About Beth Ann Amico

Like her husband, Beth Ann grew up around dogs and believing they were as essential to life as air and water. She also agrees with Annie Oakley, who once said, “Any woman who does not thoroughly enjoy tramping across the country on a clear frosty morning with a good gun and a pair of dogs does not know how to enjoy life.” Beth Ann adds, “Just make mine Labradors!”

Beth Ann’s love of animal training began as a teenager when her grandfather (who trained horses for the cavalry in World War I) encouraged her to learn to ride. Her competitive nature kicked into high gear and soon multi-colored ribbons from hunter-jumper show rings decorated her walls. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Finance, Beth Ann began a career in commercial lending. She juggled managing multi-million dollar loan portfolios with hours in the saddle until the day she saw a group of field Labradors being worked. Her appreciation for the similarities in training concepts between dogs and horses peaked her interest in retriever sports and before long, she traded her high heels and briefcase for kennel boots and waders to make a life-time commitment to John and his hunting retriever business.

Beth Ann is an award-winning gun dog writer and member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA). She has been awarded a Maxwell Medallion from the Dog Writer’s Association of America (DWAA), attended the acclaimed Wildbranch Writing Workshop as a John Madson Fellowship recipient from the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) and received a scholarship from SCI to attend the American Wilderness Leadership School. Her work has entertained and informed readers of Retrievers Online, The Labrador Quarterly, Woman’s Outlook, Women in the Outdoors, Outdoor Oklahoma, HunTeen, Safari Trails, and The Christian Sportsman and her heart-warming tale of a retriever’s first duck hunt was featured in the anthology A Mile in Her Boots – Women Who Work in the Wild.

Beth Ann has been interviewed in the Wall Street Journal and on ESPN and NRA radio and co-hosted WomenHunters Outdoors on the Sportsman Channel. Her successful spot and stalk hunt for coastal black bear on Prince of Wales Island was filmed for spot and stalk hunt for coastal black bear Outdoor America television show on the Outdoor Channel.

One of Beth Ann’s greatest joys is to share her love of the outdoors with other women. She has hosted Women in the Outdoors workshops and taught classes in waterfowling, and outdoor clothing for women for the Becoming An Outdoors Woman program in Oklahoma and Arkansas. She is a member of the elite Prois pro team and appeared in their 2012 catalog.

Sportsmen and women in Beth Ann’s home state are familiar with her contributions to Oklahoma’s outdoor heritage. She was the first woman elected to the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Station Chapter of SCI and during her term, her fundraising efforts led to the purchase of a trailer for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation’s Shotgun Training Education Program, an airboat for the ODWC’s waterfowl biologists and a statewide Farm Bill awareness project in conjunction with the Oklahoma Wildlife Federation. With a grant from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, she also coordinated the rehabilitation of an 11-acre wetlands project, turning what was once a neglected area of a city park into not only valuable wildlife habitat, but also an outdoor classroom for local students studying biology and environmental conservation.

For John and Beth Ann Amico – dogs have truly made their lives whole.