Alli Armstrong Vaughan of southern Illinois is a seasoned hunter and a two-time 3D Archery National Champion. Along with her parents, Darrick and Susan, and her little sister, Adriana, she has traveled to many states and Canada in pursuit of various species of turkey, whitetail deer, coyote, bobcat, bear, antelope, mule deer and elk.
To date, Alli has taken 28 whitetail deer with her shotgun or muzzleloader, 13 whitetail deer with her bow, 3 mule deer with her rifle, 3 bear with her rifle, 2 bull elk with her rifle, 5 bull elk with her bow, and 48 turkeys, 3 of which were double bearded, 2 triple bearded, and a quadruple bearded Rio. Alli’s five best whitetail bucks with a gun range from a 130 inch 8 point to a 150 inch 11 point and her best buck with a bow was a 140 inch 10 point. Alli has also taken a Boone & Crockett mule deer with her bow.
She has been featured on three seasons of Legacy Trails. She also writes for various hunting magazines and blogs such as North American Whitetail and bowhunting.com. Alli has co-authored a book with Brenda Potts called Hunting Dream Jobs. In 2017, Alli received the Safari Club International Young Hunter Award.
Alli graduated from Southeastern Illinois College (SIC) with Associate of Arts and Associate of Science Degrees along with certificates in Accounting, Business Management, and Outdoor Recreation in 2016. In 2017, she graduated from Southern New Hampshire University where she obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations.
While in college, Alli won the title of National 3D Archery Champion in Women's Bow Hunter while representing SIC in the 2015 US Intercollegiate Archery Championships (USIAC) at Sahara Woods State Fish and Wildlife Area. She also won All-American honors for being in the top ten in nationals and Academic All-American honors for archers finishing in the top ten at nationals and carrying an overall grade point average of 3.0 or better. Alli maintained this title by winning the Women's Bow Hunter Championship in 2016 along with her team. She won All-American Honors and Academic All-American Honors again in 2016 at Nationals.
After graduating, Alli worked as the Head Archery Coach, Outdoor Recreation Instructor, and Institutional Advancement Controller/Accountant at SIC for over three years.
In 2020, Alli married her husband, Jacob Vaughan. Currently, Alli is working on the seventh season of her and her sister's show, Grace Camo and Lace, which airs on the Sportsman Channel, Hunt Channel TV, and MOTV.
HowAlli Started
Alli started hunting squirrels at the age of 5 with her father, Darrick, and was hooked from that day forward. At age 6, she began turkey hunting and harvested 2 double bearded turkeys. In the fall of the same year she managed to take her first deer. Alli’s passion for hunting increased as she got older. At the age of 10, Alli drew a youth tag for a New Mexico elk hunt where she took a nice 6x5 bull with her rifle. This hunt aired on Beyond the Lodge in April 2009. In 2010, Alli drew another New Mexico elk tag and took a monster 330 class 6x6 bull elk. Not only did Alli complete one Grand Slam for turkeys in early April of 2009, she managed to start and complete her second Grand Slam in one season. In the fall of 2012, Alli went on her first archery elk hunt in Colorado where she took a beautiful Pope & Young 6x5 bull elk. Alli returned the following year and took another big Pope & Young 6x6 bull elk with her bow.
Alli finds joy in all aspects of nature, from the smallest insect to the largest game animal. Alli is passionate about hunting and wants to keep the sport alive by showing kids and women how much fun hunting can be. Alli has helped several kids get started in the sport and has even demonstrated gun and archery safety knowledge at local hunter safety classes. She also attends celebrity youth hunts to meet and encourage other kids in the sport. Alli and her little sister, Adriana, are living proof that hunting can be safely enjoyed at an early age.
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HUNTING DREAM JOBS WRITTEN BY BRENDA POTTS & ALLI ARMSTRONG
The overall theme of Hunting Dream Jobs is about the journey toward a goal. Your goal may be to land a specific dream job. Perhaps getting any job in the hunting industry would be a dream. You may actually want to hunt for a living but don’t know how to accomplish this goal. It can be frustrating to watch others living the dream so to speak, and not have a clue how to follow in their footsteps or create your own path. We understand that.
With this book we set out to answer many of your questions by asking people with dream jobs in the hunting industry to describe how they got their job and what advice they have for you. We asked each person the same set of questions. Their answers are as diverse as the pool of individuals involved. There are a variety of jobs covered by the interviews, from entrepreneurs, chief executive officers and corporate presidents, to pro-staff members, marketing executives, guides, outfitters, television personalities and more.
There are literally hundreds of jobs in the hunting industry. Many of them require the job holder to go hunting, for others hunting is a perk. Many of them require extensive travel, others not so much. Some of the jobs put the individual in the public eye, others keep a low profile. None are less or more vital than the other, but each one has its ups and downs. Each person in this book was chosen specifically because of their ability to provide a unique perspective of the hunting industry. Every one is important. Every one has a journey that tells a very personal story. These answers are just the tip of the iceberg. Every one could write a wonderful autobiography from which you could glean valuable advice. Jim Shepherd expressed it best, “Here you go…the Cliff's notes of your questions.”
You may want to look through the book and first read the stories of people with whom you are familiar. There are several well-known people included. You may flip through and read about specific job titles that interest you. Or you may want to know the answers each person provided for one specific question. Although not written in standard Q & A style, the format of this book enables you to do all of these things. We asked each persons all of the questions below. Some chose to skip a question or may have combined answers to more than one question. Either way, we tried to include all of their answers in full.