First-hand experiences of women hunters

[Hunting Wife]

I guess this question is aimed at everyone, do you think the overall hunting community will eventually learn to welcome others into the community with more open arms or do you think these initiatives will be met with backlash from a lot of hunters?

I have seen both. Some people have really gone the extra mile to welcome new people to the sport. But I’ve seen others who have doubled down on exclusionary rhetoric and behaviors.

I’m not surprised by that, because a lot of things about hunting are exclusionary to begin with. One need not look further than many threads on this forum. Sharing of honey holes, access to land, access to trophy animals, access to tags….when you look at it, nearly everything about hunting boils down to competition for resources and access to them. That doesn’t tend to breed tolerance for more hunters of any kind, and certainly makes it that much harder for hunters who aren’t part of the majority demographic.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I don’t think we will ever overcome some portion of the hunting community being hostile to new hunters, particularly those they don’t perceive as “belonging”. When there isn’t enough resource to go around, human nature is to turn against those perceived as “others” who are also competing for the resource. I don’t see that going away, given the trends we see in access and wildlife.

 

[Bob-WY]

Overtime, IMO, it will move to more inclusive. Why? From what I've seen, and sorry to say, it's the older guys who object to the change in dynamics. Well they will eventually age out. I have an uncle, who years ago was "no wifes in camp", well that changed as his son brought his fiance, I brought my wife and now as long as he's not alone, he's ok. Hunters age out naturally and are replaced, sometimes by more open mindedness.

 

[longbow51]

My wife has always been welcomed when afield, as have my friends' wives. But, as to @Hunting Wife's point, they started hunting 35 years ago. New hunters, regardless of color, gender, or creed might not be welcome, as public land, at least for hunters, may be near carrying capacity. Personally, though, I would rather see some guy with his wife, than a guy with 4 buddies. Probably better behaved

 

[dirtclod Az.]

When camping, all hands on board.
When I hunt, to quote George Thorogood,
I drink alone.

 

[MNElkNut]

My wife has always been welcomed when afield, as have my friends' wives. But, as to @Hunting Wife's point, they started hunting 35 years ago. New hunters, regardless of color, gender, or creed might not be welcome, as public land, at least for hunters, may be near carrying capacity. Personally, though, I would rather see some guy with his wife, than a guy with 4 buddies. Probably better behaved

Rather interesting dynamic and I bet it is almost always true!

 

[dgc1963]

I havent read all the post here but Im 59 started hunting in 1975 at 12 when it was legal and so did my mom shes now 87 and doesnt any more
But hunting together all those yrs to me made it normal for a gal to want to hunt Tammy loves the outdoors shoots a bow but doesnt hunt if she wanted to it would be fine with me
And being raised by a man that was the WW11 generation I was taught to always treat a lady with respect at 8 yrs old was taught to hold doors for my sister and I didnt even like her back then lol. but I do wonder if some of the ladies we see on advertising help or hinder the issue with short shorts and low cut shirts, mom dressed to the 9s for work but wore brn bush pants and red wool jacket