I didn’t have a wind-speed gauge, but I tried a quick calculation based on how far back inside the pickup those saliva-soaked sunflower seed shells flew after Abby tried to spit them out of the back driver’s-side window.
This was one of those science/physics/mathematical questions of the type I recall hating in school. It goes something like this:
If: Abby spits sunflower seed shells (they are empty, so the weight is reduced;
an important factor, I think) …at X fps against an opposing force (wind)…
that reverses the flight of said shells (dill flavored; likely unimportant, I think) …
so the seeds travel rapidly in the opposite direction…to impact Shaundi (who is sitting in the middle seat).
Then: Who took most of the impact and splatter (as they say in crime-investigation shows) …
with a bit of collateral damage reaching me (I sat in the back passenger-side seat) …
So: How fast was the wind blowing?
I was not told there would be math problems.
Pronghorn Hunt
We were hunting pronghorn in Wyoming, so wind was no surprise. T.J. McCulloch, our Table Mountain Outfitters guide, was driving and photographer/videographer David Page was in the front passenger seat.
T.J. was glancing in his rear-view mirror for a variety of reasons. These included Shaundi breaking out in rap songs with Abby chiming in; Shaundi talking pickup rebuilds; Abby talking motorcycles and air rifles. I mentioned that I still have the ’74 Ford Bronco I bought new for $4,800 back in the day, before either Shaundi or Abby were born.
That’s when Abby dumped sunflower seeds in her mouth. Shaundi and I were in danger, but we didn’t know it. Then Abby rolled down her window …
Millenial Pros
Abby Casey and Shaundi Campbell are in the Millennial generation of outdoor professionals, and each in their own way is proof that the outdoor industry is in good hands.
Abby is a producer and content creator and part of the wave of outdoor communicators taking to the internet (acoutdoors.com). She’s doing it via social media (Facebook, Instagram and whatnot) to tell her stories of hunting, fishing, motorcycling, chainsaw carving and shooting. She grew up in Georgia, where her father, whom she credits for her love of the outdoors, started taking her along on hunting trips when she was age five or so. At 14, Abby joined her high school NJROTC rifle team and shot varsity precision rifle. She won a Georgia state championship, a national championship, competed in Junior Olympics and earned a shooting scholarship to the U.S. Air Force Academy. Instead, she decided to shoot air rifle and small-bore for Columbus State University in Georgia. She still shoots competitive air rifle matches like 100-yard bench and long-range airgun matches.
An outdoor-industry professional since 2014, Abby is currently a field producer for American Airgunner, co-hosting hunting and shooting shows and, as she says, “demonstrating the versatility of modern airguns” (which means hunting and competitive shooting). She’s sponsored by airgun-maker and BB Gun Maker Umarex and is an ambassador for Browning.
Browning is where Shaundi Campbell works. Growing up hunting and fishing with her family in Utah— she shot her first elk when she was 14)—which helped prepare her for her job as senior marketing manager for Browning/Winchester, one of the sponsors of our antelope hunt.
I was toting a Browning X-Bolt Max Long Range in 6.5 Creedmoor with a 2.4-12×50 Swarovski Z5 riflescope and Browning Long-Range Pro ammo with 130-grain Sierra Tipped Match King bullets. I’d done the data-entry work on Swarovski’s Personalized Ballistic Cam, entering caliber and bullet data, and I’d done work at the range confirming the dial-a-range effectiveness of the system. Let the ballistic cam take the math from there.
I tell you that to get the product mentions in, but also because I like to know what people are shooting, and I figure you do, too. Swarovski’s Evan Dextraze and Nathan Robinson of Browning/Winchester Ammunition were also on the hunt to demonstrate and promote their respective products. They were hunting with writer Connor McKibben in another pickup.
Shaundi’s Background
But back to Shaundi. She’s been at Browning nearly nine years. Before that, she was in sales and marketing in the off-road industry for five years. When she met her husband, she moved to take another job, but she wasn’t passionate about it. “Right then and there I knew I had to do what I loved or I wouldn’t be successful,” she says.
She applied for a job posted by Browning and got hired. She finished her marketing degree, and happily, “my career hasn’t stopped growing since,” she says. The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s SHOT Business magazine named Shaundi to its list of “40 Under 40” award winners for “moving the industry forward in extraordinary ways.”
“I can’t count how many hunts I had been on prior to this job, but I can tell you this lifestyle is instilled in me and I plan to pass it on to my daughter,” she says. “Prior to this job, you could find me in the mountains chasing elk, deer, mountain lion and antelope. Since being in this position I have been able to expand my love for hunting and shooting across the U.S. and Canada.”
Abby’s Background
Abby’s father died of cancer when she was 15, but not before passing along his love of the outdoors. “We made the most of the time we had together,” she says. The outdoor influence started by her father continued with her great-aunt and uncle, Rod and Peggy Ayers. Abby says Peggy was an accomplished competitive archer in the 1980s “when that wasn’t really common.” She describes Rod as an accomplished bowhunter through the 1970s and 1980s. Abby treasures a photo of him with a giant Whitetail. At the time, it was one of the largest taken in Georgia.
Abby’s introduction to the outdoor industry came unexpectedly, but she was ready. She had earned a degree in healthcare sciences from Columbus State, but after interning decided not to pursue a career as a physician’s assistant. Instead, she was considering the outdoor industry. Growing up in the 1990s, the heyday of outdoor television, she had followed the career of Melissa Bachman and others like Lee and Tiffany Likosky. “I was always interested in what Melissa did,” Abby says. “She was a videographer in the beginning and made her way into the industry. I thought, ‘maybe I’ll do that.’”
