More Than 1 Million Adult Women Hunt in U.S.

[SFRanger7GP]

Ladies and children are definitely the future of our beloved hunting and firearms future. I love bragging on Mamita. She comes from a non-hunting culture, so this was all new territory for her. When she told me "I want to hunt with you" for the first time I was overwhelmed with joy. However, I was concerned about the "1 kill syndrome". We all know it happens. I remember her first hunt. I bought her a Mossberg Patriot .243 youth model and removed the stock inserts until it fit her, and we had to buy some hunting clothes in boys' sizes. She has evolved a bit from that little Mossberg 243 and her first whitetail doe hunt and is my best hunting buddy.

Safe hunting

 

[mdwest]

too funny...

I took a very similar first approach... when Mrs Mdwest first said "I think I want to give hunting a try" the smallest centerfire I owned was a 7 mag... and I knew she was both a little recoil and noise shy...

So I bought a Mossberg ATR "bantam" sized rifle (predates the patriot.. but really the same thing in .243 that was "hunt ready" with a cheap scope already mounted etc.. from Buds Gunshop.. I think the whole package was something like $279 delivered to my local FFL..

I knew if she took to the sport the Mossberg wouldn't last too long.. she'd want something much nicer.. but it was a good starting point... she took a single hog and a single doe with that rifle.. and then moved up to a much nicer 308.. (and has since moved on up from there)...

I've still got that rifle in the safe.. I've put a little bit better optic on it.. and its been the starter centerfire for 2 kids.. (both of whom have moved up to bigger calibers and nicer rifles since)...

 

[SFRanger7GP]

That is funny! Mama has upgraded a bit as well since that first deer. However, that little Mossberg has been passed around to many friends for a wife or child to use on that first hunt.

Safe hunting

 

[Vintageguy]

My wife and I started hunting together in high school. At first she tagged along with me bird hunting enjoying my dogs but after a little encouragement she let me teach her to shoot a shotgun and there was no looking back. Most of our favorite trips have involved hunting or fishing. You just see so much more and I think you get to know other people so much better on trips like those rather than the average vacation trip to whichever tourist trap. We’ve been a lot of places and look forward to many more adventures. Africa has us captivated at present.
I never knew my biological mother as she died when I was an infant but I saw as a small child onward how my dad always lit up sharing stories with me of them hunting and fishing together. He took special delight in stories of her outshooting friends. That made me want that too and I don’t think I would have ever been able to marry someone not into those things.
I see several other guys here happily doing a little bragging too, good on you for it. A recent pic of her with her gemsbok and one from early in our marriage cleaning pheasants at the bird shed behind the motel in South Dakota. I always got a kick out of her having to do makeup and jewelry to go hunting. She’s class, not one of the dirty pajamas parade at Walmart nowadays.

 

[Vinootz]

Agreed ,right up until the point in time where they start suing for sexual assault, discrimination and equal whatever rights and accommodations-lol. But all kidding aside, the more responsible hunters the better. There are issues for some women when it comes to clothes designed for the female physique, the behavior of men when they purchase firearms, or treatment in camp while out in the field. It’s certainly important to not give them too heavy a recoiling firearm; or anyone for that matter. Other than that, history has often proven it’s a great thing when the ladies join in.

It is also important that jerks like you refrain from speaking of what you do not know.

Sure if you say so. Happy hunting Gina.

 

[Bullthrower338]

So @AfricaHunting.com you are posting this to make me have hope there is a woman out there that won’t divorce me over hunting? I will keep my hopes up! Lol
Cheers,
Cody

 

[Foxi]

In Germany there are 400,000 hunters or let's better say hunting license holders.
Of these 7% are female(38')
Tendency rising.
The public accepts women hunters more readily here in G.
They are good for the image of hunting

It is also interesting to see in which areas they have their strengths and interests, which are very complex on our hunts.
Dog handling is at the top of their list, reloading at the bottom.

 

[Mwag]

My wife and I hunt regularly together, started over 30 yrs ago.
I really enjoy spending time in God's creation, pursuing his creatures, and could not think of a better person to be with. But as we have matured, I find that I enjoy her being successful more than myself.
Our upcoming trip to Africa she has a larger wish list than I do.

