I would like to give a big Texas hello to all the amazing woman at Woman Hunters.com. My name is Joey Jelenc-Ramp and I am honored to be included among all the woman that share the same passion as I for the wilderness, the outdoors and the sport of hunting.
I am a professional freelance outdoor writer and photo journalist for about 30 different publications including Texas Fish and Game, Field and Stream, Texas Monthly, Bowhunting Xtreme, Texas Highways, My Texas News.com and Texas Parks and Wildlife, I have been on an ongoing field expedition to capture a daylight photo of the West Texas Cougar for National Geographic, no luck so far!
This past year I spent 42 weeks in the field, three to five days during the week hunting, cataloging and capturing the essence and the beauty of our great wilderness. Although I love the work, the job is tough, I am away from home 90 percent of the time, never unpack my bags, catch a flight on 2 hours notice and spend days upon end in some of the harshest temperatures from ice storms to 115 degree desert temps. I have become an expert at stalking prey, getting within mere feet of potentially dangerous critters to get the best photo. In the field I see the most amazing, stunningly beautiful and breathtaking scenery and wildlife, I have made it a mission to attempt to show every person reading the publication the vision I see, which at times battling light, angle, angry and territorial beasties makes my job a challenge, one of which I take on without hesitation and feel blessed to be allowed every day to work in God’s creation. I will take snake boots over pumps, ragged nails to manicures, sunburns to tanning booths, water from a discovered creek on a hot day to bottled water, a good pair of camo pants (with cargo pockets) to designer skirts, a trusty pistol strapped to my hip over a fancy $300 purse, a sharp skinning knife strapped to the other hip over a cell phone, my camera, which is an additional limb, over a laptop and a luke-warm can of soda (if I am lucky it is still luke-warm) from the bed of my truck under the stars 100 miles from any other human to Happy Hour any and every day. Any one who says they doubt the existence of God has never sat in Pinto Canyon, in the heart of the Chihuahua Desert, in West Texas on a summer night and experienced the brilliance of a Texas lightning storm that would shame the best fireworks show.
I am the mother of two fabulous children; my daughter is in the Army and gave me a beautiful granddaughter in November of 2007. I already have a junior bow sitting in my living room with that little babies name on it. My son is a senior in high school and has his goals set to become a Navy SEAL, although he has been looking into colleges for Photography, since he helped me out over the years in the field and has an excellent eye for light and angle. They are my life, both grew up working horse ranches with me, before I actually made a living as a writer, they worked 365 days a year right beside me, we have held each other through the bad years, cried together and laughed over dinner. Both my children have taken to the woods and have as much love and appreciation for the outdoors as their mother. I have never been the quintessential mother or female, waking the kids up at 2 a.m. to hunt down a coyote that was terrorizing a colt, or boast at a PTA meeting about the 14 -foot Alligator we hunted down and harpooned in Florida! But, my children have had so many adventures, my son is an excellent shot, and my daughter went in the Army and became an Expert Shooter. They are strong, fun, exciting, brilliant and my very best friends.
I am married to the most wonderful man on this planet. Although he is not a hunter, he grew up a farmer and after spending his adult life raising my three amazing stepdaughters and focusing on being the best father three girls could ever ask for, he is eager to get in the woods with me. His patience for my unusual hours and eccentric ways, his equal love of the woods and the outdoors, his sense of family values, and his unconditional love for me, and OUR five children is simply a dream come true, he is a Gift from God.
I captained a team for the Campbell’s Outdoor Challenge and my team, Team Running on Empty took the 2007 Circuit Championship. In it’s 5 years being televised I am the first female team captain. The event took us on a Hog Hunt in Texas, a Turkey Hunt in Texas, a Bowfishing Event in Kentucky and finally the Whitetail Challenge in Illinois.
I grew up the youngest daughter of a poor Texas horse trainer, my father treated me like my brothers and I worked the barns and broke and trained the horses up until about 2 years ago, I am 43, and I was still breaking horses, but discovered last year that the ground is no longer my friend. As a child, when we hunted, it was to eat, no trophies. I never even knew there were “hunting seasons” until I was in my twenties. I hunted mostly rifle and shotgun. This past year, while attempting to photograph an Aoudad at close range, a guide friend of mine suggested I take up a bow. He said if I can get that close to some of those animals I would be successful with a bow, I LOVE it, yes, I am hooked, but still a relative rookie. I practice every day I can, 6 to 12 arrows a day and have gotten pretty darn good. I bought my son his first bow in May and he is a serious shooter, kids have such great hand-eye coordination, he had it mastered on the first day.
