WOMEN IN THE OUTDOORS

Women in the outdoors, to some hunters and anglers it is their greatest nightmare. These are the last bastions of male-dominated activities. These are pursuits where testosterone runs rampant and a man’s worth is still measured by his ability to provide fodder for the table. Beer bellies, belching and flatulence are as much a part of hunting and fishing as are rifles, rods and reels. But, step over guys, the chicks have arrived; The Outdoor Chicks that is and they are participating in these outdoor activities in record numbers.

Part of the resistance to women becoming involved in the outdoors undoubtedly stems from the Liberal’s incredibly flawed Bill C-68. Let’s face it, it was women’s groups that were the catalyst for the draconian gun laws that we are presently faced with and no matter how well meaning or genuine men are, the mainstream public will never again listen to them over matters relating to firearms. They are all violent wife beaters that think nothing of pulling a gun on their spouse every time they burn the toast. They, the mainstream public that is, however, haven’t quite figured out how to categorize women with guns yet. We have seen it written off to, again by the mainstream public, the actions of oppressive men forcing their women folk to take up arms and head afield in search of fodder but it’s been our experience that many women are heading out there totally by their own volition, with no other motive than enjoying a day in the woods or at the range.

There is a strong movement at present to get more children involved in hunting and as hunter numbers are not growing with the population, this makes sense. We should be encouraging our kids to hunt, whether they be boy or girl. However, we still feel that additional effort needs to be directed at getting more women in the field. Certainly the Becoming and Outdoors Women (BOW) program is a leader in this area but more needs to be done. The greater number of women we have in the field, the more we, hunters and anglers that is, will be accepted.

Why aren’t there more women hunters? Is it possible that we are genetically inferior in matters of hunting and gathering or as some macho men like to put it, "They just don’t have the killer instinct." It’s a theory, although we doubt it would hold much water when exposed to serious scrutiny. Are we too frail, too physically weak? Again, possibly, but this might rule out some of the big-gutted truck jockeys that have never set foot outside their pickup in a search for a monster whitetail. While possibly not frail, they certainly could never make it to the top of a 9,000-foot ridge or even a mile into the woods, all places we’ve seen women. Hmm, is it possible that it is a social issue and nothing more? Is it possible that women, or more importantly, little girls, are not routinely taken hunting? At the risk of shattering some extremely fragile male egos, is it possible that given the opportunity, there would be as many women hunters as men and they’d be as skilled?

Male hunters, for the most part, have not been overly supportive of women hunters although an incident a few years back did a lot to change some attitudes. A renown archery writer questioned, in print, the value of hunting manufacturers spending promotional dollars on women. While there is little doubt that this attitude was quite prevalent at the time, no one had come out and said it in public. When the famous archer did, he was not ready for the backlash that followed. He became somewhat of a pariah and manufacturers would not touch him with a 10-foot pole. T.J. Schwanky relates a story of sitting around a table at the SHOT Show the same year the article came out and when one of the outdoor writers at the table brought up the article, the president of a major bow company stood up, banged his fist on the table and proceeded to give a discourse on his disdain for the archer in question. To us, this is when men, at least in the industry side of hunting, started taking women seriously. While there have been excellent women hunters out there for centuries, it took an action like this for men to realize what a bunch of jerks they actually were. And for those that had supported women, it became painfully obvious that they had to become more vocal with this support. Now, you see loads of sponsored women writers, television hosts and lecturers. These role models are certainly going to encourage more women to take up hunting and shooting.

What else can be done? Wake up guys, take your wife, girlfriend, mistress, sister, daughter, mother or whatever hunting and fishing. They don’t necessarily have to begin as participants but at least get them out there and let them experience what it is all about. We don’t know of many people, male or female, that have been exposed to quality outdoor experiences that have not become hunters or anglers themselves. These are not just a "guy things."

While encouraging women to take up arms as a means of saving our heritage may seem somewhat male-serving, we don’t think guys need to apologize nor should women be outraged. This is a shared heritage that women have been slowly squeezed out of over centuries for no other reason than social pressures. Women have the same right to be out there and the same responsibility to defend this passion. We need to do everything we can and, if hunters of both sexes can capitalize on the naiveté of the mainstream public, we say great. Saving hunting is certainly not the motivation for us to hunt and fish. Some our my fondest memories afield have been shared with spouses, friends and children and our only stimulus is spending quality time with them. However, if the outcome is a better acceptance of fishing, hunting and guns, we’re not going to argue, nor are the men folk we suspect. Hunters are hunters are hunters, regardless of sex.

Certainly the anti-gun faction used women to manipulate the media into buying into Allan Rock’s master plan, maybe its time we did the same, although we won’t need to be so deceitful as there are intelligent, well-spoken women out there that have a true conviction to our outdoor heritage. Let’s let them be our spokesmen, or women, as the case is and possibly the mainstream media will actually print some truth for a change. The fact is that it’s time that women took their rightful place alongside male hunters and anglers and stood up for what is being unceremoniously snatched from them too.

One of the great things that we are starting to notice is how many questions on the bulletin board of our web site, www.theoutdoorchicks.com, are from men asking how to get their significant others involved in outdoor activities. Not that long ago, men were sneaking out of the house to go hunting and fishing with the hopes their wives would not catch them. Now, they are trying everything in their power to encourage them to join in. When we first started doing seminars, nearly a dozen years ago, it was rare to see a woman in the crowd. Now, however, women make up nearly 50% of our audience and many of them are there because their husbands brought them. Often, the men are more excited to be there as they can finally show their wives that women do participate in these traditionally male activities. We’ve literally had men drag their wives up to meet us saying, "See honey, there are women that love to hunt and fish as much as I do."

While we didn’t start out in this business to become poster children for women hunters and anglers, if it encourages one more female to become involved in the outdoors, then it’s worth it. We never really think of ourselves as role models, we are just women that love to hunt and fish but, if by example others join in, that’s great. We’d love to see more women in the field.

Women currently make up about 13% of the hunters in North America and a little over twice that number are anglers. While these numbers may seem small, women accounted for less than 2% of the total number of hunters only 20 years ago. There is no other facet of outdoor recreation that can boast growth numbers like this. It’s no wonder that manufacturers are starting to look at women in a totally different light. At one time, if we wanted quality outdoor gear, we were relegated to trying to fit into men’s small sizes that rarely fit very well. Now, however, there are a large number of manufacturers designing high-quality gear strictly for women. Even firearms manufacturers are offering guns designed to fit the smaller frame of a women. We currently work with a number of these companies and our goal is to make women aware of the quality gear and opportunities available to them. Outdoor chicks no longer need to settle for worn out hand-me-downs.

We just brought up our web site, The Outdoor Chicks, www.theoutdoorchicks.com, and it will serve as the hub for our promotional activities. It contains loads of information that woman hunters and anglers will find useful. We’ve included a number of articles, photographs, news items, links and just general information on the outdoors. We want this to become the ultimate resource site for women hunters and anglers, novice or pro. The web is becoming a very powerful tool and sportsmen and women are using it as their first source of information. No where else can you get the information you require so quickly. We are also going to continue with personal appearances, magazine writing, e-zine, video streaming, tournament angling, how-to videos, and we are going to be producing a segment in The Outdoor Guys television series.

We’re having fun and we are encouraging women everywhere to share the outdoors with us. Who could ask for anything more?

Check out The Outdoor Chicks at http://www.theoutdoorchicks.com