JULY 2007

Hunting is a latent instinct that lies in the ancestral memory of us all. Our roots go back to a proud way of life at the dawn of hunter gatherer. Part of our completeness on our journey in life is coming to terms with instincts that are just below the surface of our nature. They call out to us in the circle we call life.

In a small mountain village in the San Gabriel Mountain Range lived a grandmother who had been born into a non-hunting, tree hugging California family. Her concept of guns was “Guns are frightening and we can get killed or badly hurt if we come in close contact with one. ” That’s what she and everyone she knew was raised to believe. She accepted that commonly held doctrine without question, for she had other pressing factors to deal with.

This was the mind-set of Vickie Gardner, “Vice President of very important stuff.” Vickie and her husband Tim own Alpen Optics. Alpen started out catering to the bird watching crowd, but providence was slowly leading them down wider paths. There was some resistance in Vickie’s heart towards the company growing in a different direction.

VICKIE GARDNER

The roots in the optic industry started when Tim was vice president of product development and manufacturing at a sport optic division of Bausch & Lomb. The division was sold to a Malaysian company and Tim resigned. His passion was still in optics and Alpen had its humble beginnings in their 1920’s mountain cabin.

It was one of their sales reps that kept insisting that the market needed good quality mid-range binoculars and scopes for the hunting industry. The growth pains have developed into Alpen being a major player in the optic industry.

Vickie’s first encounter with guns was at a Writer’s Conference when she had the opportunity to shoot those flying orange discs, even hitting some! This exhilarating experience found a place in her heart that was life changing. Vickie won a gun at the drawing they had that day. She called her daughters and told them what she had won. One of the girls exclaimed, “Mom…what on earth are you gonna do with a GUN?” She replied, “shoot it.” Her daughter groaned, “But Mom, that goes against everything you’ve ever taught us.”

“I was wrong,” she admitted, “and I’m sorry, but in a few years I’ll be making my grandkids elk tacos!” Vickie’s three daughters were in awe of the changes that were taking place in their ‘Bunny-loving, granola-crunching, spider-saving, granny of a mom.’

With the encouragement of Vickie’s Godson, Ryan Huffman, she arranged to take Ryan on a Kansas turkey hunt. Ryan was the only one that trip who bagged a turkey. That was an exciting and spiritual
experience, and it sealed the deal for her future in hunting. Her eyes were opened to the breathtaking splendor of
hunting outdoors in the circle of life.

Since then, Vickie has been to South Dakota shooting prairie rats, Axis deer and turkey in Texas, wildebeest in Africa, and whitetail deer in Alabama. I need to add that Vickie was the only one in her office that hunted, and she just informed me that she went on a Prairie dog shoot with her husband and had a blast.

Vickie is now a missionary in the hunting world, re-establishing values to her family and friends. She is a member of the Dallas Safari Club, sponsors outdoor groups, works with the National Wild Turkey Federation in the Women in the Outdoors Program, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Kicking Bear Youth Program, Tom King’s SOS- Big Horn Youth Adventure Camp, and many more.

I have gotten to know Vickie Gardner over the past year or so and count it a privilege to have her as a friend. The energy level, the passion for the industry and her missionary heart for the outdoors is why she has been selected to be awarded our MVP Award of Excellence. Keep up the good work and thanks.

Article by: Don Fraim