Have you noticed a little more estrogen in the woods lately? Women are taking to the woods, dressed in camouflage, buying their owns guns, hanging deer stands, lurking in the sporting good stores, planting food plots, field dressing their own deer, and appear to actually be having fun doing it! So what's going on?
In 1998, more than two million hunting licenses were issued to women. In 
2005, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, of the twenty million hunters in the United States, 16% were female. That is three million women hunters! Of that number, over 859,000 females hunted on a regular basis (twenty or more times per year). Another interesting fact was that 12% of the bowhunters in the United States were women.
Why are more and more women deciding to take up the sport of hunting? To be honest, I’m not sure I can even explain why I hunt, but I can guarantee you that if it’s deer season, whether bow, muzzleloader or modern gun season, I’m going to be in the woods somewhere and I don’t care if it’s raining, snowing a blizzard, or if we’re experiencing a heat wave. I once told someone that I intended to hunt until I couldn’t walk anymore... then I’d crawl to my deer stand.
The reasons and motivations that compel me and many other women to hunt are difficult to put into print, but I doubt that our reasons are much different from the male hunter’s. Our reasons may differ slightly, but the emotions we feel while in the woods are the same and they are almost indescribable.
I
t's unlikely that you'll hear a hunter asking another hunter why he or she hunts. Both know why they hunt, even if they cannot put it on paper. There are just no words to explain the magic of the forest and the creatures which inhabit it, or the awe you feel while sitting in your stand as that first morning light emerges and the world comes alive one critter at a time. The emotions are deep. How do you explain the world standing still for a time? I am alone, at peace with the world around me, yet fully alert, and ready for anything. At the same time, I never feel closer to God than when sitting in that deer stand, bundled in layers of clothing trying to stay warm, feeling the cold morning air on my face. Often I am reminded of the verse in Psalms that says, “Be still and know that I am God.”
I was not raised in a hunting family, though my Dad did enjoy squirrel hunting when he was young and I can faintly remember him hunting occasionally when I was a kid. I was not introduced to hunting until I was an adult and thankfully have a husband who was patient enough to teach me what I needed to know to get started. At the time, I had teenage sons in the home and they had a field day taunting me when I announced my decision to hunt. They figured Mom would last about thirty minutes in the woods before whining and begging to go home. Instead, I remained in the woods that first day from early dawn until nearly sundown in awe of the wildlife which kept me entertained throughout the day and the sheer enjoyment of being outdoors, away from the hustle and bustle of the world. I might also add that I brought home a whitetail buck that evening in the back of my truck as an added bonus to an already splendid day outdoors.
A gentleman told me recently that the reason he hunted was the excitement he felt from the bottom of his feet all the way up to the top of his head every time he saw a whitetail deer
approaching his deer stand. ȁYou know!” he said. Yes, I know that feeling; trying to keep your composure when every muscle in your body is shaking uncontrollably and having to constantly remind yourself to breathe. In the meantime, your heart is beating so loudly that you fear the deer will hear it too. I know that feeling well.
So what are some other reasons I hunt? I hunt to be alone, to observe the wildlife scurrying across the forest floor, for the pure satisfaction of knowing I can do it. I hunt for the freedom it gives me from everyday life, away from the very worn and beaten path. I hunt for the happiness it gives me deep down inside, that joy only I can experience at that moment. I hunt for the thrill of knowing I can sit in the brush within ten yards of a deer and he not know I am there. I hunt for the adrenaline rush I feel when I see a swollen necked buck chasing a doe in hopes of that once a year opportunity to mate. I hunt for the challenge of taking a wild animal on his own turf, using my brain and wits to outsmart the hunted and to successfully stalk my prey, ghosting from tree to tree undetected. I hunt to put meat on my table and feed my children. I hunt because I can.
I’m not unique because I’m a female who loves to hunt. The world is full of female hunters. I’ll remind you that there are over three million of them in the U.S. *Between 2001 and 2005 the number of women who hunted with firearms increased 72 percent and the number of women who hunted with bow and arrow increased by 176 percent. Overall, women’s hunting jumped by 75 percent. These women are precious to the future of hunting and are helping to secure our hunting heritage for future generations.
* National Sporting Goods Association
