Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Percentage of Hunters that are Women?

While sitting here watching Wild TV (our hunting and fishing network) I was posed the question by my buddy's wife... "But how many women really like hunting?" with a kinda skeptical tone. My buddy and I are both hunting fools and we've both ended up with non-hunters, and non-game eaters. I suggested that of the total number of hunters out there, likely between 15 and 20% were women.

They doubted me...a lot!

Am I nuts or just optimistic? Does anyone actually know? What would you figure the percentage is?

I've heard numbers around 10-16%

There might be more if there was a better selection of good fitting camo... not all women hunters are built like men. I wear XS-S, and end up having to look in the boy's section. If I am lucky enough to find something that fits well, made for a lady, it's in some hideous camo print...but I digress

I am sure the deer wouldnt know if it were a little big.

It probably wouldn't. I'd wear an XL if I had a chance to go out tomorrow.

No doubt, would love to go tomorrow, one more week before i can take my daughter and two weeks for me. Cant wait, Leaving on 11/8 the second trip and not coming home til 12/3.

Those weeks will fly by!

Wish I had a hunt planned to look forward to, unfortunately, life is getting in the way of the important things...
One of these years I guess.

I hear you, I have to make time to hunt, too important to me to not hunt, and now my little girl is hooked so it is a win win with me. Try to find time best thing you can do for yourself

Mr. BigUglyMan:
I�ve been teaching Hunter Safety for about 20 years, so I�ll give my answer based on the gender split in our classes and say that all things considered, we should be �average�.
I do know that the gender split does swing somewhat depending on region as well, so I�d guess a more rural area may have a slightly higher ratio.

In the last decade the number of female students has been pretty consistently 20-25%, but in the previous decade, I�d say the 10-15% number was closer.

When we moved to BC in �84, my wife was one of less than 10 female hunters that I could have named off the top of my head. It was somewhat of a rarity to see female hunters in the mountains then. This is no longer the case locally, and I�d add that lone female hunters are not unheard of either. I make that distinction, as that would denote a somewhat �hard core� individual, not one hunting for the camaraderie, etc.

Ms. Shooting Lady, just a thought on the clothes.
While I do own some camo, I mostly hunt in grays and browns, unless on the horse and then its plain old Wrangler blue. I don�t think clothing makes as much difference as some would have us buy into. What we do in 'em makes a bigger difference.
I�d also opine that one of the pleasures of hunting, regardless of gender, is the freedom to dress however one pleases!

Regards
Dwayne

I'll ditto BC30cal that we don't need a fraction of the camo seen on TV. I think that newer hunters go for camo because it is de rigueur for TV and magazine windows on hunting. Many long time hunters ignore it or use it sparingly only when it might do some good, such as when sitting in a bush calling animals.

REI and hiking/climbing or fishing stores are probably a better bet for well made, good looking and comfortable women's clothes to wear hunting. Target & Wal-Mart clearance racks have been good to me. Most plaids are excellent camo. A muted plaid with green or grey slacks is a classic hunting combo. Her style is now outdated but Joan Wulff, the fly fishing lady, always looked good in quality, well fitting outdoor clothes, even way out in the Canadian wilds.

I bought an XXL soft synthetic camo shirt of thin material that wads to grapefruit size and will go over a coat etc. if I want to throw on camo. I've never bought camo that wasn't on a deep discount, and my pattern selection is determined only by price. I dislike wearing it and don't recall EVER wearing camo in town or in public. For hunting I wear either thrift store wool dress pants or supplex nylon climbing pants, and either a supplex fly fishing shirt or a wool-like acrylic plaid. None of that has kept me from filling tags. In warm dry California hunts I'd wear comfortable cotton and did when I hunted there.

I stop by the road and change into jeans and nicer shirt on the way back to where I might meet people, hit a coffee shop, etc. However, if I were a woman I think I'd rather look more presentable in the bush just in case I ran across another human while hunting.

females are the fastest growing segment of the hunting recruits. Manufacturers are starting to wise up to this fact. Several reports suggest they may be the "future" of hunting, or at least a large part of it. 15-20% overall, up to 35-40% of "new adult" hunters have been reported.

