Interested in learning how to hunt but don’t know where to begin? It can be pretty daunting, especially for women, since hunting is a male dominated sport. Since I began writing the Women in Hunting Series a few weeks ago, I have been contacted by numerous women stating they would love to start hunting but have no idea where to start. I began hunting over 10 years ago in my early twenties and have helped several other women along the way in getting started with hunting. I thought I would share some helpful tips I have learned along the way to help you acquire the skills and confidence you need to start hunting.
1. Take a Hunter’s Safety Course. This is first and foremost. It is extremely important to learn gun safety, proper gun handling techniques, ethical hunting standards and how to field dress an animal. I was able to find a local Hunter’s Safety Course for Women which was a really supportive environment to learn in. These courses aren’t offered very often in our area so last year a gal pal of mine ended up taking a standard Hunter’s Safety Course which was filled with teenagers; she said it was fine but not as good as being in a class of other women learning to hunt! I will not take anyone hunting with me unless they have had some form of Hunter’s Safety Course because I feel strongly about the importance of learning the basics of gun safety and ethical hunting.
2. Join someone on a hunt prior to buying your own gear and getting started. This is really important since you may find that hunting is just not for you. As much as you may love the idea of wild harvesting your own meat, some folks just cannot pull the trigger or release the arrow and take an animal’s life. I knew a woman who went out hunting and shot her first deer, only to cry and feel terrible about the experience and never went hunting again. That is ok, hunting is not for everyone. When I first had the desire to start hunting, I had a good friend in college who took me along on hunts and showed me the ropes. In my mind I knew I had the desire to hunt but I didn’t know if I could really take an animal’s life. Once I realized that I could do it, I invested more time, energy and money into building my hunting skills and gear.
3.Take a Becoming an Outdoors Woman (B.O.W.) class. Not every state offers these classes but they are becoming more popular. In Montana the classes are run by the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks and are designed to teach women outdoor skills such as fishing, archery, shooting, and one time I even saw a class that would teach you how to back a trailer! The idea with these classes is similar to the Hunters Safety Course for Women where they provide instruction in a supportive environment to empower women to become more knowledgeable in the outdoors.
4. Connect with other women hunters. It is helpful to build up a network of other women hunters to connect with whether in your community or online. It can be daunting to be a female hunter in a male dominated sport so having a circle of women hunter friends is quite beneficial! We are a small group that is slowly growing and would love to have you join us. Years ago when I first started hunting there weren’t any companies making hunting clothes to fit women like there are today. I often found myself complaining about having to wear bulky men’s hunting clothes but my guy friends didn’t understand or care. What is the number one complaint I hear from other women hunters? Difficulty finding hunting clothes that fit. Finally, we can commiserate about this issue with someone who gets it! We support and empower each other in ways that male hunters cannot.
5. Practice, practice, practice! I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase “practice makes perfect” and there is a lot of truth to that. Shooting a gun or bow and hitting your target is key to an ethical hunt and it takes time and practice to hone your skills. Most communities have rifle and archery shooting ranges where you can go to practice shooting. There are sport shooting clubs that focus on tactical shooting skills and trap clubs where you can practice shooting moving targets. I found a Women’s Trap and Skeet class advertised in the local newspaper a few years ago and joined the class. Although I prefer to archery hunt for upland game birds, the class taught me the skills of leading and and how to hit a moving target.
So are you ready to get started now? I would love to hear about your journeys in learning how to hunt so please come back and share with us in the comments section so we can all celebrate another woman hunter joining our group!
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I really want to learn how to hunt! These tips are really helpful. I didn’t know how to start so I’m going to try to find a class to take. Thanks!
That’s awesome Sara! Good luck in learning how to hunt
Awesome! This series is so inspiring!
Yay, I’m so glad to hear that! My goal with this series was to inspire other women to hunt so I love hearing feedback like this!
Great tips! I don’t have it in me for hunting, but this will certainly help many women who are interested!
Thanks for stopping by Lisa
I recently completed a B.O.W. weekend here in south Florida and it was AWESOME!!!
That’s awesome! I’ve heard great things about the classes so glad to hear you really liked it!
I love to target practice with my husband, but to my discredit, I have to admit that I cannot bring myself to press the trigger on an animal. Fortunately, I have a husband who doesn’t mind the job.
That’s fun that you target practice even if you don’t hunt! Plus if your husband hunts you still are able to enjoy eating the wild game
I love the idea of hunting ethically and sustainably, and I’m so supportive of people who take that route. Me, I’ve been a vegetarian for over twenty years now since I decided not to eat anything I wasn’t willing to kill myself. It’s awesome that you do what you do; I’d probably be bawling like a baby if I shot a deer. 😛
Thank you for sharing that! When I first knew I wanted to learn how to hunt I had just learned about how commercially bought meat was raised and made the commitment to learn how to hunt for my meat. I think it is great that you made the decision you did, even if you know you can’t hunt you’re not supporting the unethical treatment of animals raised for commercial meat production!
I’m a vegetarian but I think ethical and sustainable hunting is great and so much better than factory farming.
Thank you for sharing this Margie! When I started this series I was worried I might hear some harsh words from folks who have chosen vegetarian lifestyles so I really appreciate hearing positive feedback from some vegetarians
This is a great post Annie — inspiring!
Thank you Nancy!
this series really is so different from many other ethical food posts. i love that you take responsibility for your self and loved ones and the food they eat to such an intimate level.
also, all your how-to suggestions are very similar to those i recommend for camping. only rather than gun safety its more like “how to keep your tent from filling with water” safety. haha. love it!
thank you for sharing with the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up! I looks forward to seeing you again this week with more wonderful seasonal & fresh/real food posts. xo, kristy.
Thank you Kristy! love hearing the feedback from folks reading my Women in Hunting Series
Hunting is such an important part of our lives so it has been really fun to share this series with everyone!
Great tips and great series! I’m forwarding this to my sister and my 12-year-old-niece, who recently became interested in hunting with a bow. Thanks for sharing on Eat Make Grow!
I’m glad to see you supporting women’s hunting. I am lucky to have married a man that was excited when I asked to learn to hunt. We have had so much fun together on hunting trips. This year we started a new tradition and took our nieces pheasant hunting for the first time this year. You gave good advice.
This is awesome. I’ve never thought I’d be interested in hunting… funny how things change. 😉
Thanks for linking up to Thank Your Body Thursday!
http://www.thankyourbody.com
You are so lucky to have classes just for women! I haven’t heard of any here in Quebec. My sister hunts and I know a couple other women hunters. It does feel like you are a part of a specific club when you are with fellow hunting women.
That’s awesome that Montana offers the B.O.W. course for women interested in honing their outdoor skills. Other states need to follow suit!
The Colorado DOW has a similar class for women and I plan to apply as soon as the applications reopen later in the spring. Though I’m fortunate to have at least 3 female friends who hunt (we became friends for other reasons, and I only later learned that they also hunt) - they all live a bit too far away, or have such busy schedules that it’s hard to hunt together. I hope the program and meeting people at the shooting range will be a good opportunity to meet other female hunters.