KODIAK, Alaska — It was girls’ weekend out in Kodiak last weekend as a group of 55 women took to the ocean, rivers and shooting ranges to learn how to be outdoorswomen. Another 22 local men and women with outdoor skills helped out as volunteers.

The budding outdoorswomen were taking part in Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW), an international program that teaches adult women outdoor skills like field dressing, archery, ATVing and outdoor photography.

This is the second year the program has taken place in Kodiak, and the first since 2007.

“Overall the women had a wonderful time,” said event coordinator Tracy Smith, who works for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Anchorage. “They were excited to use their new skills and eager to show them off to their friends.”

On Saturday a full day of workshops, including archery and a new class on edible plants, centered around the Golden Anchor on the Coast Guard Base.

On Sunday the participants and volunteers spread out along the road system to test their outdoor skills.

Fly and spin fishing groups went to the American River. Kayakers practiced Eskimo rolls in the Coast Guard pool before taking the kayaks out to Buskin Lake.

A nature photography workshop went to Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park and St. Paul Harbor where they found no shortage of subjects willing to be photographed. An ATV class went to Saltery Cove.

For most participants the weekend cost $150, with scholarships available to some and added fees for more expensive classes like saltwater fishing and ATVing.

One of the most popular courses is Girls with Guns, which teaches handgun, rifle and shotgun shooting and required a prerequisite gun safety workshop Saturday morning.

At the Monashka Bay shotgun range Sunday afternoon, women finished their afternoon by shooting clay pigeons.

Several women discussed joining the Kodiak Island Sportsman’s Association to return for more practice. Many wore earrings made of bullet casings and beads by local shooting instructor Kim Swaneveld.

“It’s something I haven’t done before,” said Kodiak resident and program participant Nicola Belisle after nailing a pigeon. “It’s empowering.”

Belisle rides horses and originally signed up for BOW to learn more about bear safety while riding.

“It’s different having other people teach us instead of our husbands or boyfriends,” she said. “They’d just be too impatient.”

Anchorage resident Julie Ratliff had a similar comment about the advantages of learning to shoot with instructors.

She hit her pigeon after instructor Kirk Lingofelt helped her correct a tendency to trail ahead of the target by imagining a bird with a long bill.

“I’m pretty confident with the rifle, but I never thought I’d be able to hit a moving target,” she said afterward.

Ratliff plans to use her new skills on a family reindeer hunt on St. George Island in the Pribilofs this fall.

Another woman from the mainland said she came because she and her granddaughter are headed to Africa where they will hunt zebra and impala.

Despite its Alaskan-sounding mission and association with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Becoming an Outdoors Woman did not start in Alaska.

It began in Stevens Point, Wis., in 1991 and has spread to include more than 80 weekend workshops in the U.S. and Canada, partnering with different conservation groups in different areas. In Alaska it works with the Outdoor Heritage Foundation and Fish and Game.

In Alaska, BOW organizes both summer and winter workshops as well as advanced Beyond BOW weekends, like a trout fishing trip on Kenai River in September. The program also returns to Kodiak in November for a weeklong hunting and fishing trip based on Raspberry Island.

Will there be another BOW weekend workshop in Kodiak next summer?

“We have 55 ladies hoping it comes back here,” Smith said. “So I’m really keeping my fingers crossed.”