To all you younger guys out there be real careful about introducing girlfriend/wife to hunting. After all the years, I have come to the conclusion that it is expensive enough for 1 and when you have a life partner with same interest it means $$$$$$$$$$$

When you get a new rifle, new clothes, new latest and greatest acme brand gizmo to take on next hunt. Plan on buying 2.

Keep em happy, keep em hunting and you will get to go more. As the saying goes Happy Wife.........Happy Life!

Stay safe and Be Blessed

 

[Mark haynes]

My beautiful wife whom I prefer to hunt with.

 

[leslie hetrick]

i,m on a pistol shooting team and we have several ladies who shoot and are very good and i get my clock cleaned by them more often than i like to admitt. they are also getting into the clays games. its nice to have them as they keep the foul mouthed asses quite.

 

[mdwest]

they are also getting into the clays games.

This is where I am seeing a LOT of activity locally..

Our youngest daughter has recently gotten very heavily into clays... Shes on the HS competitive team (shes burning through about 500 shells a month right now)..

Granted her HS has a HUGE competitive shotgun team (about 80 athletes).. but I was VERY surprised to see how many young ladies are involved.. they've got 17 on the roster (almost 25%).. and most of them are VERY good... One in particular is only a freshman and can reliably hit in the 80's in both trap and skeet (I assume she is equally good at sporting clays, but haven't looked at any of her scores from a SC competition yet)... By the time she is a senior, the boys better look out.. Im going to bet she is a high 90's shooter..

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

I shot the CMP and NRA National Pistol Championship at Camp Perry 2015 through 2019, then COVID came... There were some women competing.

I also would visit my old stomping grounds during the rifle competitions. In the 1980's with all us hard dogs shooting the 7.62mm M-14's and the civilian version, M1A, there were few women. Now all Service Rifle is shot with AR platform and 5.56mm ammo. There are many women and teenage girls competing and turning in good scores! This is a good thing!

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Wow, I know things can really be lost in translation in text vs. in person. And you did add a lol.... But you opened that post with what appears to be a finely tuned ability to get off on the wrong foot with the Ladies. lol

And BTW, my wife shoots her 404 Jeffrey just fine, now that it has been modified to fit her. Yes most hunting gear is designed for men, thankfully several companies have made at least a small attempt to accommodate women. I truly enjoy the company of my wife and love having her along! She is outgoing and has a razor sharp wit. And I'm proud to say she's often the best shot around. And she is a fine lady who can rock a sexy dress and high heals. Or throw on her hunting boots and go kill stuff!

She has overcome finding proper fitting clothes by simply buying what works for her. Probably takes more effort than for men but she really is not opposed to shopping until she finds what she needs In a past life she was told that cheap garbage for gear was good enough for "her". Like cheap crap hunting boots that had no support. She just could not do the walking in them.. She now has a pair as good as any man's. She has top quality optics, rifles that fit her including a couple doubles and Rigby Highland Stalker she can shoot accurately and fast if need be. In 9.3x62 no less! The stock on this one had to be cut to fit but Rigby does make a Women's version of the Highland Stalker!

As for behavior of salesmen, I pity the man that pulls some of that crap on @Just Gina

Think about if roles were reversed and most rifles were designed for women and men had to "get by" or modify them to fit....Of course women have different requirements. Thank the good Lord they do!
Why is it that men can have $400 boots but women should get by with $50 crap? If a woman is going to hunt or do anything outdoors, they should outfit themselves properly.

The picture is way out in the wilds of Tanzania. View attachment 514577

@ActionBob
You won the lottery when you got @Just Gina to marry you mate. She is an awesome woman and huntress.
Unfortunately in our male dominated society women are at times treated as a joke when it come to some activities.
Some males just have no idea. If companies catered more to women's needs I think their sales would increase markedly.
Gina has the same philosophy as my mum but a lot younger. That philosophy is:-
A woman's place is where ever the bloody hell SHE wants it to be.

Mum used to love pissing men off by proving the best man for the job was a woman.
My Dr daughter is tarred with the same brush as her grandmother. Don't tell her she can't do something, you may end up looking at the sky from a horizontal position if you do.
I still can't understand why women have to work twice as had as a man just so the man thinks they are only half as good as they are. I reality women are every bit the equal of a man in 99% of situations and in some cases better.
We should be encouraging more women and kids to hunt, they are our FUTURE along with us men.
Just my musings from a male that has seen what a strong woman can do.
Bob

I love to hunt, but the main reason I still hunt as much as I do is because my wife loves to hunt even more than i do. Come to think of it, she likes to fish more than i do to.
She is retiring in May, and it looks like a bass boat will be her retirement present.