One day Abby had a lunch meeting in Columbus, GA, with Tom Fuller of Armageddon Gear, a tactical and shooting gear supplier. “I was telling him how I wanted to get into the outdoor industry,” Abby said. “He was sitting in front of me at the table and he said, ‘Well, if you want a job in the outdoor industry you should ask that guy sitting behind you.’”
It turned out that guy was Bill Jordan, founder of Realtree, which is headquartered in Columbus. He was there with a bunch of Realtree management people. Abby had just had business cards printed (she says these “were basically nothing, just my name and phone number,” she laughs.) So, when Jordan and his crew were checking out at the counter, she approached him and handed him her card. She told him she was interested in getting into the outdoor industry and that he seemed like the person she needed to talk to.
Later that day, Abby received a phone call from Realtree asking her to come in for an interview. She was hired in their video department, where she worked for two years.
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Abby says of her introduction to Jordan. “I believe in things happening for a reason. I call them checkpoints in life, being in the right place at the right time. Some people call those coincidences, but I call them checkpoints; it’s like you’re supposed to be there.”
Then Rated Red came calling. Abby became one of four main on-air talents for the digital media outlet that provides reviews, how-tos, shows, articles and commentary on the outdoors, culture, the military and other topics. After three years, she left to go out on her own and build her own brand, though she’s talking about doing some work with the relaunched version of Rated Red.
Shaundi still looks up to the person who hired her at Browning, Jackie Love. She first met Love 10 years before applying at Browning. It was at Shaundi’s first trap shoot, and she was put on the same team as Love, who had just won a state title.
“Talk about intimidating,” Shaundi says. “Everyone on and off the trap range talks about how amazing Jackie Love is,” Shaundi says, “and she is just that—absolutely amazing. She has succeeded in the outdoor industry and on the trap range, and you will not find one person who has anything bad to say about her,” Shaundi relates. “She is my role model. I look up to Jackie more than she knows.”
Balancing Career, Home
Shaundi balances her career with a busy home life with her husband, Tyson, and daughter, TyLeigh. “My life is a juggling act, and if it weren’t for my husband, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what I have in my career,” she says. “We are the best team, and when it comes to each other’s goals we support each other 100%, even if that means being a single parent for some of the year.” When they’re not working, they’re likely to be boating, snowmobiling or hunting together, Shaundi says.
Abby and her husband, Stephen, live in South Carolina. He runs a branch office for a construction company. He’s an outdoorsman who is interested in and supportive of Abby’s work. “Working in a male-dominated industry, traveling to remote hunting camps and being on the road all the time can be tough on a relationship if you don’t have the right person,” Abby says. “Luckily, I have an amazing partner who supports my career and would never stop me from pursuing what I love.” Stephen helps her when he can, Abby says, laughing. “He doesn’t know how to operate a camera unless I set it up and tell him to push the button.” Abby usually sets up the camera for self-filming, something she’s done for years.
Women are a small segment of a large male-dominated industry, Shaundi believes, and the workday challenges for women come in many shapes and sizes, though she adds, “even with those challenges we have proven successful.” Challenges on hunting trips include clothing, boots and bathrooms, she notes. “Our options are few when choosing the correct clothing for specific hunts. We have to make do with what is available.”
Thanks to other women paving the way, Abby believes that women “are more respected as professionals in the industry and as hunters than ever before.” It was tough breaking in, she says, but once she earned her “street cred,” it was smooth sailing. “There are always going to be bumps in the road, but they are nothing you can’t overcome,” she adds.
Shaundi also cites her parents as role models. “They both taught me how to work hard for everything I have,” she says. “Never take anything for granted and when you get bucked off your horse, get back on, even if you have a broken collar bone.” So, her advice for women wanting to be a part of the outdoor industry is this: “Be prepared to work hard and don’t be afraid to ask for help. We are more than willing to help other women and want everyone who has a passion for the outdoors to succeed. I don’t try to be something I’m not, and I feel that has shown through in my successes.”
Abby’s advice is: “Be yourself. Always continue to learn as much as you can and just be a good person. It’s not difficult if you work hard and stick to the basics. Life’s complicated when you make it complicated.”
T.J. looked in the rearview mirror. “Joe’s just sitting back there not saying anything,” he says. “Too entertaining to interrupt,” I add, “even if I could get a word in edgewise.”
The Hunt Transpires
Abby and Shaundi are stone-cold killers. They both whacked nice pronghorn bucks. Abby, up first, got her buck on the first morning. Shaundi, the consummate host, let others in the catbird seat first but got her pronghorn on the last day.
We were hunting out of Table Mountain Outfitter’s camp north of Douglas in the open ranching, uranium-mining, wind-turbine country of east-central Wyoming. On the first morning, Shaundi said our group would split into two pickups. She planned to hunt with Abby and I could jump in with them or the other pickup filled with guys. “I’m coming with you,” I said, and, to add a little poetic exaggeration, let me say, that has made all the difference.
As we bounced along the two-track through a sea of waving, winter-tan grass, I wondered if hunting hasn’t gotten too serious. I think about the enjoyment aspect of getting lost in the pursuit of trophies or bragging rights; a tunnel-vision effect blinding hunters of the pleasure and satisfaction of the process; the planning, packing and preparation; each step of the hunt; the camaraderie, the search, the stalk, the being out in it, the doing it and doing it right.
Then Abby spit out the window, and I thought: Nope. I can’t speak for others, but it’s still fun here.
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