WOMEN HUNT N THE

Missouri Department of Conservation is holding programs that cater to the increasing number of adult women who are becoming hunters

By Brett Auten

Reasons vary from the physical to the familial, but whatever it is, female hunters are becoming more of an everyday occurrence.

For some it’s a sense of independence that comes from learning the skills to hunt or having the ability to provide food without relying on others. For others, it was growing up in hunting families where they learned from a young age.

According to a 2020 report issued by National Geographic, the proportion of women who hunt has risen 25% since 2006. Women are finding that hunting gives them a chance to connect more closely to the food chain and to nature, says the report, “to eat food that is more ‘natural’ so that they understand where their meat comes from.”

Currently, an increasing number of adult women are becoming hunters through friends who hunt and by enrolling in programs that help teach women the skills to hunt and process their wild game.

The staff at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s August A. Busch Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center in Defiance is hosting a sold-out beginning upland bird hunting clinic and mentored hunt for women in February.

The Women’s Upland Hunt and Clinic for beginners will have women, aged 16 years and over, who want to learn to hunt and have never purchased a small game permit. Attendees will have been hunter education certified and comfortable handling a shotgun. The program will focus on the basics of upland hunting with emphasis on ringneck pheasants. It will address some biology basics, firearm handling safety, and how to clean the birds, as well as recipes to prepare them for the table. During the hunt, each hunter will have their own mentor in the field. They will start with shooting clay birds to warm up, then go to the field for a controlled hunt. Afterwards, participants will clean their harvest.

“The program is set up in a very controlled environment,” Bryant Hertel, MDC Busch Outdoor Education Center Manager, said. “We start in the classroom with a clinic covering safety, equipment, clothing, hunting techniques, and where to hunt. Then, the day of the hunt we start with clay bird shooting in order to make sure the attendees are comfortable with a shotgun. Then head out to field. Each hunter will have a men- tor we provide. After the field, they will head to a cleaning station where they will learn how to clean their harvest.”

The MDC has hosted women-focused hunts for five years, including a women's duck hunt. It also conducts introduction programs in deer hunting, duck hunting, turkey hunting and predator hunting. These hunts are open to all of the public who want to attend. It also conducts an adult deer and turkey hunt for those that have never harvested one before. Other programs, which further information can be found at, mdc.mo.gov, include an Introduction to Deer Hunting program that starts off a series discussing safety, clothing, equipment, and hunting techniques. Then on to Field to Freezer, that shows, with a harvested deer, how to field dress it and butcher your own deer for the freezer. This is followed by a program called Venison Burger and Sausage Making that goes through the steps to make sausage and burger. These are open to all of the public.

“We are seeing more women who want to learn how to hunt,” Hertel said. “The challenge is once they attend one of the programs, or multiple programs, how do we keep them active in hunting.”

Some of those challenges include access to property, continued mentoring, and firearm access.

PHOTOS COURTESY THE MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION: The staff at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s August A. Busch Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center in Defiance is hosting a sold-out beginning upland bird hunting clinic and mentored hunt for women in February.

According to a 2020 report According to a report issued by National Geographic, the proportion of women who hunt has risen 25 percent since 2006.