Is “women only” necessary?

with Ashley Holm

There’s a question that occasionally ruffles a few feathers in the hunting community: Do women really need women-only hunting camps, clinics and groups?

Some people love them. Some women would rather hunt with the guys and never attend a women-only event in their life. Others look at the whole concept and wonder why we’re separating ourselves when, at the end of the day, we’re all just hunters.

It’s a fair question. But women-only hunting spaces aren’t about proving women can’t hunt with men. We already know we can. They’re about creating another place to learn, build confidence and make connections in an industry that, for a very long time, wasn’t exactly built around us.

Walk into almost any hunting camp, gun counter or sporting-clays course and you’ll find plenty of knowledgeable men who are genuinely excited to help women learn. You’ll also occasionally find that guy. The one who grabs your shotgun before you ask for help, assumes you’re brand new, explains something you’ve been doing for ten years or immediately asks whether the gun you’re carrying belongs to your husband.

Sir. It’s mine.

That doesn’t mean every woman has had a bad experience hunting with men, and it certainly doesn’t mean men are the problem. Plenty of us learned to hunt from our dads, husbands, grandfathers, brothers and male friends. Those relationships are a huge part of why many women hunt today.

But there is something different about walking into a group where you don’t feel like you have anything to prove.

For a brand-new hunter especially, that can be incredibly freeing. You can ask the question you think everyone else already knows the answer to. You can completely miss the bird. You can admit you don’t understand chokes. You can struggle mounting a shotgun correctly and have someone patiently show you again. Nobody needs to impress anybody. You’re there to learn.

That being said, putting “women-only” on an event doesn’t automatically make it good.

Here’s where we might make somebody mad.

Being a woman doesn’t automatically make someone a good hunting instructor. A pink logo, cute swag bag and group photo at the end of the weekend don’t equal quality education either. If we’re going to create spaces specifically designed to introduce more women to hunting and shooting, the standard should actually be pretty high.

Give women knowledgeable instructors. Give them real trigger time. Put birds in front of them. Teach firearm safety, conservation, habitat, dogs, gear and field etiquette. Teach them what happens when things go wrong, because eventually something will. Let them get dirty, make mistakes and figure things out.

Women don’t need the watered-down, cute version of hunting. We need the real thing.

And we also need to stop acting like every female hunter wants the same experience.

Some women have absolutely no interest in joining a women’s hunting group. Maybe your dad taught you everything you know. Maybe your husband is your favorite hunting partner. Maybe you’ve spent your entire life in camps full of men and wouldn’t trade those friendships for anything.

Great. Keep hunting with them.

Women-focused organizations don’t need to replace traditional hunting camps or separate women from men. They’re simply another doorway into the outdoors, and for some women, that doorway is incredibly important.

Imagine deciding at 32 years old that you want to start hunting. You don’t own a shotgun. You don’t have a hunting dog. Nobody in your family hunts. You don’t know which boots to buy, which license you need, where you’re allowed to hunt or what everyone means when they start talking about chokes, shot size and patterns.

Where exactly are you supposed to start?

That’s where women-focused clinics, organizations and mentorship programs can shine. They give someone a starting point. You might arrive knowing almost nothing and leave knowing how to safely handle a shotgun, break a few clays, understand the basics of a hunt and, hopefully, with a few phone numbers belonging to women who will actually invite you hunting again.

That last part might be more valuable than anything taught during the clinic.

Hunting has always been passed down through relationships. Someone takes you. Someone teaches you. Someone answers the questions you’re embarrassed to ask. Eventually, you become the person doing that for somebody else.

The goal shouldn’t be to create a separate hunting world for women. The goal should be getting more women comfortable enough that they feel like they belong in all of it.

Hunt with women. Hunt with men. Hunt with your husband. Hunt with your dad. Take your daughter. Take your son. Build a group of people you trust and enjoy sharing the outdoors with.

A women-only clinic may simply be where someone gains enough confidence to eventually do all of those things.

And if you never needed one? That’s okay, too.

We don’t believe there’s one correct way for a woman to become a hunter. Some of us were practically raised in hunting camps. Others discovered this lifestyle much later. Some learned from men, some learned from women and most of us probably learned a little from both.

Women-only hunting spaces aren’t about saying we can’t hang with the guys.

They’re about making sure there’s another door open for the woman who’s still standing outside wondering how the hell she gets in.

Once she’s in, hand her the shotgun and lets go.