Adventure Outdoors Magazine Summer 2017 | Page 68

Around the year 2000, Amanda Lynn moved to a rural loca- tion. She directed her passion for fitness and her philan- thropic voice to create awareness of rare illnesses by creating a fitness magazine. This publication was free of ad- vertisements and provided a sounding board for people of all levels of fitness. The magazine engaged readers to share personal fitness goals and achievements with each other. It was filled with real-life stories, issues and people illustrating how anyone can achieve what they put their mind to, regard- less of their personal challenges. With social media exploding, her connections with publicists and editors from all different readerships formed a link to the online audiences when she started posting about her moose or bear hunts. Back in 2007, the thought of women in the hunting world was an obscure idea and even frowned upon in certain groups or areas. People started to pay attention to this new female hunter. In 2011, Amanda Lynn was asked to 66 | Summer 2017 | Adventure Outdoors be a part of a Women’s Panel at an Outdoors Show in Toronto, Ontario, and following a flood of positive feedback, her career in the outdoors was suddenly launched unexpect- edly. Working behind the gun counter at Shooter's Choice gave Amanda Lynn an opportunity to share her passion for firearms and hunting knowledge with everyone, and this marked the beginning of women in the industry. Noticing the increase of women coming with questions about firearms and hunting led Amanda Lynn to believe that there was something missing in the world of hunting. An event was born in 2011 – Range Day – and is held at a local gun club where girls and women (aged 12 – 75) can come out and experi- ence pistols, rifles, shotguns, and archery with no license. This event features one-on-one mentoring in a non-intimidat- ing environment, and also includes a gun-cleaning class ro- tation instructed by Amanda Lynn’s female colleague, Lesley.