In my lifetime, I have had the opportunity and pleasure of hunting and fishing with numerous women who enjoyed the sports. Not only did they enjoy it, they were very proficient at it!
At present, the wife of one of our hunting club members hunts with us almost every weekend. She is a true outdoors person! She will hunt as hard a most of the men and is successful at it also! Her first year bow hunting with us, she managed to shoot a huge Russian boar with her bow! Not only did she place the arrow well, she also tracked the animal!
The year prior to the hog kill, she sat a ladder stand on a damp and cold Louisiana winter day and shot a nice 5 point that was chasing a doe.
We miss Christy at the camp this year, she is having her very first child (a boy we are told) and at this writing, is waiting for delivery any day!
I really would like to see more women enjoying the hunting sport. It not only brings them a great deal of pride and personal satisfaction, it offers their children more opportunities to be in the woods.
Personally, I would love to see my wife hunt and fish with me! I would probably have to take on a second job to pay for it all, but even that would be OK! My wife has learned to enjoy shooting a bow! She will not take the life of an animal by harvesting it, but she enjoys shooting the 3-D range in my back pasture! I started her off with a fairly cheap bow then moved her up to a Matthew’s FX. We really enjoy the time we spend together shooting!
The more people that hunt (and I mean non-gender specific) the greater exposure we have and the greater strength to support and maintain our hunting traditions from those whom would try and take it away!
Many of the business that caters to the hunter, fisher, and outdoorsman, tend to not target the female gender. I feel that they are making a very big mistake. For almost every sportsman that spends money on equipment, clothing, 4-wheelers, rain gear, weapons, (well you name it) there is generally a female who has a connection to the disposable income that is to be spent!
I am lucky that my wife does not complain of the money I spend (well not all the time) following my pursuits. More companies today are slowly realizing that there is a market with the female gender. It has been long in coming! Many women had to buy camo clothing cut for men and then wear them like it was, or make modifications.
Guy’s I do not hate to say it, I have known some females that could locate, hunt, shoot, and track deer better than any man I have seen! Including myself!
We often want to include our children (boy or girl) in out outdoor activities, but more than often, exclude our wives! If you want your children to really grow up and stay with the sport, the odds are much better if you include your wife!
Think of it as hunting insurance! Years from now your children will grow up and leave the nest (we all hope so) and then it will be just you and your spouse. These are the times when a lot of divorces happen! We lose interest in each other, or we get more involved in our pursuits and the other mate feels neglected. What a wonderful time to spend your "golden" years doing things together, taking trips around the country hunting or fishing new areas and species!
Or just maybe sitting around a campfire at the "long time" lease drinking coffee and sharing tales about hunts in the past with the great friends you have made! REMEMBER, your spouse should be your very best friend, and later in life, you will need one! What better way than sharing a life of friendship doing something you both like!
Wilderness Wayne Kendrick