I dont have any idea what the demographics are nationally but in our house 50% of the hunters are women. The same is true in my daughter's home. (so far anyway....she doesnt have kids yet)

welcome to the fire!

I see it as a trend that will continue.

Well, my wife is more serious about hunting than most guys I hunt with. Now that we have our own hunting land & a cabin, she finally has the opportunity to show that (which is just now becoming so clear to me after 15+ years of marriage.)

Makes me feel bad that I didn't take her along on more of my public land hunts in the past but I always stayed at other shacks which were "guy camps".

Right now in my household it's 50-50, my wife & daughter both hunt, I have 2 boys also, one isn't old enough to hunt anything yet but my oldest boy (10) is old enough to hunt small game & he jumps at the chance.

I hear some of the ladies posting here talking about lack of clothing for hunting.

I don't know if this helps at all but I've stumbled across a couple sources from comercials I've seen while watching hunting shows.

one is she safari
www.shesafari.com

the other is foxy huntress
www.foxyhuntress.com

please don't flame me if this aint real hunting clothes or what ever, honestly just trying to help.

Thanks Lefty. My sweetie posts here once in a while and got me started a while back but I havent been very active. I need to change that I guess.

BC30cal and Okanagan,
I absolutely concur that having a whole lot, or perfect camo isn't nearly as important as just getting out there!
Not being able to find a nicely fitted top in the latest camo that brings out my eyes, is certainly not something that would hold me back if I have a chance to hunt. Just saying if there was a better selection of good hunting clothes made for ladies, perhaps it might aid a tiny bit, in recruiting a few more into the field.

Of all the times I've been out in the woods, I've never worn a single scrap of camo, and lack of it didn't really seem to keep the animals away, so can't say I'm really sold on that it will make a big huge difference when I'm out there with a gun in my hand.

Thanks for the links, northern_dave!
(the shesafari one didn't work, btw, but I'm sure it can just be googled)


This from foxyhuntress giggled me:
Gonna hunt in those shoes?



Welcome to the 'Fire, bighorn_mtn_girl!

Do hope to see you post more.

sorry the shesafari link didn't work... I posted them both reluctantly cause the girls they have dressed up in the stuff don't exactly wear it in the mannor a serious hunter may intend to use it & I don't know if it's junk or if there is actually something there that could be useful.

Was just curious what female hunters thought of the stuff cause my wife hunts too & well, x-mas comes at us pretty fast & I'm always looking for good ideas, but sadly, I'm a guy, so the good intentions often flop!


here, I'm looking at the "shesafari" thing right now & I coppied the link, maybe this will work?

http://www.shesafari.com/

Link works now, thanks.

Been looking at both sites, and it's just my opinion that while they have one of two cute items, the Foxyhuntress stuff looks generally pretty useless. An unsuccessful and awkward looking attempt to adapt 'hunting wear' into everyday fashion, and like you say, none looks too well suited for actual hunting.
Can't really see myself turkey hunting in this..


As far as the Shesafari, it looks a little more geared towards hunting and they have a few things that might be useful, but hard to make into a good gift, considering how hard it is to buy clothes of other people that they will actually like.
I might suggest a gift certificate to a place like that, for your wife. If you have any retail stores nearby that have good selections, the gift of a little shopping spree for her there might be even better, since she could try stuff on before buying (very important!).

Well I took my son through hunters safety two years ago and there were 22 girls and 7 boys!!! And my daughter went through this year and there was at minimum a 50-50 split. And this is in NW Montana. So I ditto what UtahLefty said. I am hoping to be adding to the females that love hunting list this weekend by taking my wife and daughter to the MO breaks, no better place to get them hooked!! Besides I drew a Breaks elk tag and as soon as they see some of elk in there I am sure they will be.

a breaks elk tag? WTG!!!! I'll expect pics and a report