Artemis

Bailey Petersen helps facilitate Minnesota's woodcock banding program, which enlists the help of volunteer dog handlers. Dogs have to pass a control test before they're approved to join. We talk about steadiness in a bird dog, protective vests, and breeds - from Münsterländers to Llewellin setters. Plus: Grouse hunting in Minnesota... what to look for and what differentiates grouse habitat from wo...

For Tina Dokken, hunting started with a chocolate lab. She was determined to be the best fur-parent she could be, and took her dog all over. She met her husband at a dog festival, and that's when her journey into sporting started in earnest. Tina is a gifted teacher -- both in person and over her YouTube Channel, Tina DokkenUnleashed. She talks about how learning is a mindset, and being curious an...

Adult-onset hunter... traditional bows... five kids... would you guess those things add up to having six deer in the freezer? This week we're joined by Melody Haege, who talks to us about how she settled on traditional bowhunting when she began her sporting journey, and what it looks like today. 2:00 Living in the Minnesota 'big woods' 3:00 Six deer doesn't last that long for a family of seven; Ke...

Marcia Brownlee is leaving Artemis after four years as the program's manager. (Sad faces!) Artemis is housed under the National Wildlife Federation's public lands team, but its leadership team is made up of women from women across the country. Under Marcia's wings, the program has grown from a feeble idea tossed around at a campfire to a program with 71 ambassadors in 35 states. Artemis hosts even...

Dr. Ellen Candler's career track in predator biology is full of riveting stories -- from trapping a mountain lion under the famous 'Hollywood' sign outside LA, to working on cougar and wolf studies in Yellowstone. Candler has always been interested in how added resources influence the wildlife in their vicinity -- whether it's a hunter's bait pile for bears, or a leftover gut pile from someone's d...

Jillian Kilborn is a wildlife biologist in Vermont whose species of focus include pine marten and lynx. Jillian is also a mother, and watching her kids fledge as sportsmen and women has been a rewarding journey. The fulfillment she feels in watching them forge their own paths is part of what drew her to Artemis. What it means to be a hunter looks different for every person -- sometimes it's about...

This week we do a deep-dive into the latest avian flu outbreak with Dr. Jennifer Ramsey, the state wildlife veterinarian for Montana. The latest outbreak was notable for its severity and the breadth of species it reached -- from waterfowl to raptors to turkeys. Dr. Ramsay said they would sometimes even find an entire nest, adults and fledglings, that had succumbed to the virus. Plus: Going from a...

The Southeast has lost about 99% of its native grasslands. When Brittney Viers started working as a biologist on northern bobwhite quail conservation, she realized being a botanist would was critical to revelaing the bird's relationship to its habitat. Brittany works for Quail Forever, which strives to preserve remnant grassland habitat and restore degraded habitat for quail in Tennessee. Plus: Ma...

Kacey Edwards moved to Tennessee from Florida for a nursing job at the start of the pandemic. Despite the timing, she found a husband and a welcoming trapping community in her new state. While Kacey was working night shifts as a nurse, she made an effort to get her young dog out for exercise during the day, usually at the farm she was trapping on. That led her down the path of training a bird dog,...

Madi Shaheen literally helps bring trout into school classrooms. She's a science educator with a non-profit learning center in Colorado that serves underprivileged communities in the greater Denver area. Bringing kids into the outdoors (and bringing the outdoors to kids) has been a priceless way to connect Madi's background in teaching with her personal love for the outdoors. Plus... calling all a...

Christina McAntire got hunting-curious around the same time she became a parent. The first time she shot a squirrel, Christina couldn't bring herself to touch it. She ended up flagging down another squirrel hunter and asking if he wanted her harvest (because, you know, you have to touch it to be able to take it home). Since then, a switch has flipped and Christina has been hunting turkey, rabbit,...

Kate Ahnstrom is a falconer, a bird-hunter, an avid wing-shooter, and an instructor for wing-shooting and sporting clays. She's also an amazing instructor who asks you about you and tailors her shooting lesson to what you have going on -- whether it's your gun-fit, your headspace, or something else. How many of us muddle along in something like bird hunting or wing-shooting without ever receiving...

