Ohio Valley Outdoors Magazine

Garrison is a ‘wild’ one

By Larry Claypool, OVO Editor

What a life. She’s been mauled by a tiger and a grizzly, been bitten by a rabid monkey, chased by elephants and many other large animals, ingested countless nasty parasites in Third World countries and is still around to speak of her ‘wild’ adventures.
Cindy Garrison is a self-proclaimed ‘wild’ girl. Viewers of her ‘Get Wild with Cindy Garrison’ outdoor show on cable channel ESPN would have to agree.

Garrison, the attractive host of the exciting outdoor show, says the stunts on her show are simply her being herself while enjoying hunting and fishing expeditions in the outdoors. “That’s just how I am. I love to live life to the fullest. Most of the stuff I do is dangerous, even stupid maybe at times,” said Garrison recently from her home in Denver, Co.

The 35-year-old professional hunting and fishing guide visited the Ohio Valley region in late November at an outdoor promotional gig sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods in Monaca, Pa. Garrison was a big hit at the store, which was hosting The Outdoor Adventure Hunting Tour at its new Beaver Valley Mall location.

Although Garrison says she’s never hunted in this region (she grew up in California and Oregon), she says she’d like to.
“I recently got a bow and I’d like to get into bowhunting. I’ve been practicing. But I’m not good enough yet. That would be a blast (hunting in this region). I’d love doing that. We’ll see,” said Garrison.

“I have people ask me all the time why I don’t do a (whitetail) hunt on the show. I think I’m going to have to eventually, but right now I can’t pass up all the things I’m doing. I’m very pro-whitetail and elk though, but I’ve been doing other things. I need to grab the opportunity (dangerous game hunting) while I’m on the show,” said the TV host.

Garrison said she killed her first deer at age “12 or 13”. She’s been hunting since she was four years old. “I was four when I shot a squirrel with a pellet gun,” she said. And fishing, she’s done that since she was two. “My parents helped me catch a small perch with a bobber. I started out early.”
Garrison credits both her parents for introducing her and her three sisters to enjoying the outdoors. (Cindy is the only sibling to make the outdoors her profession.) “I was brought up by a great family of avid outdoorsmen. From the day I was born we were in the outdoors. My parents were both avid hunters and fishermen. I had a gun in my hand from four years old and up and had a fly rod since I was six.

“We had adventurous parents. That’s how we were brought up. We were always camping. We’d catch fish to eat, wouldn’t sleep in a lodge. We’d sleep in a tent. I loved it. We were always by a river, so I learned to fly fish quick. And we hunted all the time,” said Garrison.
How she ended up guiding safaris in Africa was no accident. That came after she spent six years as a fly fishing guide in Alaska. “At (age) 21 I dropped everything and moved to Alaska to be a fishing guide. After a while I went into my own business of booking hunts all over the place. I worked with many wealthy people (as a fishing guide) and they were always asking about where to go bear hunting. I set many of them up and later decided to make it a business,” said Garrison.

“ I thought ‘this is my ticket to travel’. So when I got to go to Africa with my family on vacation, I fell in love with Botswana (Africa). I knew I could make money there (as a fishing guide). When the rest of my family left to go home, I wanted to stay. So I made a deal with our guides that if I caught a tigerfish on a flyrod they’d let me stay on as a guide. ‘No one could catch a tigerfish on a flyrod’ they told me. I guaranteed them I could and I did. It was crazy, unbelievable,” said Garrison. “I also guaranteed them I’d get 80 percent bookings and I did.”

Garrison later started her safari guide business, Safari Anglers. She spent four years in Africa and caught a break when ESPN asked to film one of her safaris. That led to a job as a co-host of ESPN’s In Search of Fly Water. From there Garrison was offered her own show in 2005.
Discussions then began on what to call the pretty woman’s show. “They told me to think of one word that best describes me. ‘That’s wild’, I said. And that was it,” she said.

Garrison works year round either filming shows or scouting out new areas. Filming usually starts in February. She said she decides where to travel for each show and does all of the research for material. She does have an agent but all of the work involving the show she’s responsible for. There is a film crew “of two other camera dudes” that accompany her on each shoot. “Things can get a bit harry in situations where it would really be nice to have backup or security.”

Garrison said she’s successfully hunted the ‘big five’ (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino) during her big game hunts and caught many wild fish species. The tigerfish is the most exciting to catch, she says. Her favorite weapon in the ‘wild’ is a .500 double Krieghoff. On the water her favorite flyrods are Loomis.
How does she unwind or relax after all of the dangerous work and situations she gets into with each show? “Relax, that’s not in my vocabulary,” she said. “If I’m sitting on the river fishing or in the woods, to me that’s relaxation.”
What a life.