Honey Creek BOW registration form go to www.iowadnr.gov and click on "camps and workshops" then "BOW." For more information about the BOW program or workshop, contact Julie Sparks at julie.sparks@dnr.iowa.gov or at (515) 281-6159.

Check out this video from the California BOW Program.