This week we're bringing you an episode of the Chronic Wasting Disease Chronicles - a special mini-series produced by Artemis and NWF Outdoors. On this episode we hear from Dr. Kelly Straka, a wildlife manager in Minnesota. We talk about the financial toll on state agencies, cross-border management... aaaand, the "E" word. Tune in for more!  2:51 – Introduction on Dr. Kelly Straka, Wildlife Sectio...

Hunting elk in Oklahoma (yes, Oklahoma) is a relatively new opportunity for sportswomen and men there. Alyssa Bowen joins us to talk about finally drawing a tag in her home state, and she tells us what her elk hunt was like. Spoiler alert: Bowen's hunt was the kind most of us dream about. She spotted elk almost right away, and hunted in a party that included her husband and a close female friend. ...

Have you experienced the Artemis Tactics courses yet? We're letting you in on last year's Fly-Fishing Tactics webinar for FREE. If you like what you hear, join us for Bass Tactics. The final webinar is on June 14, and you can register online for as little as $5. Artemis brings you experts from the field... and if you join a Tactics course, you have access to a special Slack channel with other part...

The spring of 2022 marked the second annual Artemis turkey camp in South Carolina... and in this episode, we GO there! Join us in the field to hear from new hunters and seasoned experts alike as they stalk birds in South Carolina's Piedmont. Plus: female friendship, epic campfire charcuterie, lukewarm coffee, soggy burritos, and other vignettes from turkey camp. Learn more about your ad choices. V...

Angie Scott is a committed bass fisherwoman, and she's a fellow podcaster! "The Woman Angler and Adventurer" shares stories of women in the fishing world. Angie tells us how she got into bass fishing, the excitement of the quarry, and the lifestyle that comes when you're willing to schlep a truck camper and a boat to different lakes and geographies of the Southern U.S. It's a passion and a lifesty...

Phoebe Stoner has done advocacy a number of different ways: She's worked at non-profits, embedded in the field, and she's also sometimes separated her conservation-life from her professional life. Advocacy doesn't have to be a full-time job for you to make a difference. Stoner is currently on the board of the Northwest Steelheaders, a panel her board colleagues joke errs on the side of male, pale...

When Pennsylvania game commissioner Kristen Schnepp-Giger is confronted with a decision, she takes stock of her gut feeling and then goes to the other side and lets them try to convince her. It's her way of making sure she's hearing all sides to a particular issue, and what the consequences of her decisions mean to others. In the seventh installment of the Artemis Leadership Series, we talk about...

When Kathy Hadley was living in New York, one of her nephews got unexpectedly sick. Several kids in the neighborhood were experiencing the same thing, and it turned out that the town's school was built on a toxic waste site. Being involved in the Love Canal environmental disaster kickstarted Hadley's career in conservation. When she moved to Montana and noticed that plants wouldn't grow on certain...

We're taking a one-week break from the Artemis Leadership Series to talk with Sara Parker Pauley, the director of Missouri's Department of Conservation. Like many state agency leaders, Sara is gearing up in the hopes that Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) is passed into law. RAWA funding is earmarked specifically for species of special concern, aimed at preventing the kind of decline that m...

In the fifth installment of the Artemis Women in Conservation Leadership series, we're joined by Flora Csontos, who used to work for the governor's office in Wisconsin. Her job was to recommend people to serve on the state's boards and commissions. She tells us about what that process is like, and how you can put your name into the proverbial slush pile for leadership roles in public service. Plus...

When Dr. Winifred Kessler started her career in wildlife biology, field positions weren't open to women. That changed when she was doing her PhD, and she went on to have a career that straddled academic and agency life. Wini was often "the first woman" on many different kinds of jobs. She talks about what that was like, and also shares stories of the women who came before us. There was Sheila Mino...

Dr. Jennifer James did her dissertation research on women in the conservation field. This episode, we talk about some of the barriers to upward mobility in conservation leadership roles -- things like subtle gender bias or imposter syndrome. At the same time, Jennifer also saw positive influences that were elevating women in their field -- chiefly mentorship and collaborative relationships. Artemi...

Inclusive conservation leadership is vital to the future of our hunting and fishing heritage. In February, Artemis hosted a leadership training series aimed at furnishing more women with the skills needed to step into leadership roles. You (yes, you!) have what it takes to play a meaningful part in conservation, and we hope you'll consider stepping up to the plate. Learn more about your ad choices...