The rise in the number of women hunters seen locally

Hanna Aliese Oldfather took a few deep breaths. She was shaking. That’s when the lifelong Berwick resident and Nicholls State graduate began running an internal checklist through her mind thinking, “Squeeze — don’t pull the trigger,” as she watched a gnarly-horned buck walking intently through the marsh.
This was only the second deer hunt she ever had been on. Things were happening fast unlike her first hunt, which was pretty much a bust after seeing nothing.
No one in her family hunted deer. Not her parents or two older brothers.
Prior to this year, the 24-year-old redhead previously had hunted only ducks.
Now, here she was, sharing a two-person stand with the father of her best friend, facing the moment of truth and hoping for her first deer.
According to a National Shooting Sports Foundation Report published last year titled “More Women Owning Guns, Going Target Shooting and Hunting,” the number of women participating in these activities during the last decade has risen dramatically.
In 2001, 10 percent of all licensed hunters across the United States were women. In 2013, that number has swelled to 19 percent. Essentially, those percentages correlate to an increase from 1.8 million to 3.3 million hunters.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation also provides an infographic called “Girl Power” that emphasizes visually the change in outdoor demographics where women are concerned.
The study targeted women, ages 18 through 65, who owned at least one firearm. Amid the report’s findings were 42 percent of the women surveyed hold concealed carry permits for their state. Nearly all women (95 percent) have tried target shooting, and more than half (58 percent) have hunted.
Oldfather said, “I love the outdoors and hunting was something I always wanted to do. Even sitting in a deer stand not seeing anything is still fun to me, because it’s beautiful out there. It’s so different from the city. It’s peaceful and nice, where you can kind of escape from everything.”
On the morning of her hunt, Oldfather admits, though excited about the prospects of hunting deer, she struggled to get up ultimately putting them late getting into the stand.
Moreover, due to some oversized waders and being unaccustomed to walking in the flotant marsh south of Centerville, the petite Cameron Human Resource Professional had to overcome a few challenges.
Once settled into the stand, she and her friend’s father talked about particular what ifs should a deer appear, finishing their conversation with a prayer for a safe hunt and a good buck. That’s when her partner saw movement.
“Five minutes before we saw the deer, we had just prayed for a nice buck,” Oldfather said. “I didn’t want to move too quickly because I just got the whole ‘deer-see-quick-movement’ thing explained to me, so I got my gun and slowly turned. And there he was walking.”
The buck moved behind some brush, creating a few anxious moments for Oldfather.
When it appeared again, it was moving and wouldn’t stop.
Her partner said, “Wait-wait. Wait until you see him stop.”
When it kept going, the next instruction she heard was, “Okay-Okay, you gotta take the shot.”
Oldfather said, “I haven’t shot a rifle a whole lot. Right when the deer hesitated a bit, I took the shot. I saw him kind of dip down like it was a good hit. You could tell he was going down. When he went down, I wanted to jump out of the stand I was so excited.”
The National Shooting Sports Foundation report mentions that the growth of the women’s market is quite visible among firearms retailers. The study says retailers reported a 74 percent increase in women customers from 2012 to 2013.
Moreover, women who purchased a gun in the last 12 months spent, on average, $870 on firearms and more than $400 on accessories.
Oldfather was shooting a borrowed scoped Harrington and Richardson crack barrel .243 rifle when she harvested her first whitetail deer during the week prior to the Christmas holiday.
And hours after the hunt, she still was vibrating with excitement unable to sit still.
With an ear-to-ear smile, all the local hunter could say was, “It was so exciting, and I can’t wait to go again.”