I maintain most of my work in Texas because of my son’s schedule with school, but do travel out of state some. My son travels with me when he can and has become a great photographer. I have been offered hunting opportunities in Alaska, and several other states in the United States, and been offered hunts in Africa and Australia. When my son graduates I plan on possibly pursuing some of these opportunities. I am completing my first novel this month and my schedule will be determined by the books demands.
Our Yellow Lab Daisy travels with us, she is my buddy on the road, we also have three other dogs at the ranch, two cats and several horses, about 30 Whitetail call my place in the sticks their home, it is humorous to watch them feed in the front yard around the dogs, but I watch them, and learn a great deal about their habits, it helps me in the field.
Well, thank you for taking the time to learn a bit about me, I have enjoyed reading about all of you as well. As always….. Happy Hunting!
I would like to give a big Texas hello to all the amazing woman at Woman Hunters.com. My name is Joey Jelenc-Ramp and I am honored to be included among all the woman that share the same passion as I for the wilderness, the outdoors and the sport of hunting.
This past year I spent 42 weeks in the field, three to five days during the week hunting, cataloging and capturing the essence and the beauty of our great wilderness. Although I love the work, the job is tough, I am away from home 90 percent of the time, never unpack my bags, catch a flight on 2 hours notice and spend days upon end in some of the harshest temperatures from ice storms to 115 degree desert temps. I have become an expert at stalking prey, getting within mere feet of potentially dangerous critters to get the best photo. In the field I see the most amazing, stunningly beautiful and breathtaking scenery and wildlife, I have made it a mission to attempt to show every person reading the publication the vision I see, which at times battling light, angle, angry and territorial beasties makes my job a challenge, one of which I take on without hesitation and feel blessed to be allowed every day to work in God’s creation. I will take snake boots over pumps, ragged nails to manicures, sunburns to tanning booths, water from a discovered creek on a hot day to bottled water, a good pair of camo pants (with cargo pockets) to designer skirts, a trusty pistol strapped to my hip over a fancy $300 purse, a sharp skinning knife strapped to the other hip over a cell phone, my camera, which is an additional limb, over a laptop and a luke-warm can of soda (if I am lucky it is still luke-warm) from the bed of my truck under the stars 100 miles from any other human to Happy Hour any and every day. Any one who says they doubt the existence of God has never sat in Pinto Canyon, in the heart of the Chihuahua Desert, in West Texas on a summer night and experienced the brilliance of a Texas lightning storm that would shame the best fireworks show.
I am the mother of two fabulous children; my daughter is in the Army and gave me a beautiful granddaughter in November of 2007. I already have a junior bow sitting in my living room with that little babies name on it. My son is a senior in high school and has his goals set to become a Navy SEAL, although he has been looking into colleges for Photography, since he helped me out over the years in the field and has an excellent eye for light and angle. They are my life, both grew up working horse ranches with me, before I actually made a living as a writer, they worked 365 days a year right beside me, we have held each other through the bad years, cried together and laughed over dinner. Both my children have taken to the woods and have as much love and appreciation for the outdoors as their mother. I have never been the quintessential mother or female, waking the kids up at 2 a.m. to hunt down a coyote that was terrorizing a colt, or boast at a PTA meeting about the 14 -foot Alligator we hunted down and harpooned in Florida! But, my children have had so many adventures, my son is an excellent shot, and my daughter went in the Army and became an Expert Shooter. They are strong, fun, exciting, brilliant and my very best friends.
I captained a team for the Campbell’s Outdoor Challenge and my team, Team Running on Empty took the 2007 Circuit Championship. In it’s 5 years being televised I am the first female team captain. The event took us on a Hog Hunt in Texas, a Turkey Hunt in Texas, a Bowfishing Event in Kentucky and finally the Whitetail Challenge in Illinois.
I maintain most of my work in Texas because of my son’s schedule with school, but do travel out of state some. My son travels with me when he can and has become a great photographer. I have been offered hunting opportunities in Alaska, and several other states in the United States, and been offered hunts in Africa and Australia. When my son graduates I plan on possibly pursuing some of these opportunities. I am completing my first novel this month and my schedule will be determined by the books demands.