Edit to add: I spend top dollar on everything she needs to hunt, from clothing, boots, rifles, scopes and crossbows. I agree that women (and children) shouldn't have inferior equipment.
1. Her Savage Ladyhunter rifle with a Leupold HD scope is a most prized possession.
2. Her Ravin crossbow I bought her, which back then was the only available easy to crank/cock crossbow was a big purchase, but worth it. She has MS and needed something she could handle herself because she doesn't want to depend on me for everything.
3. Great, warm clothing, boots, and wind/waterproof jackets=- top quality.

She had never fished or hunted before she met me. Started fishing, loved it. sat with me hunting and enjoyed, eventually deciding she was also a hunter. She's been to Africa twice and wants to go back.
She's done a few western hunts, but hiking for many miles is no longer doable for her due to MS.
She is a trooper, though, and toughs everything out the best she can.

@Savage Hunter
Good on you for getting her quality equipment.
Why is it with a lot of men when their wives or kids get interested in hunting, fishing or whatever they by cheap crap great that if at best lasts a very short time and gives piss poor performance.
To me it's the quickest way to turn some new comer off a sport. Would you buy crap for for yourself, no, so why by it for others.
There's a bucketful of good 2nd hand guns around for reasonable pr ices that can be easily made to fit a woman or junior.
In the end if the decide they don't like it just put a new stock on and you have YOURSELF a new rifle.
It's good to see clothing for the female huntress is becoming more readily available. I for one am glad women have lumps and bumps that are different to us mere males. The good thing is they make hunting clothing look good. A thing that us male could never do. A cam pattern paper bag on my ugly head would make me look half presentable.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Ladies and children are definitely the future of our beloved hunting and firearms future. I love bragging on Mamita. She comes from a non-hunting culture, so this was all new territory for her. When she told me "I want to hunt with you" for the first time I was overwhelmed with joy. However, I was concerned about the "1 kill syndrome". We all know it happens. I remember her first hunt. I bought her a Mossberg Patriot .243 youth model and removed the stock inserts until it fit her, and we had to buy some hunting clothes in boys' sizes. She has evolved a bit from that little Mossberg 243 and her first whitetail doe hunt and is my best hunting buddy.

View attachment 514623View attachment 514619View attachment 514620View attachment 514621
View attachment 514622


Safe hunting

@SFRanger7GP
What cracking animals. That warthog is a pearler.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

So @AfricaHunting.com you are posting this to make me have hope there is a woman out there that won’t divorce me over hunting? I will keep my hopes up! Lol
Cheers,
Cody

@Bullthrower338
Cody I'm sure there's one out the for a charming chap as your self. You may have to hang out at more gunshops or SCI conventions to find one.
I found my beautiful wife on a bus trip from Sydney to my home town. 2 days after meeting her I knew I was going to marry her. 21 years later along with a lot of hunting trips, some without her, rifles and normal holidays I'm still happily married to my non hunting wife.
She is that nice while planning a holiday to New Zealand to just get away she asked if I would like to hunt while we were over there. I thanked her and said those hills are getting to steep for this old man now.
Bob

 

[leslie hetrick]

they have a rife at a local gun shop made for a womans upper body, i didn,t look at it close, but the lower butt stock is thinned and dished out a little.

 

[ActionBob]

they have a rife at a local gun shop made for a womans upper body, i didn,t look at it close, but the lower butt stock is thinned and dished out a little.

Savage Lady Hunter or Weatherby Camilla?

 

[Savage Hunter]

too funny...

I took a very similar first approach... when Mrs Mdwest first said "I think I want to give hunting a try" the smallest centerfire I owned was a 7 mag... and I knew she was both a little recoil and noise shy...

So I bought a Mossberg ATR "bantam" sized rifle (predates the patriot.. but really the same thing in .243 that was "hunt ready" with a cheap scope already mounted etc.. from Buds Gunshop.. I think the whole package was something like $279 delivered to my local FFL..

I knew if she took to the sport the Mossberg wouldn't last too long.. she'd want something much nicer.. but it was a good starting point... she took a single hog and a single doe with that rifle.. and then moved up to a much nicer 308.. (and has since moved on up from there)...

