Diane Danielson

I started shooting as a junior .22 Rifle competitor in 1967 and have been shooting nearly every firearm discipline ever since. I began hunting with my dad and older brothers when I was 13 and found the joys of small game (rabbit and squirrel) and upland birds. Of course, that later expanded to waterfowl, deer and turkey, all of which included, field dressing, cleaning and cooking all the game we shot.

It wasn’t until I moved to Wisconsin in the late 80’s that I got more heavily involved in clay targets, fielding at least one women’s trap and/or skeet team every summer for the industrial league at the local club. Ample hunting land and lots of ladies who wanted to learn to shoot were how I became very actively involved in teaching women. Sharing hunting land and lending out my guns to new lady shooters was the best way to see the sport grow. That later evolved into becoming an instructor and reaching even more women through volunteering for the NRA and State Hunter Safety Education programs.

In 2010 I went to work for the NRA in Fairfax, VA to coordinate nationally the program that I had run in Wisconsin for 11 years. In addition to organizing hundreds of Women On Target events throughout the US, I also coordinate a program to encourage and train more women to become NRA Certified Instructors. This includes travelling around the country to offer instructor level courses for women, by women where the need is greatest.

I still hunt whenever I can and calling turkeys is my favorite pastime. Northern Virginia doesn’t offer much public hunting land but I still get my Chocolate Lab, Maggie on birds a couple times a year at a local pheasant farm. I’m an active Bullseye (Conventional) Pistol Shooter and am looking forward to venturing into 3-Gun Competition in 2015.