JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Picture a hunter, and the image that may pop up is a white man in camouflage. Men do still represent the majority of hunters, but overall, a smaller percentage of Americans hunt today compared to 50 years ago. Now many states and outdoor organizations are trying to reach women and other groups that haven't historically participated. Harvest Public Media contributor Teresa Homsi reports, and please note you will hear the sounds of gunshots in this story.
TERESA HOMSI, BYLINE: On the first day of Michigan's deer firearm season, Charlene Gawronski is ready, wearing a hunter orange beanie and hiding out in a tree stand.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUN FIRING)
HOMSI: There's gunshots in the distance but no deer in sight.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUN FIRING)
HOMSI: After 50 years of hunting, Gawronski knows it takes patience.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUN CLICKING)
HOMSI: She shot her first rabbit when she was just 12 years old with her Uncle Bob.
CHARLENE GAWRONSKI: That was our special thing.
HOMSI: Gawronski says she doesn't know for sure why her uncle chose her instead of her brothers and sisters, but she suspects he noticed that blood and guts didn't bother her.
GAWRONSKI: I think that was part of it 'cause he didn't like to clean the animals. Yeah, he was squeamish.
HOMSI: (Laughter).
GAWRONSKI: Yes. And I wasn't.
HOMSI: It's been nearly 70 years since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's first national survey on outdoor recreation came out. It reported that roughly 4% of hunters were women. In the latest survey in 2022, that number climbed to more than 20% - still a wide gender gap.
JESS RICE: Whether that has to do with it being a traditionally male-dominated field or just lack of representation, women get intimidated by the subject matter.
HOMSI: Jess Rice grew up hunting. She's the founder of a Missouri-based organization that hosts events for women to get together and hunt. Instead of wilderness, it's called WildHERness. That's with an H.
RICE: All I've ever wanted out of this is to show people what this incredible world has to offer us because all of it, at the end of the day, relates back to conservation.
HOMSI: Conservation because hunting licenses provide a lot of funding for state wildlife programs. Hunters also help keep animal populations balanced. That's why there's a movement to introduce more people to the sport. Swanny Evans with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says a third of first-time hunters they surveyed in 2022 were women. But that's not having a shift on the numbers.
SWANNY EVANS: Females in general - they don't tend to hunt as consistently. They tend to be a little bit less avid, and then they have a tendency to drop out more.
HOMSI: Evans says in surveys he's studied, women report a lack of time and access to public land as the top barriers, as well as intimidation and safety concerns. And Rice, the founder of WildHERness, says for a lot of women, child care takes up their free time.
RICE: We have found offering mom-and-me opportunities is another way to help those experiences stick because if momma gets on board, typically the rest of the family is going to get on board.
HOMSI: Rice and other female hunters say a safe, noncompetitive environment is important to build confidence. Rachel Alliss works for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and coordinates a program called Becoming an Outdoors Woman. That program is offered in many U.S. states and Canada, and it involves workshops for women to learn the ropes and feel less overwhelmed, like when buying hunting equipment.
RACHEL ALLISS: The whole focus is to just create a pretty inviting space where like-minded ladies can ask those questions like, how did you go up to that gun counter?
HOMSI: Alliss says she had to overcome her own reservations about hunting. She was a vegetarian for more than a decade before she moved to the Midwest. Then, five years ago, a coworker invited her to go hunting.
ALLISS: There was a lot of soul-searching. Can I identify as this? Can I put on social media to my vegetarian East Coast friends that I did this thing?
HOMSI: But Alliss says she got excited about harvesting fresh meat for her friends and family. Now she's helping other women do the same.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUN CLICKING)
HOMSI: Back in Michigan, deer hunter Charlene Gawronski says she taught her daughter to hunt, who is now in turn teaching her daughter. And Gawronski says her granddaughter will happily shoot her crossbow while wearing a poofy princess dress.
GAWRONSKI: (Laughter) She's really a girly girl, but she likes to do that stuff, too.
HOMSI: Gawronski says passing on her knowledge brings her pride as a mom, grandma and a hunter. For NPR News, I'm Teresa Homsi in northern Michigan. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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