I've still got that rifle in the safe.. I've put a little bit better optic on it.. and its been the starter centerfire for 2 kids.. (both of whom have moved up to bigger calibers and nicer rifles since)...

Ya'll MD's wife is a true hunter and killer. I imagine she showed us all up on the trip we shared.

Ms Savage's first kill was a racoon with a 22 rifle....1st thing she said afterwards was "Can we mount it."
Her 1st big game kill was a whitetail doe. I was poor then (working full time and in Seminary) so she chose to use my older 12 guage 870. I cut the stock down and applied a really good recoil pad and she would sleep in with the kids while I hunted the morning hunt. I'd come back in and take her out at 10 and i'd watch the little kids. In the afternoons, she sat by herself and the kids sat with me.
her first kill was at about noon. Doe was trotting thru and she shot it with 00 buckshot at about 25 yards. She was soooooooo excited. She hunted with that the rest of the year and I bought her a 7-08 to hunt with after that. It was not comfortable for her (too long as she's 5'3 and 118 pounds), so later I bought her the Savage LadyHunter and I started using her other Savage 7-08. I love that rifle, and more importantly, she loves the LadyHunter.
Both are tack-drivers. later, she wanted a challenge and before her 2nd trip to Africa, I bought her the Ravin crossbow.

As I said, she has her limitations due to MS, but she wants to hunt and fish and I will do everything I can to encourage and push her limits just a little to do whatever she wants. I'm likely buying her a bassboat for retirement present. She retires from 25 years of teaching in May. We can finally start back fishing earnestly again.

The trip we met MD and his wife on, Lana was only about 2 years from her initial MS event where she could barely walk for 4 months.

 

[WillMFerguson]

More Than 1 Million Adult Women Hunt in U.S.

When Evelyn David got her job at the Michigan Townships Association about 20 years ago, she said she told her boss that opening day of deer hunting season was like a national holiday to her.

The 66-year-old started hunting about 40 years ago, and it's always been a family affair.

About 10 of her family members - including children and grandchildren - planned to stay at her Sebewa Township farm house, near Portland, Saturday night. And today, they'll spread out on David's 140-acre property for the first day of Michigan's 2009 regular firearm season.

Springport Township 15-year-old Cassandra Bell doesn't have David's decades of experience, but she's done more hunting than one might expect from a teenager. She's hunted since age 12, but she began accompanying family members on hunting expeditions when she was about 5 years old.

"My family did it, and I just wanted to be able to say, 'I got my own deer,' " she said. "I'm the tomboy of the family."

David and Cassandra are among a growing percentage of female hunters in the United States, according to a 2006 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey.

Women make up about 9.26 percent of the total hunting population of 12.5 million people age 16 and older, and that number is growing slowly as female hunters have become more of an accepted part of modern culture.


No Longer Rare

Peggy Farrell, director of Stevens Point, Wis.-based Becoming an Outdoors-Woman, said she's noticed more women getting involved in hunting and more companies manufacturing hunting gear and clothing specifically for women.

"It's not such an anomaly anymore to see women participating," she said. "The fact that there are more images in the media of women hunters - that sends out a message to the public that says, 'Well, of course women can and should be able to do these things.' "

Farrell - whose nonprofit offers outdoor skills workshops and educational programs for women in 40 states, Canada and New Zealand - said most women hunt because they like the challenge, enjoy nature and gain satisfaction from getting their own food.


Source: Lansing State Journal

We need more huntresses. My wife is absolutely deadly. You name it, she can shoot it. She shot for Hoyt in HS and college and taught me alot about archery. Plus, I hate taking her shed hunting because she absolutely whoops me. The downside is, she's not that into hunting. If I had her skills and my drive, I'd be a straight up killer.

Maybe some of the women on here can chime in, but one of the problems my wife encountered was finding hunting clothes made for women. I mean hunting clothes that fit and that don't make her look Whisky Tango because of all the pink. For years, we looked for clothes for her. She and I are built alike and she's not that tall (think defensive end, but only 6'1"ish....and, no, "defensive end" is not an insult; I never liked twigs) but men's clothes don't fit female hips and the women's clothes were garbage and were too short. It still blows my mind that quality isn't available. Maybe I'll start a clothing line....

But back to the topic, I am all for encouraging more women and girls to get into hunting and shooting.

 

[Savage Hunter]

Lana killed this Sable in 2017 along with a gemsbok and an impala